Battery Tender Testimonial

[kjax909]

I've always believed in my battery tender and have used it regularly--but now i know they work. When I bought my '02 R1150R in Nov '02, I promptly parked my previous ride (an '82 KZ1000 LTD) and haven't ridden it since. Today, I finally went into the garage to ressurect it as I may be purchasing a sidecare for it and wanted to make sure it would even run (blue book on it ia about $400). When I parked it I pulled the battery an left it in the garage. For the past 3 1/2 yrs i have switched my battery tender between the BMW and my KZ battery--and not very religiously. That battery may have gone a month or more w/o a charge. And it was 3 years old when I parked the old bike (but always on the battery tender until the R took precedence). Startying a bike that's been sitting that long takes quite a bit of cranking, but the battery held up fine, started the bike and still had plenty of juice to run by 12V air pump to fill the tires. Amazing.

And as a sidelight, say what you will about Japanese bikes, but my extensive storage protocol in '03 called for filling the gas tank to the brim, pulling the battery, draining the carb float bowls, and throwing a cover over it. that's it-a grueling 10 minutes And it started (w/ all fresh gas, about 1/3 of the tank had evaporated and I drained the rest) in less than a minute of cranking.