The Ninja, it must be said, has had a quiet time of it over the last six months. Just three times I’ve been out, and they were relatively brisk trips. So when, today, I needed to deliver a sheaf* of paperwork (I know, how quaint! Physical hard copies! Who on earth does that kind of stuff anymore? Apart from dinosaurs, obviously) to that part of town over there the Ninja was, to me, the logical transport solution to the problem.
I wheeled her out of the garage, turned the key, watched all the displays do their start-up and wind-over thing, pushed the button and she turned over (slowish), but wouldn’t fire up. Because she had turned over (slowish) I figured the battery only needed a helping hand and not a full-scale 24 hours on the crocodile clips. Now here’s the thing. I’ve never had a motorbike that had an easy to get at battery. The Ninja is no exception.
First you put the key in the side, then remove the pillion:
Then you remove those four identical hex-bolts (two on the far right, two on the left) and then you slide back and remove the fragile-feeling seat support (so it can’t be that fragile really):
Then you’re in a position to remove the two big socket bolts that anchor the rider’s seat in place. Once removed, you can slide the seat back and remove that too:
And there, nestling sideways-on, is the battery. I left everything in place, peeled back the Live cover, attached the crocs, and put it on charge for five minutes. After a wee and a drink of squash I flipped the charger to boost, turned the key and Robert’s your Mother’s Brother, she fired up like a good ‘un.
I disconnected the charger, reattached all the components, and went and ran my errand delivering the aforementioned sheaf* of paper. Then, on the way home, I detoured to the lovely little hardware shop in the next village where I bought some Gorilla Glue for a job I’ll be tacking in the kitchen tomorrow. Stay tuned for more exciting news.
*not an actual sheaf
That was difficult to get to? Get yourself a Triumph mate, then you’ll know what “difficult to get to” is.
One of the best decisions I have made (motorcycling-wise) was to get myself an Optimate 4 charger and cable.. Makes charging the battery a doddle and the battery sits on trickle throughout the winter months, soi I have no fears when I press that starter button when Spring comes round.
In fact, my new bike even came with an Optimate cable already fitted by the dealer.
I’ve just looked at one of those on Google. Ooooh, that’s a clever device. Do you just tuck the cable under the seat when you’re not using it?
That’s exactly what I did with it on the old bike. There’s a waterproof cover on the connector.
On the new bike, they tied it to the frame with a couple of small cable ties. Very neat. Didn’t even notice it until I got the bike home.