Howdy fellas!
My wife and I are owners to a brand new to us XLH 883 sportster...its a 1998, with 7,631 miles on it. Now I bought it yesterday, and rode it 120 miles back home. Everything worked great, rode fine, except the second time I tanked up (still unsure with the small tank how far is o.k.) it didn't start back up, because the battery was dead? It is a new battery, but now I am about to start diagnosing. I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas on what the fix was right off the bat before I start crawling into this. It push started after about 2 feet, this thing runs like a top, and I'm pleased with it. Just seeing if anyone has a quick "oh that happened to me" type deal. Thanks for the help guys!

~Phil

 

Loose battery cables are a relatively common cause of this. Check the ground posts on the engine too.

 

my 1995 883 sportster is 2.25 gal my bike gets 52 miles a gal so i go between 80 to 90 miles b4 i stop that gives me a little extra in tank b4 i turn to reserve

 

Yeah, usually happens after "new battery was installed" by the owner

Loose terminals.

 

Yeah keep an eye on your fuel level. I have a 3.3 gallon tank and earlier today while riding around and tuning my carb I ran low on fuel and my bike kept dying out. At first I thought the carb was giving me trouble but I just had it running a bit rich so it was drinking gas faster than usual. Flipped it over to reserve, leaned the mixture a bit and voila. It also runs a lot better now and it's not all "boggy" running.

 

I agree ,check your battery connections both ends,on the 03 and earlier models the battery is hard to get at,as you will find out

 

Another possibility: my '95 would stall at random times, just die. I would turn it all the way off, then turn it on and it worked great again. It was the ignition switch where you put the key in. Got a new one and never had the problem again.

 

Great thanks everyone! Once the two crazy mini versions of me are down tonight we will go out and check that! Thanks a lot guys!