Couple of days ago I renewed my multi bike policy with Bikesure. I went through the list of mods on the 2016 Multi including a full system, Rapidbike Evo and an up & down quickshifter and they’re happy. Result. Went to load said bike onto the trailer, and it was dead as a dodo. Nothing, nada, mort. I couldn’t unlock the steering. It turned out that I had not just one but two flat batteries in the two key fobs, Or had I? Bit of a coincidence, no life whatsoever. ‘No dear, no I don’t know the f-f-four digit code, I’ve never needed it. No I didn’t set it. I tried 0000, 1234, the last four digits of the VIN code. I have no idea what the f-f-f-four fidget code is. No a fourth attempt won’t make any difference’. It was fine all round Morocco and equally fine when I ran it up a few days or a week ago. A bike with a steering lock on, simply will not load onto a straight single bike trailer. Bastardo! The wife says she’s flying home. New battery in key fob 1. Nothing, still more life on Mars. Oh fuckerdyfuck-de-do. This is getting serious. The wife says she’s flying home. New battery in key fob 2 and…hang on, what’s that little thing on the back of this battery. It’s a sticker to stop it from making a circuit, I didn’t see that on the first one. Sure enough, in fob 1 there’s a sticker still in place. So I peel it off, put it all back together again and bingo, it lights up like Christmas has come early. Happy wife, happy life. All is forgiven and the wife is travelling back with me. Could have been worse, I was glad it didn’t happen in some godforsaken place in Morocco. The battery in the second one has probably been flat for years. Bike loaded, yesterday and today we drove up to Santander trailering the Multi. Now we’re on the ferry heading across The Bay of Biscay. As I speak the wine glasses have developed a life of their own and are moving around the table like they’re on an Ouija board as the boat pitches and rolls about. The forecast is for much worse.
Brilliant story and glad it worked out in the end, those little peel off tabs are a bugger and it would seem that everyone gets caught once or twice on whatever product; only last week my wife thought she needed a new iPad Logitech keyboard for exactly the same reason. I have never done the Bay of Biscay but understand it can get really bad especially at this time of the year. Hopefully home safe and sound!
Funny story, though you probably didn't see that side of it at the time. If we can meet up again for a ride again at some point in the spring remind me to bring the OBDStar and I can reset the code for you.
Just marshaled the Reading Toy Run ..... in the rain but a brilliant turnout and all for a good cause, Dr Barnardo's. Honestly now and off down t' pub. Andy
I have been looking at Optimate trickle chargers today and am totally confused. I already have an old Optimate 2 that is brilliant as well as a very old Halfords trickle charger that seems to work well. I tend to leave the Optimate on my car that is sorned for 6 months and has two 12v batteries. It is very comfortable being in place and I would like to leave it there if possible. This leads me to the two bikes; aat the moment i keep switching the cheap Halfords trickle charger between the bikes but wondered if Optimate or similar do a charger that could connect both bikes at the same time. I don't really want to spend a lot of money but just wondered how you guys with multiple bikes cope with this issue? Many thanks in advance for any guidance.
Not all bearings are the same....removed a bearing out of the sprocket carrier on the zed this morning that was starting to sound a bit crunchy....only been in the bike about a year and its fucked already....once id pressed it out the race felt dry with a tiny bit of play in there.....this was a pattern bearing off of ebay....cost about 12quid. Replacement SKF was just shy of 65 quid. No more shitty pattern bearings for me...!
You can leave a battery maintainer connected 24/7 (I do this with 3 bikes), but not a trickle charger. Optimate is a popular brand and there's also this one: https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/lithium-and-lead-acid-battery-charger-for-just-£34-95.101407/ That I rate highly - see my post about voltages, etc... Noco have single- & multi-battery charger/maintainer offerings that are popular on here...
Trickle chargers have no 'intelligence', so can over-charge and possibly overheat a battery. A maintainer monitors whether the battery actually needs some charging current, regulates the voltage applied and this should keep the battery in tip-top condition year-round. As long a you monitor the battery voltage & condition there's nothing wrong with a 'trickler' - it's just so much easier to leave it to a decent automatic system.
Thanks for that Keith, I do understand but have never really appreciated the nuances before. I am so impressed with the Optimate range that I think I will go that route.
Yep - must confess i thought "a bearing was a bearing" but clearly not!! well they are - its just the wear rate is way way faster!!
They’re good and the Noco genius range is really good too. I think I’m correct in saying you don’t have to get the biggest capacity Noco one for motorbikes because they have smaller batteries and require slower charging. As with any rechargeable battery the slower you charge it the longer it will last. It makes me laugh reading all this stuff about fast charging electric cars. They’re just mullering their multi thousand pound drive packs.
I've been using an Optimate battery conditioner for several years, on numerous bikes, with to date, no issues. Over the last 2-years I've been using a timer socket, which enables the Optimate to be 'active' at the same time, for 2-hours, set for 1pm -3pm. This is and continues to maintain the battery perfectly and from an electrical usage perspective, to me at least, makes total sense. So far, no need whatsoever, to have the Optimate on 24/7, 365. Try it out........
I switch mine on for a day or two, switch it off for 5-6 days, then switch it back on for a day or two. Works well for me.
