Well yesterday I went and picked up my new to me 98 Shadow 1100T. Only 10,130 miles on it. Seller said he only rides it about once a month and that is around the block a couple times to keep it running. Said the battery was 3 years old and suggested I replace it as soon as possible. Bike started fine and ran great for about 20 miles!!. 91 freeway coming home I'm in the middle of rush hour traffic and in the #2 lane of a 5 lane highway and the bike goes DEAD, NOTHING, TOTALLY DEAD, so I have to push it across 3 lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder. Hit the starter and it just clicks. Called the seller to ask if this has ever happened to him and he said no but he felt bad so he bought a new battery and brought it out to me. Bike ran great the rest of the way home. Headlight stayed bright when at a stop and the bike started right up every time I started it so I think it was just a bad battery. It was late when I got home last night so I put it on a tender to completely charge the battery. I will check it with a volt meter today but with only 10,000 miles on the bike I doubt it is anything else
Easy enough to check charging system though...
You can do it by looking at the reflection of headlight in a tailgate ahead of you at the stop light OR before you take of for a ride or at a stop in the nightnight...
Rev and watch to see IF the light brightens...
IF it does, the system checks OK,
D
@joe in calif, Glad to hear it was not worse on that busy freeway at rush hour.
I used to ride HWY 91 to the beach cities in the 1960's from Riverside when I had my old 1962 305 Dream.
Only 2 lanes each way and not much heavy traffic.
Stay safe down there.
I checked it out today with a volt meter and it is charging like it should. Took a 19 mile ride to the DMV and got the title transferred and new tags, so I'm all set. The ride home from the DMV was 50 miles up over the mountain road!!
Sounds good so far. I had a battery die at a gas station after riding all day .I replaced it with a AGM $35 Battery Shark still good after two years.Now on both bikes.
Wow, the 91 brings back memories. When I was a kid, we had a cabin in Green Valley Lake, and school friends had cabins at Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear. We used to drive Artesia Blvd. from Torrance through Dairy Valley and what became the 91 was just a two lane road. I can't remember the name of that road but I remember riding a motorcycle over a rattle snake and the front wheel throwing it up around my highway bars. That road got really crowded on race weekends at Riverside. When they built the 91 Freeway, I was still in High School and had a brand new Firebird. I used to drive that Freeway at night at 120mph and there wasn't any traffic! When I moved to Chino in 1990, the traffic was getting pretty bad, and when I sold my home in Chino and got out of SoCal in 2010, the gridlock was nearly 24 hours a day. And with two HOV lanes in both directions on the 91, they'd change the rates to suit the amount of traffic. I remember it being about $11 on most weekdays for the afternoon commute.
I don't know how you were able to get the bike through all that and over to the side. Anyway, great looking bike and awesome find. I hope you have a lot of enjoyment from it.
A 1/2 can per 5 gallon mixture worked really well for the Valk within 3 mi. from fill up. Be persistent with Seafoam for a while until you are sure its running well. Can't let the Seafoam set and spoil @ $7 a can.
:wink2:
Batteries are strange things. The one in the Mistress lasted all of her running life( 12 years) Yet I have seen them die early and often.. Here hoping you got it beat!
Neon oil would be pretty handy to find an oil leak !
We used to use a dye in the oil or coolant, etc, that lights up with a black light to show leaks. It's also in A/C refrigerant nowadays.
Nuh_auni, no problem. I like seeing how things change from 1 subject to another, all in fun. Speaking of fun, did you hear the one about ______________________________ (fill in the blank) !!
the mushroom walks into a bar...
A mushroom goes into a bar and sits down to order a drink. The bartender walks over and says, ''I'm sorry sir, but we don't serve your kind here.''
The mushroom sits back and asks ,''Why not? I'm a fun guy (fungi)!
A man walks into a bar with a frog on his head and the bartender asks what is that. And the frog speaks up, and says "it all started with a growth on my butt". :roll:
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