I vote for this as well. It's the easiest thing to check first, and if it wouldn't start after a full night on a tender, I'm willing to bet the issue here is the battery.

2 scenarios that would cause this dead battery - #1, prior owner didn't ride it for a moth or 2 before selling, and the battery ran down.

#2, willing to bet this is what happened if it has security - bike was put on truck without being put in trailer mode and the security system ran the battery down.

Once the battery is discharged to the point that it can't start the bike, it's never the same and needs to be replaced.

 

Your starter motor pulls a hell of a lot more amperage than the electrical accessories. Sounds like a new battery is in your future.

 

Sounds like it could be the battery but you said it was jumping between 12 and 15 volts while riding. That could be a loose cable.

 

As others have said, make sure you turn the run switch to "run", replace both bike battery and key fob battery, fire it up and ride.

rk classic.

 

Loose cables or bad battery.

 

you should check the charging system next time you get is started ....once it running ...put a volt meter across the battery ....slowly increase rpm's to about 2000 ....should show a little over 14 volts ....if it's not changing at all might be issue with voltage regulator/stator ....
if all that checks put ...replace the battery ...as many here have stated before ...

 

Mine's a '79, thank you. I just replaced the battery. It was 5 years old. The one before that went 7.
This latest one showed 12.3 volts at rest. Turn the key on and hit the starter, it went down to 2. Looked inside it, and it was pretty dry. Last fall, it still turned over okay, and started okay, but the turn signals were slow, and you could kinda tell it was ready. With this new battery, you don't even hear it turn over before it's running.
So...OP, get a new battery. You'll find out how tight the connections are when you do it, and besides, that one has been deep-cycled anyway.

 

it was on "run" and key in right position....and I already have picked up a battery and planned to either way, was just more concerned about it doing NOTHING this morning. again was curious if that could in fact be the battery. I have had bad batteries before but I always got a click or sluggish turnover etc...never has it done nothing.

 

If it is really done, you might not get a click or anything. It might even show enough voltage, but you won't have enough current to do anything but run accessories.

 

new battery purchased and will try when I get home...hopefully that will do it...