If your bike battery can't crank one night without being on a tender then I should think you've got some other issues going on

Daily riding should be more than enough to keep it charged and functional. Personally, my bike doesn't have the electronics like yours, but I got no problem letting it sit for a few days, but it get's put on a tender when I know I'm not gonna take it out for a week or more for peace of mind.

 

If you're bike battery can't crank one night without being on a tender then I should think you've got some other issues going on

Daily riding should be more than enough to keep it charged and functional. Personally, my bike doesn't have the electronics like yours, but I got no problem letting it sit for a few days, but it get's put on a tender when I know I'm not gonna take it out for a week or more for peace of mind.

Again, this was the guidance given by the dealership when I bought it. I'd like to hope it would still fire up after sitting for 8-9 hours but that's not the impression I got from the dealership. How about someone (anyone) who has a '24- '25 Street Glide or Road Glide chime in here?

 

Did you try it while at home? Let your bike sit overnight without the tender and see what happens.

I find it hard to believe the battery would be dead the next morning. It might crank a bit slow. For that, carry a portable jump starter. NoCo and AntiGravity make very good ones.

 

I only tender my '20 Road King in the winter when it may sit for a week or so. I ride it for transportation year round. Going on 6 years and still original battery. Whoever told you that was overdoing it a bit.

 

I live in Texas and I ride year round. My riding is recreational and not for primary transportation. My 2012 Heritage is on a tender when my ass isn't in the seat. The longest I ever had a battery last was 4 years.

I only tender my '20 Road King in the winter when it may sit for a week or so. I ride it for transportation year round. Going on 6 years and still original battery. Whoever told you that was overdoing it a bit.

Overdoing what? Leaving the bike off a tender overnight?

 

Your dealership is full of beans. If you're not sure how to tell, generally it's when their lips are moving.

 

If HD requires a bike to be on a Tender overnight they should close their doors as they should not be in business

 

This is quoted from a 2024 HD Owners Manual...

Charge the battery when:
• Motorcycle lights appear dim.
• Electric starter sounds weak.
• Battery has not been used for two weeks or more.

 

If only the battery would last for two weeks. My experience with my new 2025 Road Glide is that over a week is problematic now. I had the battery light come on and stay on after not riding the bike for 8 days.

My previous 2020 and 2015 Road Glides could go two weeks with no issues. Though I tended to go a week at a time, whether dependent. I tend to ride in the winter as well as an aside.

I actually finally decided to start an account here (not much of a forum person in general) because of the issues I'm seeing with the battery. It looks like with this current generation of touring Harleys (RGs & SGs) that you probably need to make sure you go out once every five days or less.

Anything after that feels like a crap shoot. I think HD needs to take a closer look at efficiency of their electronics and in particular when shut down. Either that or increase the power storage of the batteries. I shouldn't need to hook it up to a tender after a week.

I'm starting to think that maybe after the ride I should just remove the circuit breaker if I'm not going to go out for a over a week. Which with this new generation would get old since you need to remove the saddle bag first before you can remove the side cover.

Don't get me wrong, this bike is pretty awesome, a large difference between it and the previous generations of Road Glides. Though I miss my heated hummock seat. (Come on HD gets off your backside and bring out the hummock seat for the new generation of RG's and SG's)

 

Was advised by the dealership to always keep my bike on a battery tender as the sh*t ton of onboard electronics drains the battery rather quickly while it's inactive. Not a problem. Got into that habit with my '12 Wide Glide after 3 years.

But what does everyone do when they are doing a multi-day ride & staying in a m/hotel or B & B between rides and don't have access to a nearby outlet? Bring a REALLY long extension cord with?

Hook it up to a portable power pack .My one will keep a battery topped up ,and re charge a battery .

 

Yup, I keep one of those charged up and in the saddlebag at all times. Never had to use it yet. In the garage it's on a tender at all times when not riding, probably not necessary when riding daily.

 

Again, this was the guidance given by the dealership when I bought it. I'd like to hope it would still fire up after sitting for 8-9 hours but that's not the impression I got from the dealership.

And what I'm saying is that the dealership might have given you the wrong idea on how often it should be plugged in. And if they didn't and the bike DOES need to be plugged in daily to keep running, you need to bring that bike back to the dealer because they sold you a lemon.

How about someone (anyone) who has a '24- '25 Street Glide or Road Glide chime in here?

