Hitchcocks Forum

Hi Guys, can't believe I'm here,cap in hand, 2 days in a row. Tried to start bike today(2009) only got electric start. All the symptoms of a flat battery. Hardly turning the engine over then nothing. I still get lights to work, even main beam. So I took the battery out and checked voltage which reads 12v. So do you think it is battery or something else?

Is that the original battery still, or at least a few years old? Could be on its way out, though still not completely failed if the lights still work. The E/S needs a healthy battery for the E/S to crank the engine over, this was certainly the case with my Electra-X which used the same starter motor as the EFI models and was also struggling, though at least I could still kick start it. Fitting a Motobat 14AH AGM battery brought the flagging E/S back to life, our hosts may stock an equivalent. A.

The easiest way to find out, is to charge the battery. Or take it to an Auto electrician; they usually test a battery for no charge; I mean free.

My two_year old original lead acid bike battery was weak and unreliable sometimes needing to kickstart the bike. Replaced it today with a decent gel battery. Such a pleasure thumbing the starter button and bike leaping into life.

Certainly sounds like a duff battery. However,if the lights work I suspect you should be able to kick start the the bike. My Efi is 6 years old and I've changed the battery twice. On each occasion I had the same symptoms, ie engine reluctant to turn over. Both times it still kick started easily.

You need to check the battery voltage under load. If the voltage drops off when you put a load on it it's new battery time.

You may also want to try checking the interlock switch on the clutch. Mine gives occasional trouble resulting in the symptoms you describe.

Thanks Gents, new gel battery and I'm away again.