Now the battery

Thanks for the suggestions. I went home and hooked up the battery to a charger. The charger had a special switch for starting a dead engine. When I flipped the switch and more power was sent into the bike, it started with no problem. Funny thing, I just bought that battery. Anyway, what specs should I look for when buying a battery? 1.8, 1.4 ...some even show 2.0 . What is the highest output that I should get without frying out the electrical system?

-Justin

Woah, stop the wagons for a minute here.

Let's look at it logically so you do not throw parts at it until you stumble across the fix.

You just bought a battery right? Was it a quality battery or $39.99 special? Was it a YB16B Yumicron / YTX20H-BS series? Unless you have a bad battery or boiled it dry, if it is dead, the problem is not the battery but the charging system or, you drained it trying to start the bike without recharging.

Trouble shooting problems is a process of elimination. For electrical problems, you need a fully charged and servicable battery and you will want to have a charger handy. Without going into a ton of detail, the starter circuit is two separate circuits. The relay and the solenoid. Battery power is applied to the start switch and when pressed it sends power to the relay which closes and the battery power on it's normally open contacts sending power to the solenoid. The solenoid closes putting battery voltage to the starter. If any of these circuit are mariginal, wiring bad, frayed or the battery cables are original it will cause problems. The 89 to 93 starters were some of the best because the gear ratio was good and the gear reduction starters are far better than what we had before.

Before you think starter problems, figure out what the battery is dead. The are numerous threads about trouble shooting charging systems you can find by using the search box above.

BTW, the best tool you can buy is the service manual. It has all the information you will need to trouble shoot.

Ah, a revived thread. Thanks CD on the battery tender(other thread), I have ordered 2, one for the bike and one for my "toy car/(Fiero)".
And Chucktx reminded me that a lot of batteries last only about 2 seasons because of the way they are used (Yet another thread ). Read "used" as battery abuse; short trips, long cranking after being parked for a week, and stored most of winter.
My bike was the worst to start and seemed to be getting worse. Cranking a long time, backfiring, etcetera, maybe slower and slower than before. I had been keeping it on a slow charger after it started cranking to a non starting try. My buddy said, here jump it from my car; vroom, it started instantly:witsend: . Slow crank = non start for my HOG.
I am picking up a battery the beginning of next week.

Surprise on price, support you dealer, I have been treated well by my dealer and I have felt like a needed customer. Redwood City, CA

Kragens'( same as Checkers I believe) $137 not in stock
Dealer $97, in stock.

Old battery 2003 so, 5 years is not really that bad but, the failure of sh1itty starting is a p3sser. It would crank for maybe 7 times without starting and then start failing to crank over . Starts fine with the new battery . Confusing....I am thinking, fail to start, jump it from the car and know that it is not a current issue, always.

I'm Like Afnurse, Have The Original Batt. From My O3' Even From Sitting For 4-5 Winters Now, And I Only Basicly Ride To Work And Back, Total Of Less Than 10 Miles, Still Fires Up Good, Even This Year After Sitting 7 Months, It Only Took About 4 Cranks To Get Her Fired Up. So If It Ever Dies, I'll Go Buy The Same Batt. From The Dealership, If It Will Work Good This Long, It Will Be Worth The Money.

Ditto sportsterboy. I replaced my 02 Road King battery early this year. I replaced it with the same Harley Battery. For the price anytime I get 6 years service I consider it a real bargin. My battery gave me fair warning it cranked slow and still started the bike but thats when I replaced it the next day. Al

Ultra Al is smarter than average, I will listen closely to cranking speed.

Since Where On Batteries, Can You Jump Your Bike With Cables From A Car? Will The Bike Still Run If You Disconect The Battery Like A Car?

my battery lasted about four years, one day i went to start the bike and nothing. it was parked next to the boat so i jump started it from there. had no cash but a wallyworld chargecard, so it know has a wallyworld battery in it been working good so far and was $67. as far as your alternater it is a permanet magnet type, it don't need a battery to make juice. i don't think you would burn out any thing if you ran with out a battery. you will not get a very well regulated current flow. it would blow bulbs and fuses when you rev it up and the lights would be very dim at an idle. not recommended.