Doesn't matter if it's a street/road glide a fatboy, a v-rod, a Vespa, an F150, F250 or a Saab. If your bike or any vehicle really, can not sit for one day without being on a tender and not start up on day 2, you need to take the vehicle back to the dealer or wherever you bought it from and they need to figure out what your massive parasitic drain is.

All that said, again, with normal operation on a multi-day road trip, the act of driving it daily should be more than enough to keep your battery charged and kicking over the next day when you get on it. If you park it for over a week without driving it daily? Then I'd rather be safe than sorry and throw a tender on it.

 

I left my car for 2 months while I went on a trip
Started right up when I was back
I tender usually only in the Winter = other bikes, easier to remove battery I would store it in the house w/the seat
Also would leave some tools on it, make them think its being repaired, not running 🤣

 

If I was a Salesman at a Harley dealer I would also tell ALL my customers...

"always keep his / her bike on a battery tender as the sh*t ton of onboard electronics drains the battery rather quickly while it's inactive"

It's not like I would be lying to them or anything and i'm sure that advice prevents many, many phones calls complaining the new bike wont start...

 

You'd lie to them? 'Cause that's what that is.

 

NO, I don't consider that lying at all as I would just be reiterating what the owners guide says do ( 2 weeks charge the battery ). and suggesting what I personally do.

It was a time when I walked to the garage and when the bike was not on a tender the bike would not start! Keep the bike connected problem avoided.

I would be practicing what I preach as I now have a battery tender connected to 3 bikes and 2 cars.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

Car and bike batteries are not deep cycle and if the voltage is allowed to get low one may find them self SOL...


This warranty info below is from Batteries Plus, Many if not ALL new car / truck / motorcycle batteries have this or similar fine print...

Prolonged storage of vehicles (including, but not limited to, cars, trucks, lawn tractors, motorcycles, ATV’s, boats, motorhomes, campers or snowmobiles) with computerized engine control units, alarms, GPS or other electrical devices that require continuous battery power to support active memories must have this power drain offset by fully charging your battery monthly with an appropriate charger or maintainer.

Overcharging the battery may result in irreversible damage. • A battery with an open circuit voltage (OCV) of equal to or less than 10.0V for 12.0V rated batteries, equal to or less than 6.8V for 8.0V rated batteries, and equal to or less than 5.0V for6.0V rated batteries will be deemed as over discharged and void warranty due to improper maintenance of the battery. • The warranties for the specific products are the exclusive and the only warranties that weprovide with respect to the products we sell.

I would be lying to a customer if I suggested he didn't need to keep his bike connected to a tender... I never suggested it must be done every night but that is what I do when i'm at home and IF the bike is in the garage, its connected...

Don't believe me? Read some Battery / Parts store reviews when warranty battery replacement was refused because the voltage was allowed to get to low when all could have been avoided with a Battery Tender connected.

 

"always keep his / her bike on a battery tender as the sh*t ton of onboard electronics drains the battery rather quickly while it's inactive"

That says to ALWAYS keep it attached to a tender. So yes you would be suggesting they plug it in every night. Comprehension is critical.

I'm a retired 40 year Harley technician and I know. I don't need to quote a company's warranty policy I speak from my experience. I am, well was, the guy who determined warranty coverage.

I do not know everything however this I do know. There is NO DRAW beyond a few milliamps with the key off. In fact there is a test to verify that is the state of the system. If there is excessive draw a repair is necessary. If the charging system/battery is healthy and the motorcycle is ridden regularly a tender is only needed for extended periods of storage. If you read your owners manual it warns against installing an excessive number of electrical accessories. In fact Harley's own instructions for installing the ones they sell offer a formula to calculate whether you're overdoing it. A battery tender will not fix that.

Don't misconstrue what I'm saying. A tender is not a bad idea however it is not necessary to plug it in every time the motorcycle is parked. Period. No matter what your consideration is yes the way it's worded is indeed a lie.

EDIT:BTW a Battery Tender is NOT a fix for buying cheap sh!t batteries.

Finis.

 

Point taken and it's entirely possible I took what the dealer said out of context. But it was put across as highly advisable to keep it on a tender for the reasons stated. I was concerned that it could be problem if I was doing a rally or a 2-3 day trip. Thinking about it more, I'd have that thing fully charged from a day's riding and it could afford to be off the charging tit for 10-12 hours.
BTW- the battery that's in there is whatever H-D put in. Bought the bike used with less than 380 miles on it I haven't had it more than 2 months now. If the batter sucks ballz, it's an H-D kinda suck.

