YamaDuck Posted April 3, 2011 #1 Posted April 3, 2011 How embarrassing! Today a large group of us went to a restaurant in a neighboring state. About 350 miles round trip from my house. There were a mixture of bikes but mostly Harley's and the Harley's came with their usual attitude. Not all but of few. I ride the only bike there is... a Harley. I politely offered to show them another bike (my Venture) every time I heard that statement. The Victory riders, the Honda Goldwing riders, The Raider riders and yes the other Venture rider all took it without a rebuttal but not I. I was proud of my Venture. I was tailgunner of the 16 bikes because I had a working CB. Everything was fine and dandy until the last stop for gas. Everyone was saddled up and waiting for me to give them the OK. Well guess what. My battery died. I could just hear those Harley guys saying to themselves that Japanese piece of ___________ (I'll let each of you fill in the blank). Well 3 of the Yamaha guys got off their bikes and gave me a push and she started right up. Now we are going down the road and my stereo stars braking up and I realize I haven't heard the usual chatter on the CB. So I call and no answer. I turn off the CB and the radio cleared up. So now I can't figure out what happened to the CB. After a while since the leader had not heard from me in a while they decided to pull over to see if I was still with them and of course I was. I did not shut off the Venture as I was afraid it would not crank but it sat there and idled just fine. We decided since I was having problems and could not talk to anyone it was not wise to keep me in the rear and a member with a Harley turned on his CB and off we went. Well his CB did not work either so there we were again. After one more stop with me leaving mine running while we all too a break we headed home. I took the battery out of my 2001 and put it in my 2000 and everything seems to work as it should. So I'll probably NEVER live this one down with the Harley group.
Aussie Annie Posted April 3, 2011 #2 Posted April 3, 2011 Yeah, but you RODE it home as apposed to havin' to trailer the HD
MidlifeVenture Posted April 3, 2011 #4 Posted April 3, 2011 I hate people who criticize for what you ride all that maters is your doing what you want on what you like.
Snaggletooth Posted April 3, 2011 #5 Posted April 3, 2011 As far as the CB.....look and see if somebody stuck a pin though your coax to. That was an old trick to shut somebuddy up in the old days.
Mariner Fan Posted April 3, 2011 #6 Posted April 3, 2011 My battery just took a dump. One minute it's good then it's not.....Things happen with bikes...Hope yours is as simple as a battery replacement...
TearlessTom Posted April 3, 2011 #7 Posted April 3, 2011 Similar thing happened to me, My Honda wouldn't start while I was at the HD dealer to pick up some parts I had ordered. Had to leave it and come back later to pick it up. Fortunately I knew what the problem was . It was that starter switch had gotten some moisture in it when I had washed it and it was grounding out. Shot some WD 40(that was all I had with me) in it to displace the water and it fired right up. Still very embarrassing!
Freebird Posted April 3, 2011 #8 Posted April 3, 2011 I had the exact same thing happen on my '99 a couple of years ago. Right down to the CD breaking up when I tried to use it. In my case, it was indeed the battery.
gibvel Posted April 3, 2011 #9 Posted April 3, 2011 So I'll probably NEVER live this one down with the Harley group. Just tell them the battery took a dump. Tell them it was a Harley battery and that if it was a Yuasa that wouldn't have happened.
bongobobny Posted April 3, 2011 #10 Posted April 3, 2011 Yah! The fact that the bike kept running all the way home suggests it was the battery and not the charging system that took a dump. If the charging system went bad it would have been a matter of time before you would have to take the Harley express home (trailer it) as without recharging the headlight alone would have toasted any charge left in the battery...
YamaDuck Posted April 3, 2011 Author #11 Posted April 3, 2011 I took the battery out of my 2001 and put it in my 2000MM and everything works fine even the CB. I don't know why a weak battery causes the CB to act up but it did. I figured everything should work fine until I shut her off.
bongobobny Posted April 4, 2011 #12 Posted April 4, 2011 A bad battery will load down the charging system causing overall lower system voltage causing the CB to not function properly but not kill the bike...
muaymendez1 Posted April 4, 2011 #13 Posted April 4, 2011 I too went riding with a HOG chapter. They were cool with me riding and I did get poked a bit but i made up for it in riding ability. Too bad our ride was cut short due to a huge pothole. 2 guys down and to the hospital they went. The 1st to lay it down was of little experience and when he went down the guy behind couldnt stop in time and ran into him. Both were breathing and concious. Still waiting on news of thier whereabouts. Sorry off track. The harley guys wanted to know why i was revving my engine so high. I asked him why his engine looked as if it wanted to jump out of the bike.
YamaDuck Posted April 4, 2011 Author #14 Posted April 4, 2011 A bad battery will load down the charging system causing overall lower system voltage causing the CB to not function properly but not kill the bike... Thanks that explains it. I guess that makes since. I kinda figured something like that must be going on.
YamaDuck Posted April 4, 2011 Author #15 Posted April 4, 2011 I too went riding with a HOG chapter. They were cool with me riding and I did get poked a bit but i made up for it in riding ability. Too bad our ride was cut short due to a huge pothole. 2 guys down and to the hospital they went. The 1st to lay it down was of little experience and when he went down the guy behind couldnt stop in time and ran into him. Both were breathing and concious. Still waiting on news of thier whereabouts. Sorry off track. The harley guys wanted to know why i was revving my engine so high. I asked him why his engine looked as if it wanted to jump out of the bike. I certainly hope and pray those two make a full recovery. One of the Harley guys has a old police cruiser and I guess he wanted to leave me every time we took off. I'll admit from the take off the Harley is quick but once I get out of 1st and into second and start winding it out and the RPM's get up there I would eat him up in 2nd, 3rd and 4th but we never got to 5th. These Ventures do run better at the higher RPM's.
muaymendez1 Posted April 4, 2011 #16 Posted April 4, 2011 My buddy has an old police cruiser and yes they do get off the line quicker but when they are ready to kick into second we are just getting into our power band.
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