Motorcycle Repair: Virago battery drain, yamaha virago 750, 1982 yamaha virago 750

Question
1982 YAMAHA VIRAGO 750
The "new" battery will drain while the bike is not running in just a couple days time.  Would you have any ideas what would cause this?

Answer
Something somewhere in your wiring is not shutting off when you shut down the bike and it is draining the battery on you. If it takes a couple of days to do this it is something that draws a small amount of current, like a clock, a GPS or other small electrical accessory.

If your bike is stock and you don't have anything extra added to the electrical system, you will need to trouble shoot the problem circuit by circuit until you find it. The easiest way to do this is to locate all the fuses for the electrical system and, with the ignition off and the key removed, pull one end of each fuse out of the holder and slowly reinsert it. Watch closely while you do this, as one of them will give a small spark when it comes into contact with the terminal again. This will narrow the problem down to a specific circuit on the bike, so consult your service or owners manual to see what components are listed on it. Then you do the same thing to each component as you did with the fuses, remove one wire from a terminal of each individual component and slowly replace it while watching for a small spark.

With a bit of time, you should be able to find the problem using this method.