Starting a Motorcycle with a Dead Battery | Harley Davidson 

As the weather begins to cool down and get cold...batteries can fail us while out on the road. I provide some tips to get you back on the road and watch until the end to catch the bonus tip and best and quickest method to get back on the road. Thanks for watching. Rick

Been riding a long time and the starter option was new to me too. Thank you.

Rick ,here is a little more info on the incident last week. Another rider in our group om a BMW S1000XR had starting issues at the beginning of the ride. I used my USB rechargeable battery back to connect to his under seat battery and get him started. At our first stop his bike would not start again. I was going to ride over near him but my BMW GS 650 would not start. To get to my battery requires seat removal (not a big deal) and the removal of a cover attached by 10 machine screws. That is a PAIN. Thanks for your advice to connect directly to my starter. That saved a lot of time and trouble. I was able to start my bike and the other one again with this little pack. I have since "discovered" (ie: read owners manual) that BMW installed a terminal under the seat to connect a 12 volt source to. The take away is" We should all carry these small chargers. They can charge your phone, be a flashlight or even start your car (personal experience again) We should know our bikes better. Thanks again Rick

Watching this video gave me flashbacks. I had a 1983 sportster in the mid 90s. I was putting a battery in that thing about once a yr. I had to push start that darn thing so many times. I rode it to Cleveland (from Columbus) one time and tried and tried to push start it without any success. Luckly I was near a mechanics garage and pushed it over to him. We hooked a jump box up and got me going. On the way home I stopped for gas and left it running. The gas station attendant said I had to turn it off before pumping the gas. I reluctantly turned it off. Fueled up and thank God it fired right up and I made a bee line home. I do not miss that old sportster. lol.

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing! Have a great day my friend!

Great tips Rick ! I really liked the tip to connect to the starter ! That’s a golden tip brother. Cheers, Eddie

That is a great idea. I never thought of that. I always do the bump start but I’m always on lighter bikes.

Congratulations! Great tips as well!

Great advice Rick, thanks

Great video! Excellent tips.

Good Advice - I swapped out a battery today, and also carry two jump packs - I like your hit your starter approach as imagine stalling while reattaching the seat etc - ( about Battery Access otherwise, - provide a heavy duty cable lead that can be reached from under a quarter panel.. )

Congrats on 2k bro! Great video and tip! 💯🤙

Practically life-changing!

I'm so far behind on watching folks content after my holiday. Some really good tips and attaching your starter pack to the starter. Jeep up the great work Rick. Your channel is growing fast! Congrats on 2k.

Great stuff. I lost my first battery last Friday as I was headed out to KRiver for Adam's wedding. I was delayed a few hours from leaving because I wanted a good battery before I got out to the camp. I didn't know about the last trick but now that I do, I will share the knowledge starting with my HOG group page.

*Big thumbs up friend.... Thank you so much for this beautiful video... Stay connected friend 🤝🙏*

Great tips!

Got stuck on the road with a dead battery....had to get towed...put the battery on a volt meter and it showed 12.4 v....but it wouldn't even light the LCD dash....had the battery tested and it was junk!....so a thing to remember...just because you have 12v's....doesn't mean your battery is good!...great tips...thanks for sharing...stay safe...ride safe!!😎👍🤙👍🤙🇨🇦

Congratulations for the 2,000 ! 🎉

Great Information Video!!

A Very Helpful Video. This will no doubt save a rider who’s not mechanically inclined a lot of time.

Solid video

This worked great on my 2019 Street Glide. So much easier without removing the seat!

Great video... I have the same jump pack. I installed a pigtail adapter under the seat. I like the starter method as a second option :-)

Hey I use the same jump pack. I keep it in my car and then take it out on the Dyna because that battery is on its last leg. Great video man!!!

Good content. Subscribed.

Nice sharing brother good morning

That's the direction I thought you were going to go but I wasn't too sure thanks

Rick, congrats on your new subscriber milestone!!! Getting 2k subscribers is a tremendous accomplishment and very well deserved. Keep up the great work 💯💯👍👍

Congratulations on your milestone. You will beat 10k before you know it. When my battery died i was in the dealership parking lot, lucky me. Great video.

Great video Thanks

Congratulations on 2k subs I told you will be big success now I can learn from you 😀✌️

I didn’t realize we had 2 bikes with battery issues. I carry that same GB40 in my saddlebag with my rain gear. It saves our backsides last year out in them middle of nowhere Indiana at a rest stop. Came out, and the battery was dead. Northern Tool - $100 minus the $20 off coupon makes it a no brainer.

