What are the signs of a ageing battery?

[eagle1]

I have a '09 tri-glide purchased in Nov'08, so i have 2 pymts left. but i was
wondering when the battery be replaced? i will replace it next spring,
but some people can't afford to replace it and was was wondering other experiences with this situation?
Battery tender on if not operating.
the only signs i have is a few times(once every 5 or 6 starts) i will hold the key to the on postion
and the engine will rotatevery slowly then stop (wait for it) the about 1-2 sec. later the engine will rotate and start immediately.and the volt meter runs normally .
GUESS I ANSWERED MY OWN QUESTION> DA! so as ya know the tri-glige is too heavy to push-start.also opinionns of aftermarket batterys? i have no problem with H_D battery .just wondering.thanks.

 

[Ol' Grey]

Am guessing that the battery in your Tri-Glide is a sealed/maintenance free H-D battery. On average, maintenance free batteries should hold up for approx. 5 yrs.

If you check your battery with a multimeter with the key turned "Off" you'd want to see a reading of 12.5V-12.7V.....then start the trike and the voltage reading should jump up to the mid-high 13V range and fluctuate by a point or two.

I don't have a problem with aftermarket batteries, but for the Harley, I use the sealed H-D battery as the terminal posts on the H-D battery case are stouter than other aftermarket ones I've seen. There may be cheaper aftermarket batteries out there, but the one I compared prices against the H-D battery actually cost about the same, so I'll stick with H-D for the stouter terminal posts.

There's some Chinese batteries on the market now and, personally, I steer clear of those.

You might find that the majority of batteries are made by Yuasa, they just put different brand labels on them. In all honesty, it wouldn't surprise me if the battery inside the H-D sealed battery is a Yuasa.......