Old Chinese Teachings, Part I

[Hawks & Turkeys]

Chinese teaching: One cylinder Hawk engines love cold weather because they are air cooled.

Also Chinese teaching: One cylinder Hawk engines are hard to start in cold weather because the factory starter can't turn over an engine with cold, thick oil.

[Texas Pete]

Cold weather is hard on batteries.


I solved this issue with a lithium battery jump starter. Because the engines are small no need to get a big top end model unless you want to or have lots of diesel and large gasoline engine vehicles you want to jump. Now lithium has issues at very cold temperatures but because the jump starter goes in my back pack and into work it stays nice and warm and at peak operating temperature any time I need it when leaving work.


Only one time (feels like temperature of 7 degrees F which is -14 degrees C) did my original OEM factory battery that is years old turned the engine over on my bike but didn't have enough oompf in the start to properly light up the spark plug strongly. Ironically after the one time jumping the next day was colder by 1 degree and my OEM factory battery fired up the engine just fine.


I took off the seat and connected the portable lithium battery jump starter to my battery and it literally seemed one half second of pressing the start button and the bike slammed to life instantly. :tup:


After jumping the battery level indicator LCD on the jump starter said 99% battery remaining. That was correct as I plugged it into recharge after and it took less than a minute to go 100% and said was done recharging. Mine only is a jumper plus power bank for phones and other devices to recharge them. I don't have an integrated tire pump but if I got a new one I might consider one with one -- however those pistons are all made from plastic in cheap pumps these days so they might not last many uses pumping tires a lot. Now a boost button is definitely something I would want if shopping for a new one to bypass the computer chip detection for having a decent enough battery for jumping connected.

I got mine on sale for $50-ish or so on Amazon a year ago. If you don't want top end look at videos such as this to see what is currently available at affordable prices that does a good enough job on cars which is plenty overkill for motorcycles.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlK7UWHD3sY

[Weresquatch]

I have a 4 bank battery tender I got off Amazon (it even came with quick release leads). Keeps my motos ready to go since I typically commute on something with two years all year round.

[Hawks & Turkeys]

Cold weather is hard on batteries.


I solved this issue with a lithium battery jump starter. Because the engines are small no need to get a big top end model unless you want to or have lots of diesel and large gasoline engine vehicles you want to jump. Now lithium has issues at very cold temperatures but because the jump starter goes in my back pack and into work it stays nice and warm and at peak operating temperature any time I need it when leaving work.


Only one time (feels like temperature of 7 degrees F which is -14 degrees C) did my original OEM factory battery that is years old turned the engine over on my bike but didn't have enough oompf in the start to properly light up the spark plug strongly. Ironically after the one time jumping the next day was colder by 1 degree and my OEM factory battery fired up the engine just fine.


I took off the seat and connected the portable lithium battery jump starter to my battery and it literally seemed one half second of pressing the start button and the bike slammed to life instantly. :tup:


After jumping the battery level indicator LCD on the jump starter said 99% battery remaining. That was correct as I plugged it into recharge after and it took less than a minute to go 100% and said was done recharging. Mine only is a jumper plus power bank for phones and other devices to recharge them. I don't have an integrated tire pump but if I got a new one I might consider one with one -- however those pistons are all made from plastic in cheap pumps these days so they might not last many uses pumping tires a lot. Now a boost button is definitely something I would want if shopping for a new one to bypass the computer chip detection for having a decent enough battery for jumping connected.

I got mine on sale for $50-ish or so on Amazon a year ago. If you don't want top end look at videos such as this to see what is currently available at affordable prices that does a good enough job on cars which is plenty overkill for motorcycles.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlK7UWHD3sY

Thanks for posting - this is awesome. I have a charging port hooked up to my Mighty Max battery, based on an obscure You Tube video I saw. Saves the trouble of removing and replacing the annoying side panel. I also replaced the thick "wires" that run from the battery to the solenoid, and the solenoid to the starter, with some actual battery-type cables. For the short run from the battery to the solenoid I found a company on eBay (Gauge Wire & Cable) that will make custom length cables - in this case like 3 1/2 inches. It helped a lot - until I hit this cold weather spell.