Some great tips. I haven't heard of connecting right to the starter before. I do have a connector wired right to the battery I use for the battery tender. Do jump packs have a plug to connect to those? I should really add one of those to the saddlebag.

I subscribed! I am a new motorcycle owner, although I have a Honda. My battery died while it was in storage for winter.

G'day Mate, I've got a question for You, What would You recomend for using the direct starter motor method for the jump starter on the Harley Davidson Softail models? I have a 2015 Heritage Softail Classic, 103 cubic inch, (1698ccs) & the problem I have is that it, like all other Softail models, has a horseshoe shapped oil tank & the battery sits inside a little battery recess inside of that & the starter motor is underneath the engine oil tank, I can hardly even see it & it's impossible to get My fingers in there let alone My hand or any jumper leads, I got down there the other day with a torch, oops sorry, I mean a flashlight, I live in Australia so I use Australian terms for words, a torch is what We call a flashlight over here, anyway, with the light from the torch I could just see what looked like a cable with a bit of red plastic on the end of it & I'm assuming that it's the other end of the positive cable from the battery, but where it attaches to what I think might be the starter motor, it is on top of it & the bottom of the oil tank is sitting on top of that cable, so what do You think? is there a way to connect the jump starter to it? Or am I stuck with having to always take the seat off? I've had three Harleys in My lifetime, I have this one & before that I had a 1994 Road King, & My first Harley was a 1985 Softail standard, it only had a 4 speed gearbox & was chain drive but everything on it was so simple, it had a lever at the top of the back of the gearbox which worked the clutch & that the clutch cable was connected to, it made changing the clutch cable really easy, it also had a starter relay just near the back of the oil tank & if the battery was near flat I could still get the Bike started by putting a screwdriver across the two points on the starter relay, admittedly I got a couple of sparks but the Bike always started the first time, I think the sparks might have been because, touching the two points on the relay was probably just like touching the positive & negative terminals on the battery togegether with the screwdriver but I only had to do it a couple of times, I also rigged up a deadman switch to the relay as well & when I flicked the switch off it killed all the electrical power to the Bike, no engine start, no lights or signals, nothing, it was a great anti theft device, when I flicked the switch back on again, everything worked perfectly again, but anyhow I've sort of wandered off a bit there have'nt I? I can't see any starter relays on My Heritage Softail, I've looked all through My owners manual but, it does'nt tell Me much, it does'nt even mention the starter motor at all or show where it's located on the Bike, I'm just wondering if I can rig up an augzillary cable to the battery itself like the one that's used to charge the battery & attach the jump starter to that, without having to take the seat off first, would that work? or would it have to be connected directly to the battery or the starter motor?

Just subscribed. Would it be possible to jumpstart through the trickle charger port/plug if you had an appropriate adapter?

I subscribed.

I suscribed

Is this same starter connection for Royal Enfield interceptor 650?

I had this experience, my battery die, i use plug booster from workshop and the result was to burn my audio and engine working badly thinking rectifier dead? No rectifier was ok after unplug audio because burn audio was cause this fault. Every 2 1/5 years change your battery.x

NOCO GBX45 and secure a NOCO cable adapter directly to the battery. It’s plug n play for maintaining and also jump start with a push of a button. That noco is the older version which doesn’t have the capability.

An alternator in a car puts approximately 14v to its battery no more than 14v will come off the car battery the same voltage that is put to the bikes battery from its charging system. So it will not fry anything

I thought this was going to some stellar trick but it’s just someone pointing out the obvious and what everyone mostly knows.

where's the starter bolt on Fatboy 2019?

Before this video was released I had asked Doc Harley about jumping from the starter instead of the battery and he gave me this answer, ''In my opinion, I would rather take the time to jump at the battery....Doc" for which I do not know why? I have asked him for his reasoning as to why not just jump from the starter as it only takes a few moments, as opposed to getting to the battery on some bikes as it may take some time. If he ever answers me I will let you know unless you have some idea?

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I just had this happen to me earlier.. I recently bought a 2001 Sporter with 3K miles and in pristine condition. Rode to the gas station, filled the gas and the hit start button.. It wouldn't start and made clicking noise... Got the vehicle towed to home and I see this video😂

Can you do that trick with jumper cables as well?

Before connecting to the battery, verify that you have a 12-volt lead-acid battery. The Hog Booster is not suitable for any other type of battery.

Hello friend I am new friend new subscribers okay 🎁🇮🇳🤝

Surprise surprise… advice turned to commercial…

This guy talks WAY TOO MUCH! Jesus! 1:51 until he actually says something regarding the solution. And what's the point of that intro video AFTER his tutorial had already started?

I subscribed.

I subscribed .