I got my 1998 VFR with 10,000 miles a couple of months ago and right from the start it felt just a bit hesitant to start. Once started it was brilliant, very smooth.
Yesterday, I took the battery out and charged it, thinking it might be the problem with the hesitant starts. When I plugged it in to the battery charger, it almost immediately (within 5 minutes) showed the battery as 80% charged. Fully charged in 30 minutes.
So I put the battery in and went for a ride. The bike didn't start any better (maybe just a tiny bit better) with the charged battery but I went for the ride anyway. After a couple of hours, I stopped to take a break and the bike wouldn't start back up.
When I turned the key the lights and everything came on and the engine turned over a bit and didn't start. I tried again after turning the key off for a minute and this time all I got was a "KRRRRR" sound and the lights went dim on the dashboard and headlights so I turned it off and called for a jump start.
An hour later the guy came over with the jump start kit and the bike started right up. While he was there I tested turning the bike off and got the same problem. So, I got it jump started again and drove home about 50 miles. On the way, the headlights became really dim as did the dashboard lights. The bike also was a bit hesitant at certain RPMs (probably 5.5k) and fine at other.
The bike was completely fine when stopped at the lights and idling, including the headlights which came back to full power. Only when bike was on the move the headlights became dim again and the bike seemed to sputter a bit.
Do these symptoms sound like a dead battery or R/R or some other problem?