My bike is an 04, I never used a battery tender and is stored in a non heated garage. Just wondered what theaverage life expectancy of a stock battery is. For some thing that sits as much as it does it seems as though harley uses a pretty good battery. I have never had a problem with starting my bike after storing it. Knock on wood.

 

Well, I always heard 5 years, and that's if your lucky. I have original batt and it's an 05 so at least 3 years, lol!

 

I bought an 01 EGC in Sept 01. Wrecked it in 02.
Pulled battery and it sat on back porch ( no heat) til this time last year.
It still had 4.79 volts in it. charged it up and it started the bike several times last summer.
Then developed an oil supply problem and haven't had time to look into it.
Then this winter it has been one thing after another.

But I agree they use a good battery.
My understanding is the battery is made by Yuasa. But have no proof of that.

Well needed new snow blower this year $800
needed new pellet stove $1200
Now the damn washer went out going to be $200 or $300 for that.
so bike is on hold once again.

 

My experience is that the EFI bikes drain down a battery faster than the Carb ones do. Regardless, I use a battery Tender all the time to be sure it is in peak shape when I head out. Nothing sucks more than a bike that won't start. I have sevearl collector cars that don't get driven much. The batteries always use to crap out in a couple years. Now with Battery Tenders on them, they last 5-6 easy. So I figured if it worked that good on the cars, it would do the same for the bike!! Besides, they don't cost much anyway!!

 

Frequently these batteries will go out with no warning that they are going bad. Last summer the wife and I headed out on a ride on my 02 Dyna, got about 15 miles out of town and the battery just died. Got ahold of my brother-in-law to come out with a trailer, but while the bike was sitting on the side of the road a freak gust of wind came up and blew it over on its right side. Got the bike into the shop and found out the battery going dead also took out the stator. Between the repairs from it blowing over (right hand grip and mirror were broken, along with badly scuffed saddle bag), and getting the stator replaced I ended up with nearly a $1200 bill....all because I didn't replace the $90 battery sooner.

Mechanics at my shop told me many of there regulars replace their battery every 3 years. I used to do that on previous bikes, but decided to see if I could get more on the Dyna....won't do that again, I'll be replacing mine every 3 years religiously from now on.

 

Get a new one, nothing worse than a battery dying while on the road. I had one go dead while on the fwy going 75 mph, hit gas, no go; luckly I was on the slow lane close to an exit. Had to wait on the side of the road for help from my brother at 0200. I get a new battery needit or not avery 3 yrs. The hassle is not woth the aggrevation or the danger you might encounter.
Ride safe, ride hard.

 

So is the Harley brand battery the way to go?

I keep both bikes on a tender all the time and this morning I went to pull the Fatboy out, light was green, and all that happen was click, click. It started perfectly last week. Admittedly the battery is old but I dont ride the FB much but the SG motor is in pieces waiting on HQ shipment. So there is the food for thought - that battery lasted forever on the tender 5 yrs but when it died it died. Think I will be replacing my SG at 3 yr intervals to avoid a breakdown in Big Bend or a wheat field in KS.

 

"Battery Tender" is actually a brand name and the one HD sells is a made by Battery Tender. It really doesn't matter what brand of trickle charger you use they all do the same thing.

They will definately help your battery last longer. I got 6 years out of my Ultra battery. All my bikes have a tender hooked up.

 

I am well aware of the HD tender just being a "Battery Tender" in more expensive clothing. I have 1 of each, the HD 1 was given to me as a gift.

I was asking about brand of battery. Its been 6-7 years since I have had to buy a battery.

 

I live in Colorado. My 04 Softail sits in an unheated garage. Bought it in Oct 03. 34,000 miles. Still on the original battery. My buddy's 03 EG Standard sits in an unheated garage. Over 30,000 miles. Still on it's original battery. Neither of us use battery tenders.