what gives???

[Maddog vrcc#508]

Went for a small romp on Saturday, stopped a few times, stopped for gas, stopped a couple miles down the road for a cool one.  Climbed on , turned the key, nothing. completely dead.  Where should I look? ignition, starter switch, kill switch, alternator? Any ideas.....

[Bagger John - #3785]

Got any lights at all?

[Ricky-D]

Simple things first.

Check the connections on the battery.

You get the idea!

[R J]

Battery Ground cable where it hooks onto the engine.......   Move it to the frame for better contact.............  I read somewhere on the board that someone just moved it to the frame and then added another cable from the frame to the engine..

Copper covered cable end and aluminum don't connect and hold too well in my book.

[ZuluDiver]

Could be the started button. Check this out: http://www.rattlebars.com/mtz/starter.html

[Black Dog]

Also, on the Rattlebars site, using the same link as above, scroll all the way down to the 'Valkyrie starter "relay" problem'...

http://www.rattlebars.com/mtz/starter.html

Dead bike = the above issue.  Good 'how to' on fixing it, and probably a good area to check, just in case.

Happened to me in a Hardly riding buddy's driveway...  I'll never hear the end of that one 

Black Dog

[Airetime]

Went for a small romp on Saturday, stopped a few times, stopped for gas, stopped a couple miles down the road for a cool one.  Climbed on , turned the key, nothing. completely dead.  Where should I look? ignition, starter switch, kill switch, alternator? Any ideas.....

Turn switch to on and check if the lights come on, if they don't, it's a bad connection on the ground cable or the fuse is blown. If the lights come on, the problem may be one of the following:

1.  Kill switch is on
2.  Starter switch needs to be cleaned (give it a shot of corrosion X and then try flipping it on/off several times)
3.  Starter Relay may be corroded, fried or just bad
4.  Bad safety switch or connection at the kickstand or at the clutch lever

Try putting it in neutral, hit the starter, anything?
Pull the clutch in and hit the starter, anything?
Was the bike in sight when you were inside? Did it fall over? 

[Dodis]

I had the same once, turned on the key and got lights. Hit the starter button and everything went out. Turns out my battery died. I first thought starter switch, but a quick shot of WD-40 didn't clear it enough to do anything. To find it, I used the high-tech helmet lock cable to jump across the battery terminals and got no spark. Finally found a good use for the thing...

And of all times, 8:00 p.m. Saturday night in the middle of the 2006 Lone Star Rally in Galveston... at least I was hiding behind Fishtales... Got the last correct battery from Auto Zone, and with a few minutes of charge on the fresh acid, was plenty to get the dragon to breath fire again.

Mike

[DeathWishBikerDude]

Battery.
Make sure to buy a sealed unit,not a cheap fill it yourself walmart version.

[Ricky-D]

Battery.
Make sure to buy a sealed unit,not a cheap fill it yourself walmart version.

They're all sealed now.  When you fill it yourself, you know its fresh and not been sitting on  some shelf for years ruining because there is acid in it.

[Bugslayer]

Went for a small romp on Saturday, stopped a few times, stopped for gas, stopped a couple miles down the road for a cool one.  Climbed on , turned the key, nothing. completely dead.  Where should I look? ignition, starter switch, kill switch, alternator? Any ideas.....

I had the same thing happen to me. ... Stopped for gas. Tried to restart and had ZERO power. No click, no lights, no nothing....   Turned out to be my battery.

[Dodis]

Battery.
Make sure to buy a sealed unit,not a cheap fill it yourself walmart version.

I know, I'd prefer to get a new Yuasa, but until I can get my right fork to quit leaking (again), that will be my priority.

Well, that and my encyclopedia of honey-dos...