Quote:

neighbor "jumped" with pick-up truck.



That's usually the kiss of death for a motorcycle battery, especially if the engine is running on the live vehicle.

With a good battery that can spin the engine fast enough, mine starts right up on the 1st or 2nd turn of the crank at full choke (with the clutch in) in mid 20s F temps with no carb warming. To speak the obvious, I try to push the choke back in as far as possible as early as possible to cut down on fuel dilution to the oil, then push it all the way in as soon as practical. I find the Speedmster ready to ride without stalling after 5 minutes of warm up this way. It could be debated that a slower idle will create quicker warm-up times, as less cold air is passing through the engine at slower engine speeds, but we better not go there... I realize too that most automotive engineers seek a lengthy high idle program for cold weather start up, but I believe they absolutely want to avoid stalling in every possible end user scenario, as most would think the vehicle a sh&t box if it stalled within the first ten minutes of start up, but I'm rambling now. (I miss the days of cars and trucks with choke cables, but then again, I'm old enough to remember starter buttons on the floor near the throttle pedal, and we'd rich out the mix with a few pumps on the pedal. Ah, those were the days or maybe not)

Maybe it's just me, but I wonder about the headlight drawing down the battery while warming the carbs. I could be wrong. The carbs shouldn't ice up at idle or high idle anyway. I don't believe there's enough air velocity past the venturis even at high idle to cause icing. But hey - that's just me...

My '05 needed a battery a couple months ago as well. Those little batteries apparently have very little tolerance for abuse via cage jump starts and leaving lights on, both of which I did to the old battery, the jump when in time of need.

My days of running alongside a 900 cc bike and then jumping up on to it to start it (over the sissy bar no less) are long gone. Although if I decide to try this, someone might want to film the process and send it to "America's Funniest Home Videos."