I'm a complete rookie (just bought the bike yesterday) so please be patient...

Bike was idling but I'd forgotten to turn the fuel on so it just died. I'm an idiot so I just sat there turning it over forever, trying to figure out what happened. Eventually I called someone and they reminded me to turn the fuel on. At that point I turned it over a few more times but it still wouldn't start, and now the starter just clicks (pretty sure I killed the battery).

The bike has basically been garaged for several years, only ridden occasionally, so I assume the battery's pretty old. Should I just go ahead and replace it? Can I jump it off like a car battery? Can I jump it off from a car?

Also, is there any reason the engine might not have started right back up once I remembered to turn the fuel back on? I turned the throttle when starting it to put some fuel back into it, but I was afraid of flooding it so it may not have been enough. How do I know if I've flooded it?

Sorry, I realize what an idiot I sound like here. Never ridden a bike before yesterday so I guess I have a little bit of an excuse.
Oh yeah- bike is a 99 Dyna Lowrider. Thanks all.

 

Do not use a car, or a car battery to jump. You could damage other componants of the charging system if you do.
Hook the battery up to a charger suitable for a motorcycle battery and recharge it.
If you have put fuel in the bike, once you get the battery charged, it should start. Don't forget to use your enrichener.

 

Do you know how old the fuel is that's in the bike? If not, it's a good bet that the fuel is a few years old too. You might need to replace it. Also if it was left in the bike it could have gummed up the carb.

 

You may even be on reserve and not know it. Let's start over.

1) Charge the battery and check the spark plugs (likely change).
2) Drain tank, fill the tank with fresh gas.
3) Pull choke
4) Turn on gas.
5) Start it up.
6) Turn off choke.
7) Put on brain bucket and Go for a ride.

 

It was possible for the battery to have enough power to turn over the motor but not enough to fire the plugs too.

As suggested above, check/clean/replace plugs and charge/replace battery then try restart.

Good luck!

 

I want to sort of duplicate that advice. Don't use a running car to jump the bike. It's okay to jump with the car's battery, just don't start the car first or while the bike is hooked up to it.

 

Took the advice and got er' started up again. Thanks all.

 

Get a battery tender, you'll need it for the winter anyway. Get one that plugs into a SAE connector and has the harness to put on the battery to connect it to the battery. New Harleys come with it and it makes life a world easier. Getting jumper cables on a bike battery is a pain in the rump. Generally you have to pull the battery, charge it and put it back on the bike. With the SAE connector you just plug it into the tender, leave it to charge overnight and start it in the morning.

If it's like an 883 sportster you can just push start it. Just put it in 6th gear, get a running start, pop the clutch out and pull it right back in. If you're a big guy you might try it with a 700 pound bike, but, personally, I wouldn't. If you have a hill nearby you can try pushing it down that, hop on it and try turning it over. The problem with that approach is if it doesn't start then you're stuck at the bottom of a hill. I made that mistake once with the fuel turned off and it was a sob to get it back up the hill to try again.