[mruiz31]

Bought one of the "internet deal" '03 1800 R's last July. The bike spent the Winter in my heated basement. I only had 2500 miles on it this Spring. I noticed what appeared to be a weak battery. The bike would barely turn over at first and then would seem to "catch" and turn over fast enough that it should have started, but wouldn't. I attached a battery tender, but the battery would only take a minute or two to show a full charge. I thought about doing the ground fix, but pulled the battery and had it tested at Advance Auto. Their machine said the battery needed replaced. I tended to believe the machine would naturally lean toward replacement since they are in the business of selling parts, but bought a replacement anyway. After about an hour of initial charging, installed the battery and bike fired like it should. I'm not arguing with success, but I'm really having a hard time with such a new, relatively unused battery going bad. Do the batteries come with new bikes in the crate or does the dealer supply a battery? Could this just be a case of bad luck or is there something I should have done different concerning the maintenance over the Winter. I have an '01 Valk with original battery and it still works like new. I have both bikes stored in the same place and have never used a battery tender over the Winter. I do pull them outside on nice days and fire them up for a while. Sorry this is so long, but I am somewhat stumped on this one.

 

[CRUZR]

I just had to replace my battery. I too have an '03 and got it last July ('04) and yes the batteries are from '03. The dealer replaced it under warranty. The worst part was they wanted to charge it first and I had to go back later in the day to get it. Solved the problem.

Go see the dealer,
Gary

 

[silvervtx04s]

You should have made a trip to a dealer, the OEM battery has a one year warranty.