When I was deployed, my bike sat for many months and once I came home and the battery was completly dead. I charged it up and it seemed fine after that.
I bought a Battery Tender (finally) and keep the batt topped up.

Question is...the battery is never fully charged and takes about an hour to get there, even when I just turn the lights on for a moment. Is the battery going dead?

 

It may have a dead cell. I wouldn't trust it. You don't want to be stuck away from home with a dead battery.

 

..how does it seem when you start the bike now? does it struggle to crank it over? or does it seem nice and strong when you crank the starter?...I wouldn't change the battery just because the trickle charger shows a red light for a while until going green..I think the trickle will almost always do that when first hooked up...a battery might be at 95% but if you hook up the trickle it wants to get to 100% so it shows red...but that doesn't mean the battery is no good...It looks like from your sig that the battery is only 1-2 years old...should be still good in my opinion...have it load tested at an indy shop to be sure if u want...thanks for your service by the way..

 

My battery is 3.5 years old and use a tender.... when i leave it off for a week or so then i connect the tender it the Idiot lights go from yellow to green in about 1 minute...If it started taking more than 15 or 20 minutes i would change it...

 

The worst thing you can do to a battery is let it completely discharge. For peace of mind change it.

 

Once a battery is allowed to completely drain, that's when you start loosing cells. Replace the battery.

 

Since it's under warranty, I think I'll just get it changed out. Gives me another excuse to ride it anyway!

 

My dealer told me the battery only had a 6 mo warranty. I hope he was wrong.

 

I bought my 09 Classic in Sept 09 and on a hot day in Aug 2010 the battery died,a shorted cell i think.I was 200 miles away from home and the local dealer came and picked me up(15 mins from closing time)and had me back on the road in 45 mins,No charge.

 

If you don't get a new battery then invest in a kick starter kit if they're still available.