Harley Davidson - Street Bob 2016 - increased starting time

Question

After some spring-rides, I've noticed that my Street Bob needs more time to get started (especially when the engine is cold).

Despite the fact that the bike:

• was stored in a very dry and warm place
• was fuelled by a fuel-stabilizer
• the batterie was taken out and charged from time to time
• had a service recently

First ride szenario after winter:

My Harley has not been started for alomost 6 months during winter time, but the very first time it could be started pretty quickly as usually. I let it running for almost 1 minute then switch it off and after 10 minutes approximately I tried to start it again, but this time there was no chance to get it started. I finally could start it by using a truck as starting-help.

Since this incident my Harley got a 15000 mile-service a few days ago and run without any problems...but...although the starting time did not increase dramatically, it increased noticeably nonetheless. Could you tell me what might be the reason for this "starting delay"? Could it be the fuel-filter, but my mechanic didn't find any possible problems concerning this filter or other engine-parts. Thank you!

Answer 1

It turned out that, although the batterie was built out and loaded from time to time during the winter, it had not enough capacity to start my bike even if my bike just rested more than a few days in the garage. This was also the actual problem concerning the increased starting time.

My personal tip to everyone:

During the winter, always load your battery frequently for a whole day or several days even if your charger shows “everything is ok and charged”. On my charger all lights were green (“fully charged”) but this does not mean that your battery is really charged properly as it should be. And all chargers might not be suitable to Harley batteries either.