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[Midnight Rider]

Thanks.  That rings a few bells.  Changed from a colonial Governor to a local Governor.

Republic of Winston.  That reminded me of another story.  Quite a few years ago a municipality up north decided to secede from its home state.  No one cared. 

It considered itself seceded; and still no one cared.  Then a car dealership in a neighboring town gave their police department a car to use as a patrol car.  The dealership took a tax deduction for "foreign aid."  The IRS cared.

 

[Talon]

All my motorcycle batteries have lasted over 3 years, most over 4 years, one lasted almost 5! Anyway keeping them charged and if they are wet cell, keeping them topped up with distilled water, cleaning the cable/terminal ends, will make them last a lot longer.

[Midnight Rider]

Did some investigating and this can be taken w/a grain of salt because it is coming from the manufacturers website.

However when the questioned was asked (click question for answer) - What is the expected life of a H-D battery? If this holds to be true I'll look at replacing my battery in June '09.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

Thanks for that info, Gary.  Looks like 4 years, if one is kept on a good tender and not subjected to severe temperature swings, would be a good round number to start thinking about a new one, depending on how things plan out for your rides/trips.  If I had 4 years on one, and was headed out on a 5K trip to the West, I'd probably get a new one before heading out, just to be safe.  If I was staying around town, that'd be a different story.  Cranking these bigger motors takes a larger toll on the battery too.

Good information, d00d

[IronButt]

On my 04 the battery would get weak during the hot summer and jamming the tunes all day.. On my 07 I am installing a BIGBOAR BB1000
 The stock battery has 250/350CCA and the BP1000 Has 650CCA quite a difference.
your normal battery is about 149.00 this one is 199.00 but with the thicker plates I believe the life span will be greater also.

http://www.bigboarproducts.com/price_sheet.htm

Iron

[Tros]

I just went out and hooked up the battery tender.  The dealer gave me an HD battery tender when I purchased the bike.     It's still in the package because I already had a new one.   

I almost never seen a Harley running a car tire on the rear.  This is a very common practice with the metric crowd, particularly the Honda Valkyrie/VTX 1800 guys.  Those bikes are really hard on rear tires.  They refer to it as going to the Dark Side.   

[Midnight Rider]

I just went out and hooked up the battery tender.  The dealer gave me an HD battery tender when I purchased the bike.     It's still in the package because I already had a new one.   

I almost never seen a Harley running a car tire on the rear.  This is a very common practice with the metric crowd, particularly the Honda Valkyrie/VTX 1800 guys.  Those bikes are really hard on rear tires.  They refer to it as going to the Dark Side.   

I had a conversation with some people just a couple of weeks ago about this very subject and Gold Wing owners.  One of the main purposes for doing this is to get the load rating up on the rear tire.  The problem is there is absolutely NO car tire that is made to fit on a motorcycle...it is a completely different kind of construction, handling characteristics will be all over the place.  Car tires are basically flat...anyone doing this to their bike is just asking for problems...sure, the tire itself is load rated higher, but what about the rear shocks, frame, swingarm, bearings, etc, etc, etc.  Putting the kind of loads on a bike that the car tire is capable of handling is exceeding the GVW of the bike by several hundred pounds...it's crazy.

[Twolanerider]

I had a conversation with some people just a couple of weeks ago about this very subject and Gold Wing owners.  One of the main purposes for doing this is to get the load rating up on the rear tire.  The problem is there is absolutely NO car tire that is made to fit on a motorcycle...it is a completely different kind of construction, handling characteristics will be all over the place.  Car tires are basically flat...anyone doing this to their bike is just asking for problems...sure, the tire itself is load rated higher, but what about the rear shocks, frame, swingarm, bearings, etc, etc, etc.  Putting the kind of loads on a bike that the car tire is capable of handling is exceeding the GVW of the bike by several hundred pounds...it's crazy.

That was one of those "I know not where of I speak" type of conversations TC.  When Max (at Traxxion Dynamics) was telling us about his feelings on the car-tire-on-a-Goldwing issue it all sounded perfectly logical.  And I know that just intuitively I'm not wild about the shape of the tire for bike use and would have to do some real homework on sidewall forces exerted back through the bike.  But just the day before when I was there two of his guys were working around the bikes talking about the same thing.  One said he'd done. The other was preparing to.  And both sounded all flowers and sunshine about it.  So....  I know not whereof I speak on this one  .

[Fired00d]

I just went out and hooked up the battery tender.  The dealer gave me an HD battery tender when I purchased the bike.     It's still in the package because I already had a new one.   

I almost never seen a Harley running a car tire on the rear.  This is a very common practice with the metric crowd, particularly the Honda Valkyrie/VTX 1800 guys.  Those bikes are really hard on rear tires.  They refer to it as going to the Dark Side.   

