Come back to bike - Suddenly it's not biting..

[The Voyager]

Parked the bike up while I was in the gym, everything was normal and fine driving down. No issues. Come back to bike 1 hour later and then I realized I thought I had left the engine turned on. I am in the bad habit of killing the engine with the kill switch and then turn it off with the key. I wasn't paying attention when I come back but was sure when I put the key in that it was left on, though not 100% sure.

Either way nothing when I pressed the starter button.

Figured I'd give it a bump start, seems to have worked in the past down a hill throwing it into 1st or 2nd.

So at the bottom of the hill I threw it into 1st, clutch out and then it was biting, it wasnt biting, it was biting it wasn't biting, just like a pitta patta stop start motion, jerking my body forward and backward, so at the bottom of the hill decided to get off and re evaluate. I pushed it 5 mins to a local garage and thankfully a guy was willing to help me resolve it.

He got his jump leads out and instead of throwing them on the battery he put the red on the starter motor, we got it ticking over again but the neutral light (green) was flickering and the main beam light was also flickering. We give it some revs but it was like it was missing a beat or something... then when you give it too many revs it kind of sounded like it was cutting out... Or it sounded like something was blocked?

Anyway, I managed to ride it hope (all up hill!) but in this start stop motion, at times it would go properly and get up to 40mph but with some jerking! Not pleasant.

When I got it home, obviously turned the engine off then it wouldn't re start with the start button...

But the main light had the faintest of light in it.

So now I'm stuck with this dilemma..

Could it be the spark plugs?

Could it be the carb?

Could it be the battery?

Could it be the starter motor?

[OhJay]

Did he only put the second battery to the starter motor? Was it then up to the bike itself to power all the electrics? If all the lights are flickering like that it's something electric. Knackered carbs or plugs won't make it do that, the lights will all be on, just the engine itself won't

Is the battery charged? Is it charging when the bike's running? I'm thinking reg/rec most likely.

And a friendly nudge to not turn it off on the kill switch. You might one day turn it off on the kill switch and leave the key in as you walk away and your bike goes walkabout

[Mr Fro]

Charge up the battery or get a new one and take it from there. Check the voltage across the battery when running and not while you're there, this will help with any diagnosis.

[The Voyager]

Yep looks like battery! I'm gonna get it out and charged up...

Don't have a charger... I might see if I can buy one, any recommendations in say Halfords or specialist bike shops??

Are they all the same?

[Mr Fro]

Quite a lot of people (me included) use Optimate chargers - they're 40-50 quid. The Halfords automatic one will do the business very nicely and they do a bike version too if you need one on the hurry up.

[The Voyager]

£45 in halfords..

Or

£16 on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-AMP-12V-COM ... 2c85f899da

Thing is halfords will buy from the same factories these guys buy from on ebay I reckon...

Is this one I have posted the correct one for a bike, says suitable for motorbike.

[The Voyager]

Just getting battery out now.

And found what looks like a small green fuse. Says '30' on it. It was on the right hand of my shadow vlx.

What is this little guy from/for?

Can't upload pics from mobile phone.

It was just sitting there. Still gonna charge battery.

[The Voyager]

Has to be a spare or something - because the little bix it come out of has no metal connections.