I don't trust optimates.
On all of my bikes I have had problems with the optimate if left on for any period of time. They supposedly 'cycle' the battery in order to check it is okay. From my experiences this cycling gives the battery a sort of memory such that it will lose its capacity. What I mean is, if the bike doesn't fire straight away you don't get many chances at cranking the bike before it is flat. If the battery gets too low the ecu will shut down anyway, so then it really is game over.
What I do now is put the bikes on charge for a week or two, then unplug them for a week or two. So far (touch carbon
) this has worked for me.
Interestingly, for the first time ever (that I've noticed) my optimate told me it was 'desulpher'ing the battery this weekend...
One final thing, I always start the bike with the lights off, just to give it more of a chance.
