Why not just pull the airbox cover off and jump it normally to the battery terminals. Depending on years that have the solenoid on the left frame tube, you can also attach the positive to the bat side of the solenoid and the negative to the exhaust pipe, which is an engine ground .I made this quick clip on how to jumpstart a motorcycle to try to help some new riders out. Then I realized for V-Rod owners... oouuff...
But with a little help I came up with this compromise. First, here's the video:
It might be nothing new for many experienced riders here, but it's probably good to review every so often for something that many people won't do too often. I'm in Canada so we all just carry jumper cables in our cars because the winter's are hard on batteries and jumping a total stranger is a normal part of life 4 months out of the year.
Anyway...
From that point on, based on this post from 2012, it looks like you can substitute the positive terminal on the battery with a nut coming out of the starter in order to make life a lot easier on the side of the road where you may not have access to tools.
![]()
Personally, I have no idea if my big jumper cables will fit in there, but apparently it worked for that user so good on em!
Hope this helps someone.
Putting the battery positive cable to the starter itself is wrong. All you will do is spin the starter but the rest of the electrics will still be dead or whatever voltage it is pre jumping. Not enough voltage to the ECM and system it still likely won't start, even if the starter is cranking like crazy.
Ron
