[hogcowboy]

If a battery doesn’t stay charged and I have to keep using a trickle charger, or plug in charger, does that mean that the battery needs to be replaced or is it just running down because he bike is ‘t being run enough to keep it charged?

If it's a relative new battery and you left it on a trickle charger, you probably ruined it. A battery maintainer is what you want to keep on a battery.

But, if you are sell the bike, I'd put a cheap new battery on it and use the trickle charger to charge. What is close and if it starts getting very warm, remove the charger.

A new buyer will be more likely to buy if you aren't hiding things or making excuses is my point.

But get a Battery Tender junior or other battery maintainer for the future. Some people call maintainers trickle chargers so that might be the case here. Don't do that either. That just confuses everyone. They are two different kinds of chargers. A trickle charge will continue to charge 24/7 whether it is at it's peak charge or not. A maintainer charges until fully charged then stops, only charging again when the level of charge drops below a certain level. It maintains the battery to peak charge.