Help Needed She's been sitting up for 7 months

[BigTex]

I purchased a 2003 std valk last year, put a couple of thousand miles on her and had to put her in storage for about 7 months.  I was traveling for work and just could not get back.

I went down to (Thurber, near strawn) last weekend and tried to fire her up.  She almost started but not quiet,  the battery eventually went down.

I live in Weatherford now, and wanted to get some suggestions on getting my bike up and running again.

Sitting that long normally causes problems?  what is the norm?

I don't have a way to tow my bike so I really need to get it running there if possible

any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Larry

I am not opposed to bribing with a big chicken fry steak at Mary's in strawn if needed.  lol

[Bighead]

I would try a fresh battery and some fresh gas , bet it will start.
Even though your battery is strong enough to spin the engine to what seems normal it may not have had enough to fire the engine also. That is where I would start.

[Red Diamond]

+1 on Bighead's suggestion, empty the tank if you can, add new gas along with a little B12 or Seafoam. The new battery (get  one that is ready to go, not the one that has to be charged before use) will have enough amps  to fire it up. If the weather permits, put about 50-100 miles on it and it will be just fine.

[BigTex]

I will try the fresh battery, fresh fuel approach.

I talked to my local Honda dealer, they have new factory batteries, but they did mention they would need to charge it before I took it to use.  about 1 . 5 hours.

Is there a battery I can get somewhere else that would be a better option?

97.00 plus tax was the retail.

Thanks,

Larry

[Red Diamond]

All of the ready to use batteries are in the 90-100 range. Some like to stay with the OEM's, I will use whatever fits my budget in the ready to install batteries. The last one I bought was from O'riely's.

[RainMaker]

Direct Line Parts just had a sale on batteries. Mine arrived today. I bought the Yuasa (that's the OEM brand) YTX14H-BS High Performance Maintenance Free battery for about $80 with shipping but they show out of stock.  Amazon has them as well as Powersport for the mid $70 range plus free shipping.  I have it on the trickle charger now bringing it up to speed s-l-o-w-l-y so that it love me long time.

That would be my recommendation.

[MarcusS]

That price sounds cheap. My Honda 4 wheeler battery looks to be the same and it cost about $120

[5_19]

PM sent.

[Tx Bohemian]

I will try the fresh battery, fresh fuel approach.

I talked to my local Honda dealer, they have new factory batteries, but they did mention they would need to charge it before I took it to use.  about 1 . 5 hours.

Is there a battery I can get somewhere else that would be a better option?

97.00 plus tax was the retail.

Thanks,

Larry

Why not just try to jump it with a car battery (non running) first?
Even if the gas is bad it should start if it is the battery.

[R J]

I will try the fresh battery, fresh fuel approach.

I talked to my local Honda dealer, they have new factory batteries, but they did mention they would need to charge it before I took it to use.  about 1 . 5 hours.

Is there a battery I can get somewhere else that would be a better option?

97.00 plus tax was the retail.

Thanks,

Larry

Why not just try to jump it with a car battery (non running) first?
Even if the gas is bad it should start if it is the battery.

Damn, a long list of posts and finally we get one with some sense.

Take your extra key so you can get into the tank with out shutting the bike off for fuel.

Jump the bike off of your travel vehicle, be sure it is shut off.

Then ride it home.  Before ya take off, get a can of SeaFoam and put it all in the tank.

Now run it 2,000 RPM's or less all the way home.    If it had any problems it will have about 90% of them solved for ya.

Than have someone take ya back down to get your car/truck.

[Hoser]

I will try the fresh battery, fresh fuel approach.

I talked to my local Honda dealer, they have new factory batteries, but they did mention they would need to charge it before I took it to use.  about 1 . 5 hours.

Is there a battery I can get somewhere else that would be a better option?

97.00 plus tax was the retail.

Thanks,

Larry

Why not just try to jump it with a car battery (non running) first?
Even if the gas is bad it should start if it is the battery.

Damn, a long list of posts and finally we get one with some sense.

Take your extra key so you can get into the tank with out shutting the bike off for fuel.

Jump the bike off of your travel vehicle, be sure it is shut off.

Then ride it home.  Before ya take off, get a can of SeaFoam and put it all in the tank.

Now run it 2,000 RPM's or less all the way home.    If it had any problems it will have about 90% of them solved for ya.

Than have someone take ya back down to get your car/truck.

The voice of wisdom,R J.  Hoser

[BigTex]

I just want to thank everyone for all the tips, and ideas.   Taking a extra key is a really great idea.

I will post here once i have the opportunity to attempt a start up.

Thank you!

BigTex
AKA: Larry

[Paxton]

For low price battery go to WAL-MART. 

[Tx Bohemian]

For low price battery go to WAL-MART. 

Buuuutttt;
Before you go throwing a battery in it make sure to check the one you have.   I'd suspect your problem is just that it sat up for 7 months (and through cold months), especially if you didn't have a "tender" on it.
It's easy to do a quick charging check if you have access to a volt meter. Check voltage at the battery when the bike is off and then once it's running. The voltage should be a tad higher when it's running.
As stated these bikes need a certain amount of battery voltage left over to "fire up" when cranking (I think 9 is the magic number).  They'll crank over like a "son of a gun" but just won't start.
 
The first time I've had this "crank but no start" happen to me I thought if I could drop it in gear and hit the starter I'd run down the road 30mph as fast as this thing was spinning. I thought the guy was nuts when it was suggested just to charge the battery, but that fixed it.
Lesson learned!

I see where you said it's a '03, but not how many miles your bike has.