This is one of those ” lost posts” I forgot to put out. Playing a Catch up these days so, here it is. Life is starting to normalize a little so hopefully, posts will start flowing again. -NICK
It constantly amazes me how things that were at one time second nature suddenly don’t even register it the aging grey matter that is my brain. As the winter “riding” season continues and the weather becomes increasingly crappy, many motorcycles find themselves in a state of hibernation. In other words, a lot of bikes are parked for a long time because we don’t want to be cold… we are so hard core!! In the past, this was not a huge problem for me… pull the bike in the heated garage, plug in the battery tender, and pop out every so often to fire it up. Easy peasy. Or so you’d think.
My former ride was a Vstar 650, and I loved that bike. However during one winter parked in the garage, that wonderful bike came close to leaving me in a ball of fire. I got lucky that day. I walked into the garage to check on and fire the bike up when I smelled that horrible plastic burning smell. First thing I checked was my bike and, sure enough, the tender had shorted or blown or just given up on life because the case was starting to deform and it was HOT! After disconnecting the bike and checking the charge in the battery (ended up changing it out to be sure) I took the tender apart and found the transformer inside had shorted. Some of my Harley riding buddies joked that it happened because my Harley Davidson tender was trying to kill my Yamaha motorcycle. All joking aside, it brings to light the fact that using a battery tender is NOT a “set it and forget it” operation.
This is 2020.. or it was.. It’ now January but things in my life have changed dramatically. One of those things is: I live in a condo now. I just heard a collective laugh from all you folks with a lovely garage to work in… thanks for that! I’ll just have to console myself with a lovely ocean view while sipping my coffee on the balcony when I have one of those stay at home days. The point I was trying to make is.. I have nowhere to plug in a tender for the winter. Is this a disaster? Nope.. Is it inconvenient.. hell ya. What’s a guy to do?
As I see it I have two basic options, Ride the bike or pull the battery and keep it charged upstairs in the condo. The thing I don’t like about option 2 is simple… the bike won’t get fired up if the battery is upstairs which can also be detrimental to my baby. The thing I don’t like about option 1 is…. well, nothing really. Commuting in wet, single digit temperatures is not, in my humble opinion a great plan but, going out for a good spin on one of my days off while it’s a tad warmer works fine for me. We don’t even need to lie to our significant others about going for a ride: “Really hun, the battery needs a charge and it’s good for the engine and transmission… gotta protect OUR investment”
When I moved into my condo, I never gave a second thought to charging my bike. Not actually having a bike might have contributed to me not thinking about it at the time but, I have a bike now and hopefully have found a way to deal with my off season charging issue. Seriously though, worst case scenario… I need to pull my battery and charge it before going for a ride… there are worse things in life. Having a bike with a messed up engine certainly sits high on THAT list. So, I’ll be heading downstairs soon to fire up my GS and go for a ride… in winter so that it’s all ready to go in the spring. If I take care of my bike, It’ll take care of me. It may not have the tender… but I know it loves me!! (I actually felt your eyes roll!!)
Get out there and have some fun
Nick
SeeNickRide 