I believe I read somewhere when this wide tire craze started it was because of Roger Bourget putting a car tire on the bike of one of his customs (at the time there weren't any wide tires available). I believe he said it rode like chit, but it was a show bike and soon after they were producing wider motorcycle tires.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[Midnight Rider]

That was one of those "I know not where of I speak" type of conversations TC.  When Max (at Traxxion Dynamics) was telling us about his feelings on the car-tire-on-a-Goldwing issue it all sounded perfectly logical.  And I know that just intuitively I'm not wild about the shape of the tire for bike use and would have to do some real homework on sidewall forces exerted back through the bike.  But just the day before when I was there two of his guys were working around the bikes talking about the same thing.  One said he'd done. The other was preparing to.  And both sounded all flowers and sunshine about it.  So....  I know not whereof I speak on this one  .

In another lifetime, I knew a lot about car tires, and have kept up to some lesser extent throughout the years. I have no doubt that a car tire on the back of a bike would go down the road without incident, in a more or less straight line, or even interstate type curves, but they just do not have the profile to run properly on a motorcycle in all conditions, particularly on curvey roads. And the temptation to overload the back of the bike with a big a$$ed car tire back there would just be too great. Keep 'em on the back end of trikes, or that 08 SESERVICAR coming out soon to a dealer near your home town.

[Twolanerider]

In another lifetime, I knew a lot about car tires, and have kept up to some lesser extent throughout the years. I have no doubt that a car tire on the back of a bike would go down the road without incident, in a more or less straight line, or even interstate type curves, but they just do not have the profile to run properly on a motorcycle in all conditions, particularly on curvey roads. And the temptation to overload the back of the bike with a big a$$ed car tire back there would just be too great. Keep 'em on the back end of trikes, or that 08 SESERVICAR coming out soon to a dealer near your home town.

Hell Terry, just the shape of a flat (not uninflated, but unround) tire is enough to keep me from using such a tire on the back of a bike.  Some things are just obvious (they may still be wrong but they sure look obvious  ).  So I'm not interested in experimenting here.  I just got a kick out of Max's guys one day talking it up one way with interest and Max the next day discussing it differently.  I personally agreed with Max.  I don't even have to know why; I just do  .

Two (no structural dynamacist here) lanerider

[Midnight Rider]

Hell Terry, just the shape of a flat (not uninflated, but unround) tire is enough to keep me from using such a tire on the back of a bike.  Some things are just obvious (they may still be wrong but they sure look obvious  ).  So I'm not interested in experimenting here.  I just got a kick out of Max's guys one day talking it up one way with interest and Max the next day discussing it differently.  I personally agreed with Max.  I don't even have to know why; I just do  .

Two (no structural dynamacist here) lanerider

I think I was just in shock when Max started talking about that, as it had never really occured to me that someone would consider doing it for any reason other than a novelty.  I guess some people out there will try anything, and I guess if you do 90% of your riding on the interstates getting from point A to B as fast as you can, with as much chit as you can carry, it might be a viable alternative.  It's just weird, and illogical.  I think Max even said that if you need to carry 500lbs of chit with you, then a different kind of vehicle is called for.

WTF has this got to do with batteries, anyhow?

[Twolanerider]

WTF has this got to do with batteries, anyhow?

Damn, where's a Rodeomotator when you need one.

[Tros]

I think I was just in shock when Max started talking about that, as it had never really occurred to me that someone would consider doing it for any reason other than a novelty.  I guess some people out there will try anything, and I guess if you do 90% of your riding on the interstates getting from point A to B as fast as you can, with as much chit as you can carry, it might be a viable alternative.  It's just weird, and illogical.  I think Max even said that if you need to carry 500lbs of chit with you, then a different kind of vehicle is called for.

WTF has this got to do with batteries, anyhow?

About as much as the Mason-Dixon/county name discussion.   

It's a twisty little thread or is it a little twisty thread......

[skyglide]

Interstate gel. Can be mounted in any postion. Cranks the big 140inch motors. Should crank our 103-110s?

[T MAC]

This has to be one of the most hilarious threads I have ever read on the site.  Thanks for the posts on batteries, tires and the historical information on Winston!!

I have not ridden my bike since November and did not us a B/T on the battery.  I went to ride it 3 weeks ago and the bike is dead.  I bought a B/T 2 weeks ago and battery will not even take a charge.  Dealer said I should bring it in and have them charge it but I think I am just going to buy a new battery and chalk it up to my mistake.  I agree I do not want to be stuck on the side of the road with a battery I do not have confidence in.   Hoist mentioned possible damage/ concerns with the electrical system.  Is anyone aware of something I should look for once I put a new battery in?  I will follow 4 step procedure when changing battery.

Thanks.. TMAC