Hitchcocks Forum

Now the winter is upon us - has anyone noticed their batteries going flat while the bikes are stood as many are finding with Himalayans ? put mine straight on an Optimate.

Modern bikes flatten Battery's
Just something they do my thoughts are that it's all to do with everything being electronic and needing memory not just alarms and immobilisers (spelling) but even the milometer and trip meters
I have the Harley connected up to a optimate
Asbo 30is just hooked up to a car battery that gets charged now and again

Just realized that's another good tip if you don't have power in your garage connect your bike battery to a car battery
charge car battery before winter and it should keep the bike battery good over the winter lay up
Keep a eye on the change and top up if needed

Cheers all Dai


Edit keep car battery off a concrete floor using a bit of wood or carpet they don't like getting too cold from concrete

In fairness, if it's being laid up for the winter, it's best to take the battery off, wipe the top down with a damp cloth to remove any salt, fully charge it and keep it in the house.

I just swap the Optimate round the three bikes each time i go into the garage.

stinkwheel wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2020 12:09 pm

In fairness, if it's being laid up for the winter, it's best to take the battery off, wipe the top down with a damp cloth to remove any salt, fully charge it and keep it in the house.

Very true
But often not possible to have bike bits around the house
I'm lucky my Ann is pretty good but she does tend to tidy thing's up! so i tend to try keeping bike bits in the garage
Bless she even tidied up my spanners once she put "all the big ones in that drawer all the little ones in that drawer"
Took me ages to sort them out again

Sorry gone off topic Dai

Good points all - more modern bikes ( and the Himalayan included ) - they seem to make the batteries really difficult to get to, the Interceptors not too bad when I took mine off to connect the Optimate.