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So after a couple weeks of not riding, I went out to the garage to start my Guzzi to ride to work. It was cold, about 22 deg F. When I pressed the starter, I heard a whirring noise but the engine didn’t turn over. My first assumption was low battery and I was right, kinda …… it was at 11.8 volts. So I decided to put the bike on the Battery Tender overnight and try the next day. The next morning, same story, except this time the battery was at 12.5volts (due to the charge). Huh?

Time to dig deeper. I tried connecting a separate battery to the starter to see if it was getting enough juice, no difference.  I pulled the starter off (very easy on the Guzzi) and pressed the button; the drive gear popped out and spun around, just like it’s supposed to. I pulled a cover on the front of the engine and turned the engine with a wrench; no seized cylinders. What the F?

I even tried bump-starting it. But by myself on a wet and level street, I couldn’t even get it to do 1 revolution.

I started asking some of my more mechanically inclined moto-buddies for advice. I also did a whole lot of searches on the internet and I called a couple Guzzi parts places hoping for some advice other than “buy a new starter” ($275). One friend joked that the Italians install a ” WTF are you thinking” switch, which deactivates the starter on days when it’s so cold you’re an idiot for riding …. hmmmmmm? While all these sources gave me some of good ideas, there was no definitive answer (like so many things in life).

So armed with some new ideas, I went out to the garage over the weekend to try to diagnose the problem a little more. Without doing anything else and just for grins, I hit the starter button. You guessed it, fired right up! GREAT, I love intermitent problems!

When I told my sister (a new motorcyclist), she said, “it’s fixed”. Typical woman! I told her the more realistic (male) point of view, that it’s only a matter of time before it strands me. I told her to re-read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. If you can’t take care of your problems, you’re at the mercy of the fates … or worse, other people.

My best guess is that the low temperature and a less than stellar battery are to blame. Big Twins are notorious hard starts anyway. And cold temps make for more friction (engine tightness) and less battery strength, especially if the battery has a few years on it and wasn’t charge properly the first time (likely). So I guess I’ll keep it on the tender for the rest of the winter and think about getting a new battery this Spring.

I installed a new K&N air filter and did the first valve adjustment. Both help the bike run a little more smoothly. The valve adjustment was easier than any bike I’ve ever owned; screw type adjusters on exposed cylinders …. SWEET! And they were pretty far out of tolerance.

 Rhino