Spring Fever: Time to Get the Bike Ready!
by Brian Zerkel aka Schumacher
With the weather warming up in most of the country, now is a great time to get you motorcycle ready for this riding season. Even if you ride year round, there are still things you should check out every so often.
We’ll start with the battery, since it’s the number one problem riders have with letting their bike sit. A lot of riders–including myself–use a battery tender such as the ones sold by Deltran. Simply hook your battery up, and it’ll stay at top charge all winter long. For those of you who don’t use a tender, a good charge to the battery will be in order. Unless it has a setting of two amps or less, never use a car battery charger. Anything higher will ruin your battery, and as we all know, nothing is getting cheaper.
Because there are so many variables which factor into battery life, there’s no definitive answer on how long one will last. My advice? Keep your motorcycle on a battery tender year round, and you’ll see signs of weakness long before your bike strands you.