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It was a beautiful Saturday morning and was supposed to get hot--mid-80's--later on in the day so I wanted to get my bike out and practice at the church. I hustled through things that needed doing in the house, made breakfast for my husband and then started putting on the jeans, knee pads and heavy boots.
When I opened the garage, I ended up fighting with my cat, Brother (who follows me everywhere) and threatening to close the door with him in there if he didn't come out. Finally, I got my bike out, Brother out and my gloves and helmet on. When I got to the church, I saw that some hay had come off of a truck or tractor and has made dangerous clumps for me to slide on in the parking lot. I got off of my bike to move them out of the way--hadn't even got to go around the parking lot once--and when I got back on my bike it wouldn't start. Dead battery.
The Grand Vista has a place for a phone and charger so I called my husband. Ends out I need a new battery. He brought a recharger and I was able to get it home. In the meantime--old people--(that's anyone older than me) were pulling into the church and staring at me. I remembered then that it's Memorial Day and there's a graveyard back there. NOT a good time or place for me to be practicing my figure 8's.
I was only gone long enough to get my hair stuck to my head when I took my helmet off and it took longer to put my bike up and take my gear off than I got to ride.
Oh well. Hope you had a better ride Saturday than I did!

Gina- some motorcycles and scooters don't charge the battery unless the engine is going significantly faster than idle. If your bike is spending a lot of time in low speed drills, it may not be getting the engine revs it needs to charge up the battery. When you get your new battery, consider asking an experienced rider to take the bike out and run it a few miles at highway speed once in a while.

Yeah, that's what my husband thought too. And you're right--I have just been driving it at low speeds. But even when he charged up the battery, it wouldn't take a full charge. My bike is a 2004 and the battery is a five year battery so we're just going to get a new one. The suggestion that he take it out and ride it every now and then though is a good one.
Hope you're having happy riding days!

some motorcycles and scooters don't charge the battery unless the engine is going significantly faster than idle. If your bike is spending a lot of time in low speed drills, it may not be getting the engine revs it needs to charge up the battery.

Yet another handy tip from TMW! I didn't know that, thanks!

MZ33 wrote:

some motorcycles and scooters don't charge the battery unless the engine is going significantly faster than idle. If your bike is spending a lot of time in low speed drills, it may not be getting the engine revs it needs to charge up the battery.

Yet another handy tip from TMW! I didn't know that, thanks!

Yeah...... well........ don't ask me how I know this..

(hint: if it's dumb and it involves a motorcycle, I've probably done it at some point.)

Gina wrote:Yeah, that's what my husband thought too. And you're right--I have just been driving it at low speeds. But even when he charged up the battery, it wouldn't take a full charge.

That's 'cause your battery's toast. They get to that point, where they just won't take a charge any more. It can happen after they're run flat, although it usually takes a few repetitions to toast 'em.

Yeah they start to coat the plates with sulfate. There's a charger out there called hte Xtreme charger. 100 bucks. But worth it. My shop bought one and to test it out took an old battery with literally no charge in it, and no other charger could wake it up. Hooked that one up and two days the battery was acting new.

Wow! I'm going to tell my husband about that one.

I am proud to announce that I have completed the MSF course and will be able to get my motorcycle license Monday!
I'm sitting here ready for church while waiting for my husband to finish getting ready (what a woman, right? I'mthe one ready and waiting) and I wish I could ride to church this morning but I have to pick someone up.
The class was fun and exasperating and helpful. I learned a lot. Instead of the three day class for beginners, I was required to take the experienced driver's class because my Kymco 250 is a scooter. That meant I would only take a one day class that lasted from 9:00 to 3:00.
The weather was perfect although after a few hours working out on the blacktop, I got a little over-heated. There was very little classroom instruction. The instructors would take us through a few pages of a book and then put us through the drills.
My biggest problem was differentiating the instructed course we were to travel from the markings already on the lot. You add that to having an extremely poor sense of direction and you have problems. I would watch what the others did to get some idea but when I was driving it-- sometimes I got lost.
I want to share more about the day on my next post but it's time for breakfast and I'm starved! Shoney's, here I come!

Congrats on passing your MSF! One of my greatest pleasure is pulling up into the church parking lot on my bike.

We did a Sunday for men one week and I even got to put my bike on the stage as decoration. I just kept staring at it lol.

Congrats on passing & getting your license!

Instead of the three day class for beginners, I was required to take the experienced driver's class because my Kymco 250 is a scooter.

That's a bummer! When I took my BRC, a woman rode in on her 125cc pink Buddy Scooter, and she took the whole thing!

I'm glad you got the Complete Idiot's Guide--that was our first book, too! But the comraderie of anxious newbies is also helpful, as is observing other new riders, and I imagine there wasn't a lot of that. They didn't look down on you for having a scooter, did they?