It's been a long cold winter here in Chicagoland and I was quite ready to ride a couple of weeks ago when the weather shot up to the 60s. Alas, I hadn't been as vigilant as I should have been and the 5 year old battery was kaput. "Well" I said, "I'll just go buy me a new one." Doh! Bought the battery, filled the fluid, put the batter on charge for the recommended 20 hours at 1.5 amps. Battery charged, replaced, bolts tightened, and... nothing. No response at all. Well that just tears it. This weekend I'm takin' it to the dealer and letting him play with it. I'm no mechanic and even if I was I just don't have the time or patience to deal with this sort of thing. No doubt it's something trivial, but it would take me two weeks to figure it out and another 2 weeks fixing the holes in the garage walls where the wrenches flew. The moral of the story: keep the *%#$@@ battery on a charger over the winter if you're too *#$@@ lazy to go out once a week and start the poor beast.
I hate winter in Illinois... and Indiana... and Michigan... and Wisconsin... and....