Well, this is my first post since joining. Yesterday, I went down to the Lowell Ma. RMV, took my road test, passed no problem. Almost TOO easily. So I'm riding home and along comes this HUGE pot hole. Nowhere to go. Lift my a$$ off the seat so I don't get the wind knocked out of me, then BOOM, tink tink tink. I look behind me and my battery cover popped off. When I rescued it from the middle of the street and cars flying by it, it was junk. Scratched and gouged to hell. Needs some filler to repair. Now the questions I have are, is this common among 2004 and up Sporties? And if it is, are there any aftermaket clips for it that are stronger then the cheap, freekin plastic clips that are on there? I am bidding on a cover on ebay, but have a feeling this may happen again.Thanks for any help I recieve.

 

ı lıve ın Turkey and roads are really full of holes , after some tıme you get used to ıt here
ı have a 2005 custom and my battery cover ıs so solıd that smtımes ı have dıffıcultıes takıng ıt out when ı need to .
Never had a problem , maybe ıt was just a coıncıdence man .
enjoy your rıde

 

I have a chrome cover that you could not get off with a torch. It is held on by the band that holds the battery in place.

 

The battery cover on the rubber mounts is a known problem. There was a recall or TSB on it, and Harley redesigned the clips. The new clips are gray instead of black and are supposed to be more secure. Unfortunately, the gray one's suck as well. Mine came off even with the new clips. HD apparantly didn't have any bolts laying around the company to properly secure the cover.
I removed my front clip and secure the cover with a zip tie. I keep a couple of extra ties inside the cover in case I need to access the battery for some roadside service.
In case I forgot, the clips suck. That's my only complaint with this bike, so overall no big deal.

 

I have an 04 1200 custom. Had the same problem. I now have the GREY clips with not any more problems.
Note as insurance. I have a black HD, I added 3 layers of good black electrical tape to the Cover it self

 

Since you put it in CAPS, I assume you're attempting to correct me?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gray

Just FYI...

 

f-freek, there's 2 on ebay right now. Search: sportster battery cover, -chrome

 

Had the same thing happen to my dad when i let him barrow it. But when mine popped off it also caused a short and the bike wouldn't run. I took it to the dealor and as they fixed the short they also ordered me a new battery cover. They said the clips must have been bad. It shouldn't pop off so easy. So i would talk to them about it. (my bike is still under warranty, that might have to do with it).

 

Yeah.... I have chrome covers and the battery one was loose. I ran some electrical tape around the top part of the clip and no more problems.

I agree with XL OCD... you would think a screw or two would be the way to go....

Charlie D.

 

I've never had a problem with mine.