 

PU a 24 Road Glide the other day
I was going thru the Menu while in the garage, only reason I plugged in the Tender
Other then that no plans to plug the tender in until fall
Nobody at the Dealer said to plug the RG in, not the Sales guy, either owner, Parts guy who has been there 35 years, or the Service Mgr/or another Service Rep
After a days ride a bike should be good for a week IMO unless its freezing weather
The Fat Boy will fall to 2nd fiddle & will not plug a tender in unless I will not be riding it for at least 2 weeks

 

Based on my last bike purchase I would read VERY little into the fact nobody at the dealer said to plug in the RG.
My point being my last new bike purchase was a 2023 Street Glide, before that my last new bike purchase was a then NEW 1999 EVO!
So coming from a EVO with NO electronics I did't know squat about a modern bike and nobody told me ANYTHING about my new bike.
Heck, I was still looking for a padlock to lock the forks!
And don't get me started about transport mode and EITMS, the first time that rear cylinder shut down I thought something was wrong! My dealer failed to tell me much of anything.

I did ask about buying a tender and was told the new bikes come with one....

My Sales guy did the deal and "POOF" Gone, I didn't even rig the bell or get my picture posted on Facebook! LOL, I was not even given the unlock code!
I had to ask how to unlock the bike if my key fob fails on a return trip...

 

They went over the entire bike with me 2x
They went over exhaust options, AC, dock if I needed one
Asked me questions when dropping off the Fat Boy for service, very thorough
Very experienced people, there is Zero reason to plug a new bike into a Tender every nite
I set the PIN myself soon after I bought the FB & did the same with the RG

 

I can totally understand if one chooses to not plug a bike in every night but 99.9 % of the time if Im at home at night and i'm parked in my spot in my garage that has my tender plugged into the wall ready for me, why not connect it?

I recently purchased this ( pic ) tender port relocation adapter ( STEALTHPORT ) that will mount between my Street Glide saddle bag and fender to I hope make plugging the tender in a easer task with no bending down searching for the pigtail...

I plan to install this as soon as the heat dome leaves as my garage is to HOT to do anything in !

Video I found of the install Stealthport link below...

STEALTHPORT Video

 

That's a good idea. I didn't like the port cable hanging down the side of the bike and have always put it in its holder under the side cover. The new generation of RGs/SGs though requires removing the saddle bag before you can remove the cover. Kinda annoying to be sure. It's probably just a me thing, but I can't stand cables hanging down the side of the bike. I'm going to have to look into a stealth port.

 

If on a away days run ,just take a portable power pack battery tender with you ,you can leave it plugged in without needing mains electricity.
I have had this one for a long time.

 

A quick search didn't confirm for me or not but does Buture have plugs for the HD plug or do you need to track down an adapter?

 

With my under seat plug in ,and no tools pitch black and not in a hurry ,if no start I just plug in jump pack have a sit down.for say 20 mins and the power pack normally boosts the battery up enough for me to (.unplug power pack first ).and then start the bike.

 

I plug my battery tender in after a ride as it is close to a wall outlet. It sure doesn't hurt anything, so why not?

When jump starting a Harley you can connect to the live terminal on the starter and a clean ground on the engine. Usually much easier than removing the seat.

 

Yep I seen that before ,but no way can I get to that starter nut on.my 02 Fat Boy .it's buried.
Plugging in the power pack ,and letting it sit for 20 mins ,means you don't have to jump start at all .
Not sure on the newer ones with all the electronics that jump starting is to be avoided in any case.

 

I run my tender lead out the top of the side cover and zip tied to the upper frame rail. I have a solo with the underseat fairing (strange name) so it covers most of it. I use it for my electric gear in cold weather.

 

I have another BUTURE Power pack in my car inside the car.If say it's dark ,raining and don't want to mess around lifting up the bonnet / Hood to search in the dark for the battery connections ,mine comes with a cigarette connection to plug in dash socket ,and sit and wait say 20 minutes for the pack to transfer enough power to the car battery to start .without even getting out the car .

 

That's admitting defeat ain't it??

 

Maybe ,but handy for a female on her own with a flat car battery .

 

It will probably help your battery to last longer if you have it on a tender daily but if it has to have that done or it won’t start
you have a problem. I would think you should be able to go at least a week, probably more, without needing a tender.

 

I route my tender wire up behind my saddle bag, easy to get to, and tucks out of the way when riding. Also away from hot parts and moving parts.

 

My cable pokes out under the saddle