Motorcycle Repair: new battery, motorcycle batterys, car batterys

Question
Hi Mike,
I have just jumped into the motorcycle world with a '81 GL1100 Goldwing.  I've never purchased a motorcycle battery before, only car batterys.  The battery I bought is a Energizer with a bottle of diluted sulfuric acid.  I filled the cells with the acid and waited for the bubbles to stop.  Replaced the caps and then tried to see if it worked.  And it did, but when I looked at it the next day it leaked some of the acid out a hole that had a rubber easy to remove cap. I then looked again at the instructions and it was explaining about charging the battery?  Why would I want to charge a new battery for hours on end?  How would I charge the battery?  Do I have to buy something else.  Whats the deal?  Why isn't the battery ready to go when you buy it?  I don't understand this battery thing.  I expected to buy a motorcycle battery for a plug and play.

-Illiterate battery operator  

Answer
the rubber cap you are talking about is the vent hole and the cap must be removed.
Motorcycle batterys are sold dry, due to the fact that not as many are sold as compaired to car batterys. When a battery sits on the shelf it looses as much as 5% of its charge a month. That is why you had to put acid in your battery.
When you put the acid in the battery it does charge itself somewhat, but not fully. That is why it says to charge it. When you charge it fully it makes the battery last longer. to charge the battery, you have to buy a battery charger and you need one that will only charge at 2 amps.
Good luck and happy riding
Mike