Hey kneedownnate or other motorbike guys....

[Tice]

 I have a co-worker that has a Suzuki. Not sure of the size or year(it's fairly new) but I think its a 900.  Anyhow she says it will not hold a charge. She took it to the local dealer and they charged her like 300 and some change and put a new battery in it and said everything was fine. Now it's dead again. I don't know alot about street bikes so I figured you or someone else could give me a few ideas on what to look for. I can get some more info if it's needed. I don't want her to take it back to the dealer (they are a bunch of pricks)Thanks for any help!!

[kneedownnate]

I'd take the battery out and charge it, re-install, start the bike and check to verify it's charging.  You'll probably have to rev it a little to show a charge because they're usually charged off a stator rather than an alternator.  If it shows to be charging I'd lean heavily toward there being a draw a short that's draining the battery.

Over how long does it drain down and to what voltage?  Even a new battery could have a bad cell and not hold a charge, I have this happen all the time at work with ORBITAL batteries which is why I try to talk people out of buying them in the first place. 

Being a 900 I'm assuming it's a cruiser of some sort?  If what I've suggested doesn't help you'll probably want to join a suzuki forum, or atleast a good motorcycle forum (bayarearidersforum.com is great but you may get flamed for joining for this) and start searching.

Good luck, keep us posted!

[kneedownnate]

You may wanna change the thread title to one that'll pull in other motorbike guys too, I thought I was gonna have an e-fight on my hands

[Tice]

I'd take the battery out and charge it, re-install, start the bike and check to verify it's charging.  You'll probably have to rev it a little to show a charge because they're usually charged off a stator rather than an alternator.  If it shows to be charging I'd lean heavily toward there being a draw a short that's draining the battery.

Over how long does it drain down and to what voltage?  Even a new battery could have a bad cell and not hold a charge, I have this happen all the time at work with ORBITAL batteries which is why I try to talk people out of buying them in the first place. 

Being a 900 I'm assuming it's a cruiser of some sort?  If what I've suggested doesn't help you'll probably want to join a suzuki forum, or atleast a good motorcycle forum (bayarearidersforum.com is great but you may get flamed for joining for this) and start searching.

Good luck, keep us posted!

I'll have her try that or bring it to my house and look it over for her. She also didn't say how long it sits or if it goes dead while riding. I would asume it was while sitting but not sure. I'll get more info from her tommrow. I started looking on a few sites, so far nothing.

Actually the bike is a GSR or GSXR or whatever Suzuki called them.  And yes I have seen her on it. Though I'm not sure on the size.  

[red]

its a gsxr, and a 900 is offered. have her bring the bike over, fire it up and watch the battery with a voltmeter. if the battery is losing voltage while the bike is running and not recharging it than either the stator or the alternator (depends on the bike) is not operating. if its keeping about the same voltage while its running then their is either a drain on the battery or a bad batt. to test that, have her unhook the battery for a couple of days, then hook it back into the bike and see how much power the batt has. if the battery was low on power from sitting without being hooked in, bad batt. if battery was still fully powered, then your gonna have to start searching for a short somewhere thats draining power.

[Tice]

Cool, thanks for the info. I gotta get some more info from her but more than likely I'll have her bring it over. Her boyfriend knows nothing about bikes, but I know nothing about them either!!! But  how much different can the two be!!

[red]

haha bikes are similar to any gasoline engine. and, like having an electrical short on a car, it can take forever to find a short (hence the reason you should go through the electrical testing how i listed, i used to work at a powersports dealership and its the simplist way without a battery tester). what brand of battery did she get? yuasa is a good brand to go with, so is bikemaster. could be as simple as a bad battery (hopefully), or could be as cheap as just a loose wire (sucks finding those, usually requires the removal of the majority of the body panels to find one of these).

[Tice]

Not sure on the battery type, it was installed by the dealer. I'm hoping that it's something simple!!!

[Tice]

If what I've suggested doesn't help you'll probably want to join a suzuki forum, or atleast a good motorcycle forum (bayarearidersforum.com is great but you may get flamed for joining for this) and start searching.

Good luck, keep us posted!

