Oh no, Mr. Bill (Ben)!

lets get on with it

Wonderful. That is usually what i have to say when i get good news. Great news in fact. I just found out that I did in fact buy a battery with a warranty!!! Wonderful. NAPA auto parts was more than accommodating when I called them and let them know that the battery that I bought from them less than 4 months ago was dying. They told me that the battery had a 12 month warranty, and even though I didn't have my receipt, they would be happy to give me a new battery on warranty. So in the same breath I must thank our wonderful Couchsurfer friend Katie from Galveston TX for letting me borrow her car to go and drop off the old battery and pick up the new one. Thanks Katie!!!!



In addition Jen and I decided that we would go ahead with the purchase of the battery tender. We decided on the Deltran Waterproof 800 battery tender. The idea is that whenever we have stopped at a city and are working on the bike, or on financing our trip, we can keep the bike's battery plugged in and keep it charged, but not overcharged. I have the new battery plugged in right now in Conroe TX.



That brings me to the final note of this post. We are in Connecticut right now. Jen's family brought us up here for the holidays! While we are here we are having our boots resoled with Vibram soles. This will give our cowboy boots the traction we need to get through the Andes, and the Amazon. While still looking good enough to attend dinner parties and work banquets, biker rallies, and paint the inside of a house. Like this interior we completed at our friend Jet's house. It is a western themed room with this great Blaze Folley picture hanging on the wall.

So let the reminiscing begin. We will be in Connecticut for 3 weeks. almost as long as we were on the road from Seattle to New Orleans. Have we told you about that trip yet???


Benjamin

Before we leave Texas.

The Yamaha xs500 came with an alternate kick start for the very good reason that one day it knew you would find its battery dead. The starter wants to turn the engine over, but just doesn't have the power to do so. Almost all motorcyclists have come across this situation, and the same goes for most car owners as well. Some reminiscent memory of the lights being on when you went inside, or my usually habit of forgetting to turn the key off, drifts to mind as you sit there, cold, on a dead battery. We are lucky to have the alternative kick start on days when the bike isn't fully loaded, but i can just imagine the nightmare of jumping up and down on the motorcycle trying to kick start it with all our gear strapped on.

I digress, we have been having an issue with the bike not wanting to start up right away. Getting on the motorcycle and starting it up is a sort of ritual. I always ask Jen to wait to get on until I have it started. Most days it starts just fine. Perfect in fact. Usually all I need to do is touch the starter button and the bike fires up. On cold days the choke becomes a factor, and getting the idle set just right is always an issue. Since we left Louisiana the bike has been hard to start, very hard to start.

When I push the starter button a weak chug-chug emits as slowly the starter motor picks up a little steam. A slight scratching sound of unburnt fuel in the cylinders can be heard as the chug turns into va-va-va-va (I want to start but I am not going to do it) churning. I start to give it a little bit of throttle and the va-va gets quicker. At this point it seems that the engine is doing about twenty percent of the work and the starter motor is doing the other eighty. After about twenty seconds the ratio of work being done by the starter motor and by the engine turning its self over changes as the engine picks up all the slack and starts running on its own.

Before I go to the parts store and plunk down another 50 dollars for a new battery we are going to try to see if a battery tender will save the one we already have. A battery tender does just what the name says, it tends to the battery. It does this when it is plugged in and charging the battery with a current of house hold electricity. Battery tenders are more specifically used while motorcycles, boats, cars, and lawnmowers are parked, or garaged for the winter. For around 30 dollars battery tenders will keep your battery from dying of misuse, or in most cases just plain old non-use. The battery tender maintains a charge level in an unused battery without overcharging it. What I am suspecting is that our daily rides have not been enough to fully recharge the battery, and so we have been slowly draining it to where it now refuses to hold a charge. I need to do some more investigative work but I believe we should be able to install a battery tender and plug the motorcycle in on a daily basis to make sure it is fully charged everyday. I will let you know just how it goes once i have the answer to my dilemma.

Benjamin