Bonneville Wont Start

Hi Herbie and welcome to the forum.

There is a well-known issue with the Bonny efi's (like yours) that if the battery standing voltage is less than - from memory - 12.5volts, the ECU will not excite the starter relay.

Two things to try:

1. Charge the new battery overnight;

2. Get yourself (if you haven't got one yet) an intelligent battery charger, with cable and connector installed on the bike, so that when you've finished for the day with the Bonny you can plug in your intelli-charger. This way you'll have no future starter problems.

Incidentally, all Bonnys since 2008 have EFi, not carbs. They have faux carbs, just for the look.

 

Have a look here or here
They might help or not!

 

Just remembered something else. At one time Triumph dealers were offering a different 'tune' to cure this. I believe it was called the "City Tune" and from what I can make out, was a reflash of the ECU to lower the threshold of this voltage lock-out.

This allowed you to start an EFi bike with a battery that wasn't 100% fully charged. Don't know if it's still available though.

 

I can vouch for the fact that the batteries need to be fully charged on these bikes - I recently left the ignition switched on accidentally for a short time and the bike would not then start. The voltage showing with a test metre was just 12 volts. When attached to the charger it only showed 75% charged, so regular riding or intermittent charging is the only answer.

 

Have you solved your issue? I believe I am having the same problem. Please let me know what you did to fix it.

 

Welcome aboard Herbie. Like others have said I'd certainly keep the battery hooked to an intelligent charger when not in use.

 

I reckon he's not that impressed with this forum and the advice given - just the one message two years ago...

 

Ha! Esme resurrecting old dead batteries

 

There's a lot to said for kick starts.

 

You know that was the first thing I asked when I bought my bike. "Is there a kick start?"

Now I'm wondering if you can install an after market kick start..