Battery-Culprit or Scapegoat?

BIKE: 1976 KZ750 Twin-Battery has been on trickle charger all winter.

Hello folks,

I'm so glad this site is here! its nice to know so many people enjoy riding a KZ like I do.

I am having strange problems with my bike. When I bought it last year, I put a new battery in it. It was a Walmart battery and I had never had to actually assemble a non-sealed battery before.

My bike ran pretty good all last summer with minimal maintenance. However, it would often not start with the electric start. The starter would make a pathetic attempt but didn't have enough umfff.. Sometimes it would start with the starter motor if I had been on a long ride and started the bike up again after not letting it sit very long.

Fall: During the fall, the bike started to act funny. Coming home from school one day, the bike kept conkin out every 5 miles or so. Very frustrating for a 100 mile trip home. It was also eating gas like crazy. I put the bike up as I didn't have time to work on it with school getting into full swing.

Now, to this year: I just took the last weekend I had off from school to tinker. I adjusted the carbs and the contact point gab and attended to all sorts of other little issues that had been bugging me. I also took apart the starter and replaced the brushes which were horribly worn down. Now, with no load on it anyhow, the starter spins like a mother. I also had a problem not tightening the starter bolts tight enough and the slip gear was ... slipping and not allowing the motor to turn under load. I think i fixed that problem though.

So I hooked up the starter and put everything back together and tried to turn it over. The starter cranked, but weakly. I finally got P/O and removed the motorcycle battery AND jumped the bike to my car battery. After playing with the contact points and plugs a little more, she roared to life without warning! Aside from some white smoke that it took about 5 minutes to work out if her system, she was running solid. I disconnected the jumpers and took are for a spin around the block. She had every bit of balls I remember from last summer and maybe a little more.

My question is this: Could my battery by messing up my bike generally? The bike ran fine with the battery out after it was jumped. All of the equiptment seemed to work fine-blinkers etc. so I think the charging system is ok.

Thanks and happy riding,
CSB

Sounds like your tinkering on the points/plugs may have done the trick.
A battery is a passive component. It just stores voltage and current so the electrics can work before the generator starts turning. Put the battery back in, and see how she runs.