More charge after sitting awhile ??

[Devilwinner]

Rode for about an hour today, shut the bike off for 5 min then tried to start her up and it barely turned over. Got it fired up fortunately road home (45min. shut it down and tried to start it within a few minutes , same deal barely turning over. Waited approx an hour tried to start it again and it turned over great. Anybody know what the deal is with this ? Hard to have confidence riding with this situation, Thanks. ('81 GS1100E)

[chuckycheese]

Battery or starter

I don't blame you for your lack of confidence...nobody wants to get stranded on their bike. I think it is one of two things....either your battery is almost shot and needs some time to recover (the beginning of the end for a battery) or your starter needs to be rebuilt. The easiest thing to do is probably have your battery tested under load (at an autoparts store) and go from there. Bike batteries are notoriously unreliable and oftentimes shortlived. Good luck!

[nabrams]

I had the same problem.
It is usually due to a weak and/or dirty starter motor. When it heats up the resistance is too great and it won't work. This has been discussed before - do a search.
In my case, simply cleaning out the inside of the starter motor (armature, brushes, etc.) solved the problem.

[Devilwinner]

Thanks, I am going to get the battery tested under load. It does read fine on my voltmeter when its just sitting there. I have a feeling that I am going to need a stator soon, just given the age of my ride (81GS1100E)