Dead Battery? No jumper cables.....Solution

[(RIP) maverick]

Got this from South-African forum and Kamanya said ok to cross post. Could be of use if you stuck somewhere with a dead battery

Mods please feel free to move this to Wisdom section as it potentially is a piece of wisdom.

Went riding with a friend in Atlantis yesterday.

Late in the day when we were tired and had had enough fun I got us stuck in a bowl trying to find the exit. I got out but my buddy who chose this day to debut on sand didn’t, so I was going to ride his bike out. Unfortunately, this was when his battery decided it had had enough.

So, worst case scenario just became reality. Pushing or pulling is not an option at all. We didn’t have jumper cables. I knew that if I went to look I might be able to find a 4x4 to beg a helping hand but I had another plan I was keen to try before we called the 4x4’s

I often ride in the dunes and this very scenario had crossed my mind often. What to do?

Well, I found this works really well;

You need to get both bikes onto their centre stands without the rear on the ground. Pretty tricky in deep sand. So, find anything solid to put under the dead bikes centre stand. You need to almost lie the bike over to get something under the one side, then once that’s done, tip the bike onto the other side and put another solid what ever under the other leg.

Then ride the good bike so that you are near enough to being able to get the rear tires to touch with both bikes facing away from each other. Bum to bum

Now the hard part, you need to get the good bike up on its centre stand too, also getting something solid under there. We used sticks. Try to get the knobs of the one tire to touch the others. We had them almost side by side so that the side knobs were interlocking.

Then turn the dead bike on (kill switch too), get it into second gear pull in the clutch. Start the good bike, into first gear and let out the clutch slowly.

The good bikes rear will spin up the dead bikes rear within a few seconds. The dead bikes rider then dumps his clutch and hey presto!

We’re outa here!

 

[John Armstrong]

Aren't we at the wrong end of April?

 

[NorthernBoy]

So, towards the end of a day of probably pretty spirited riding, a battery just "gives up"?

That's a mighty unusual occurrence, to say the least.

I am also hugely suspicious of this method working at all. Even when you have the whole momentum of a 200kg bike, fluids, and rider, most of us would still find it a bit tough to bump start a GS with a flt battery. The momentum in the back wheel is hugely less, suggesting that you really have very little chance. What woudl actually happen, I suspect, is that you'd dump the clutch, the back wheel woudl stop immediately, and one or both bikes would be sent flying.

 

[Ali-bear]

I see they have found a use for those crappy orange bikes

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

i don't see why it wouldn't work - similar theory to motoGP remote starter trolleys.

similar rear tyres would be a bonus - TKC's would be like a pair of gears

not sure about the 'contrived' scenario but hey - its always worth a go.

youtube would always help

 

[(RIP) maverick]

Use it or don't use it, if you stuck in the middle of nowhere it beats walking miles in the sun dying of thirst trying to find jumper leads

Kamanya is a straight forward guy who has no reason to go out of his way deceiving people, if you find the information usefull good if you don't move along nothing to see here

 

[MickDB1]

I recon Its a good Idea
I will not be trying it as I carry jump leads

I would love to see it done = U Toob

 

[NorthernBoy]

I hope that I won't need to use it in their situation anyway. I'll take the precaution of not taking any learner friends into a bowl full of sand at the end of a hard day, when they are tired, and, apparently, must have already had to restart the bike about eighty times to run the battery down.

Next tip, how to make a rudimentary game of monopoly from a napkin and pubic hairs if you find yourself floating in the mid-atlantic after jumping off the back of your cruise ship just to see what would happen...

And yes, before anyone comments, it is worth a try as a very last resort, but I really, really don't intend to allow myself to need to be that desperate.

 

[ts2]

I like that, its a good bit of lateral thinking.

Not sure its 1200 specific though, but saying that I wouldn't have read it in another section (apart from for sale), so glad it is here.

TobyS

 

[KTMmartin]

So, towards the end of a day of probably pretty spirited riding, a battery just "gives up"?

Sadly KTM put the battery behind the bash guard (!) so it's possible for the connector to dirty and not charge up the battery as you ride.

I can remember this scenario happening to me and a chum, we would probably have at least tried this method to get going before the long push.

Cheers for posting.

 

[tustinr]

Typical SA inginuity me thinks. Cheers mate for an excellent idea (from another SA lurking on these pages)

 

[(RIP) Miff]

I see no reason why it wouldn't work. Thanks for the tip.