is it common for harley batteries to only last 2 years is this normal

thank thats what i thought  didnt want to feel rip off

Using a battery fighter or the like should extend the life of your battery by a long way.

i have 40,000 kl on road king 2007 had same battery over 3yrs now

 

I've had a best quality HD AGM battery in the softail (installed new in 2005) that lived the first year and a half of its life in a stinking hot lockup storage facility in Singapore for 8-12 weeks at a time with the battery disconnected, then ridden for a week or less and put back into storage for another 8-12 weeks all with no tender on it. There was no power available in the storage facility to plug in a tender.

Someone once told me that Yausa makes the batteries for HD but I can't confirm that info.

When I brought the bike to Aussie in late 2006 I put it on a top up tender and the battery is still going although I can tell it's starting to fade a bit.

There is no doubt though that some last longer than others, and a lot has to do with how you look after it as Bkok Bob mentions.....just like wimmen... 

Here is more info than you will ever want to know about battery maintenance ---  Have a read of page 32 top left on ambient temperature versus available charge:

http://www.yuasabatteries.com/pdfs/TechMan.pdf 

Ive found that deka batterys are not to bad ive had mine in for a bit over 3years now and deka has been the manufacturer for your standard Harley Davidson battery for about 5 years now . Yuasa would be my next choice but i would never touch an odessy battery again .

3 yrs and still perfectly fine . never had it on a charger as i use it every week .

I have had my sealed harley battery for around 20 years now and it still works fine. If I plan on not using the bike for a while
because of an overseas trip or just no spare time I connect a trickle charger to the battery. This trickle charger is just a low current transformer which is usually used with a kids toy. Important specs. for the charger is a max. current which is low, say 200mA and a max. voltage of around 14.6V. This keeps the battery in a top charge state and it shoulds last almost indefinitely.