That forum helped alot Nate!! Seach came up with a guy with what sounds like the same problem. They led him to another site all about eletrical problems!

[kneedownnate]

Barf is the pirate of bike sites!  Despite being bay area based it's just plain huge and full of people who actually know their !  Lemme know what you find.

[Tice]

Will do!

[Yota Up]

Tice - is she hawt?  It's likely a 600 or 1000, as those are the most common GSXR's.

Have a picture of her pretty face along with your info before you post on BARF.
And tell them if you get the bike fixed, you'll get a date with the chick.  Folks will help you then.

And when you get to BARF - tell them the currently suspended T-1 Thunder says "Up yours, punks!"  Of course, they're all coming over my house for some beers in a week or so...

[Yota Up]

Barf is the pirate of bike sites!  Despite being bay area based it's just plain huge and full of people who actually know their !  Lemme know what you find.

What's your title on BARF, nate?

[red]

aww, isnt your little 250 cute! lol j/k, the 250's are alotta fun to ride, its SSSSOOOOOO easy to throw them around the turns at high speeds.

[Yota Up]

aww, isnt your little 250 cute! lol j/k, the 250's are alotta fun to ride, its SSSSOOOOOO easy to throw them around the turns at high speeds.

Dude, don't me started like BARF now.  I always tell 'em there's no amount of CC's that will make up for what's not in your pants.  I got another bike on the way, but I'll be rockin the Thunder for "fun". 

They are fun.  They are cheap.  They are plentiful.  YES, they are WEAK.
(Hmmm, almost reminds you of....Toyota 4bangers, huh?)

Anyway - I'm the king of the parking lot with full on traffic.  When I ride my buddy's CBR, it's fast and all, but hardly able to make the cuts and turns that I make when I do circles around cars inside of parking lots(downtown Walnut Creek is cluster with traffic, a 250 is perfect.  Why have all those horses if you can't go over 40mph?)

Ok, now you're making me miss BARF and all that trash talkin'...

[red]

haha i'm just messin with ya yota up dont worry. 250's are alotta fun because they handle so dang good. if you ever go out to a race track you will see alot of people out there riding them because you can go through the turns at top speed, you dont have to slow down unlike with the larger bikes. their also phenominal on fuel economy. i like the little 250's, downside for me is that i do alot of highway riding and i've found out from experiance that 250's dont like the wind coming off of 18 wheelers very much.

[Tice]

Tice - is she hawt?  It's likely a 600 or 1000, as those are the most common GSXR's.

Have a picture of her pretty face along with your info before you post on BARF.
And tell them if you get the bike fixed, you'll get a date with the chick.  Folks will help you then.

And when you get to BARF - tell them the currently suspended T-1 Thunder says "Up yours, punks!"  Of course, they're all coming over my house for some beers in a week or so...

As a matter of fact.....she is SMOKING HOT!!!!!!!!!  I talked with her more today. It's a 750, she said they can jump start it and it'll run all day til you turn it off. Then it will not start again.  Her boyfriend put a volt meter on it last night while it was running and it showed 12 volts and started dropping when the engine was revved. He checked all the wires and said they are good. I gave her a web site to look at and give them some ideas on what to look for and how to test the charging system. Thanks for all the info guys. If they can't figure it out this week, they wanna bring it to my house and let me try.

[kneedownnate]

What's your title on BARF, nate?

I'll give you one guess

Voltage dropped when it was revved?  Might see if you can dig up the run down for checking the stator.

[Tice]

I think there is one on the website that I found on BARF.

[Yota Up]

I'll give you one guess

Doh!   

And the 250...hate it on the freeway.  Terrible.  I get slapped around like a high budget porn-star.

Good luck with the bike.  Alan has a rep on BARF for being a good mechanic, if they really need to go that far.

[kneedownnate]

I always recommend a ninja 250 to those looking for a first bike, even if they don't ask!  Usually phrased something like "swallow your pride and just get the ninja 250!"  There's enough power to get you around just fine but not so much that you constantly have to worry about it spitting you on your head.  Even a 600 can spit you in a hurry, no matter how big you are.