Scoutmedic -- The trials and journies of a *n00b*

[Scoutmedic]

Yikes. I might have some trouble talking my wife into letting me buy one in Colorado. Thanks though!

[Scoutmedic]

Had a great day until I was two miles from home and the zuke decided it didn't want to run anymore. Initially, I thought I'd run out of gas. Figured the timing was perfect since I was waiting for traffic to turn into the gas station. I just pushed it into the lot, switched to reserve and hit the starter.....

Nothing. Not even a click. Turned the ignition off, turned it back on.....

Even worse. No electrical at all.

A fellow rider in his cage stopped to give me a hand. As long as we had the jumper cables connected, the bike started and ran. As soon as we took them off, it just sputtered and died.

Guess I'll be spending my Tuesday off trying to figure out where the problem is. I'm hoping it's just a bad battery. Maybe a cell fried? The battery is only two years old but, I had it on a tender all winter. Or maybe a ground problem? It was weird that sometimes the lights would work when I turned the key on but other times they wouldn't. Hopefully, I'll know more by Tuesday night. With any luck, I'll be "biker waving" again by the end of the week!

Maybe it's the perfect opportunity to convince my wife we need that new Victory Vision instead of remodeling the house? *yeah right!* She said that she prefers the Vision to a Wing. I'm not going to complain. I like the Vision and, honestly, it fits my short legs the best out of every touring bike I've sat on (Harley, BMW, Goldwing, etc.).

[Wrider]

Check the connections to the battery. They may seem clean, but brush them off anyway and clamp them down good.

And that Vision isn't bad. I don't know what people get so worked up about, it's got the styling of a sportbike in a tourer.

[Scoutmedic]

Thanks Wrider. I'll definitely clean everything up and tighten everything up. I'm actually hoping that's the problem.

I've liked the Vision since it came out. My wife and I both like that it's "different". I don't want the same thing as the people I'm riding with. Kind of want to stand out in the crowd.

[Scoutmedic]

Well, sadly, I don't think it's the battery. I pulled it out tonight and there were no signs of corrosion and everything was tight when I removed it. I'm keeping it out tonight and on the charger "just because" and will polish up the terminals just to be on the safe side before I reinstall it tomorrow. Time to start trouble shooting I'm afraid. *sigh*

[Scoutmedic]

Well, something worked. I cleaned up the terminals, kept it on the charger over night, reinstalled it and it fired right up like there hadn't been any problem at all.

Still a little skeptical about taking it down the rode solo for a bit. I'm going to keep it off the battery tender for the week and start it up at least once each day to make sure things are still good. Towards the weekend or early next week, if everything still seems fine, I'll call a friend up to go for a test run.

[noodlenoggin]

You might have it licked. I've had my bike/car/van absolutely refuse to run until I cleaned the terminals with steel wool and baking soda, and wrenched the cables on tighter'n tight. Then, I'd never have another problem with it.

[Scoutmedic]

It's about time for the bike to start giving me fits. It's like anything else in life. Once it's paid off, it starts to cost you more than the payments were!

[jstark47]

Still a little skeptical about taking it down the rode solo for a bit. I'm going to keep it off the battery tender for the week and start it up at least once each day to make sure things are still good. Towards the weekend or early next week, if everything still seems fine, I'll call a friend up to go for a test run.

Remember though if you keep starting it up but only run it a few minutes at idle, you're draining the battery. A lot of bikes need the engine at sustained higher revs to put charge into the battery.

[Scoutmedic]

Thanks! The S50 has a generator to recharge the battery rather than an alternator so, I'm assuming what you say would be true of my bike. I misspoke when I said "start". What I meant by starting it was actually turning the ignition on to make sure I still have power rather than actually starting it and shutting it back off.