I have a 2005 and still have the stock battery. 7 years and counting.
I never use a battery tender, but I don't live in the cold either.

 

Yeah, I'm with Jonesee...it's not cold here, and my buddy doesn't use a tender. My bike has no obvious date on the battery, so I don't know how old it is. One of these days I'll yank it and see what the stamp is on it to check the date.

What brand is the OEM battery, out of curiosity?

 

6 years on the factory battery for me, thought that was decent.
In my 64 Impala, I had a sears diehard that lasted...get this...12 years!!!
damn, I love those diehards.

 

This is year seven.

 

My bike is a 2007 with like 19,400 on the clock and still OEM battery and going strong. My step dad's battery just went is his 02 Sporty and it was OEM, but his bike has less miles than mine. I keep mine on a tender year round.

 

I replaced my original battery after 7 years.

 

4 years

 

2008 FLHR with 30,000 miles and original battery. Battery tender during winter storage months only. Feel confident I'll easily get another riding season out of it.

 

04 Dyna. Eight years. When not in use it's on a tender. Going to buy a new one next week. Not pressing my luck.

 

I just replaced the original battery in my 2007 Road King with 30K miles. It sits in a climate-controlled garage (never outside the 60° - 75° range) and I rotate a Battery Tender between all of the bikes and other machinery not run in the winter each month. The RK started a bit slowly a few times last summer, so it seemed to be on its last legs even then. Nothing wrong with battery connections at either end.

I replaced it with an Odyssey and it starts up very strongly now.