Untill what temperature your battery still starts bike?

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mrefaat

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Now that it is getting into the single digits, I m wondering what's your experience with the bike battery? When will it give up?
i have a Harley night rod special stock, and will be riding to work until the battery no longer starts due to cold.
I would like to know what's the lowest temperature your battery survived?
or is there a way to measure the drop in charge?

at home I keep the battery on the tender, but at work there is no possibility to hook it up so it will be in the parking lot for 8 hrs let's say.

wondering what's your experience.
Obviously I ll quit when it dips below 0, but above that, am I OK or is too risky?
thnx
 
I'd love to know too as I plan to ride as much as I can into the winter

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With the bike sitting at -5 and below for long periods of time, it usually takes a couple cranks + giving it some throttle while starting up for my cbr125.

Lowest I've gone was probably -10 where I turned back cause the wind froze my hands after about 5 mins of riding at the time (no heated gear).

If it gets really cold and it sounds like my battery might fail at one point or another, I bring my trickle charger to school just in case :P. I haven't had my battery fail me after I got a new one 2 years ago.

I don't know how hard it is to take a battery out for a Harley, but a Phillips head and an allen key is enough for me to take it out :P

I usually give up riding when snow starts sticking to the ground or when it rains and its below 1 or 2 degrees.
 
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I've never had it cold enough for the battery to be a problem on any bike (never owned a harley though). Some bikes are cold blooded and don't like to start in the cold, but a few seconds with a spark plug wrench and a torch normally gets almost anything to fire.
 
Have had one start in -20c with 0 issue, was carb'd too.
 
I used to ride a Hurricane 600 all yr round, I was 18, didn't have a car, and rode it every day regardless of weather.....85,000 kms in 3 yrs. CArbed bike, neglected, and always started and ran well.
 
Did -15 once on a GS500F (carbbed). Incredibly hard to start but it eventually started
 
omnivore said:
I used to ride a Hurricane 600 all yr round, I was 18, didn't have a car, and rode it every day regardless of weather.....85,000 kms in 3 yrs. CArbed bike, neglected, and always started and ran well.
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hurricane 600 at 18. that bike was blacklisted by insurance. how did you get it insured. insurance was like $5000
 
I was 17 yrs old back in 1990, I bought a a 1 yr old 89 CBR 600 that was rashed with low miles. PAid $3000 for the bike, insurance in my own name was a mere $430/yr full coverage.

Even though the average CDN income has doubled since then, insurance has gone up more than 10x.

My 21 yr old son has a 96 YZF 600 that he can't insure. His last quote was $13,000/yr...clean record, drivers ed, his own car in his own name for the past few yrs. Insurance is ridiculous these days.
 
Mines good to about 5 degrees C but it's one of those new fancy lithium batteries. If I know i'm going to be riding in the morning and it's going to be cold overnight I bring the battery inside. Started my bike like a champ when I did that, even when it was -26c outside (car wouldn't start, but bike unfortunately did :( ).
 
The battery in my 650R starts the bike even at -20C and I've never put it on a tender and store the bike outside all winter. Starts up fine every spring.
 
omnivore said:
I was 17 yrs old back in 1990, I bought a a 1 yr old 89 CBR 600 that was rashed with low miles. PAid $3000 for the bike, insurance in my own name was a mere $430/yr full coverage.

Even though the average CDN income has doubled since then, insurance has gone up more than 10x.

My 21 yr old son has a 96 YZF 600 that he can't insure. His last quote was $13,000/yr...clean record, drivers ed, his own car in his own name for the past few yrs. Insurance is ridiculous these days.
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That is ridiculous when I was 19 (3yr ago) I got quoted way less on a CBR within the same year range. Even now at 22 I got a quote for CBR 1100XX for about $5000. Has he checked with TD/Intact?
 
I think he only called one or two companies and was quickly dissuaded.

Again, as a father, I tried to encourage my son to ride my wife's Ninja 20 for a season or teo first, to get his feet wet. But being a young male, he of course wanted a "cool bike". And I understand where he is coming from. I got a |CBR600 at 17...however, Darwin and his boys should have gotten me a thousand times before I was 21. I did so many dumb things on 2 wheels, so I was just trying to help my son, with my experience and voice of reason.

So his YZF is now becoming a vintage racebike instead,LOL
 
Vintage???? My 96 YZF600R is still running on the street and will be doing so till about -15C or when the snow hits. I've ridden it till around -10 to -15 and haven't had issues with the batt starting it.

I get a good price on my ins., but then again I'm a bit older than your 21yr old son. :D
 
Riceburner said:
Vintage???? My 96 YZF600R is still running on the street and will be doing so till about -15C or when the snow hits. I've ridden it till around -10 to -15 and haven't had issues with the batt starting it.

I get a good price on my ins., but then again I'm a bit older than your 21yr old son. :D
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What's the mileage on that thing?
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