Battery problem or electrical gremlin?

Hi all, bought a used 04 factory a couple of days ago. Bike wouldn't start yesterday and guy i bought it off advised that it hadn't been used in a while so probably battery needed charging, and that it wouldn't fire up with less than 11.3 odd volts reading on the dash...

So whipped out the battery and charged it to full overnight. Once back in i checked the volt meter on the dash and it said 11.7 and started up fine. Problem solved....or so i thought. Went for a ride after work for 30 mins, stopped at a mates for half an hour, went to start the bike - won't start and dash volt meter reading 10.5. managed to bump start it and went for another spin to charge it up, ran fine for 45 mins but as i was riding along the volt meter was reading between 11.3 and 9?! Was going up and down seemingly at random and just as i was pulling into the drive the bike died. The volt meter on the dash is now reading 9 and won't start.

I'm thinking the battery is ******, would this be your guess too or is it more likely and electrical problem? Love the bike when it's running but can't cope with an unrealiable bike

Any advice would be great!

thanks

Simon

New battery time, these bikes eat batteries

I would blame the battery first.
Don't spose you got a mucker with a spare batt you can borrow and go for a ride and see what happens?

cheers guys was my guess too, i'll buy a new one tomorrow for piece of mind and see if that does the trick. Spotted a weeping fork seal too so might just bite the bullet and book it in for a full service...

If you want to know how to check the alternator let me know and I can pm you the tests to do. (You will need a multimeter tho).

Howdy...:thumbup

when the bike is running the voltage displayed on your dash should be aprox 13.2 volts, ish:eatcorn

ahh cheers, nowhere near that even when i charged that battery to full it only hit 11.7