Looks like I need to learn battery basics...

I left my AT in Kathmandu for 5-6 weeks as I went home for a bit. I disconnected the battery prior to leaving. Retrieved the bike today. When I hooked the battery up all electronics powered on, but got a rapid click, click, click sound when pressing the starter, indicating not enough juice in the cells. Damn.

A random Nepali guy offered to jump my bike using 12V battery he removed from his car. For jumper cables we used two decent gauged pieces of wire, stripping the ends using my pocket knife. With him standing on the battery, clamping down the bare ends of the wires with his sandals, we jumped the bike.

How many errors have I made so far?

The bike started up and the battery gradually took a charge, although we had to jump is several more times. I just rode it for about an hour.

* Should I remove the battery, take it to a mechanic, and have him put a charge on it, or will it gradually recover a full charge over time? *

* Did I do any damage to the battery/ risk any damage to the bike? How/ why?

I was actually surprised the battery lost as much charge as it did. Naive? What basic battery knowledge am I missing? It is a "sealed battery" - not that I know that that means completely.

Basically, I am used to car batteries. I used to leave my vehicles untouched for the winter, reconnect the battery, start them right up. However, this is all I've ever done with my 07 Triumph Bonneville - the only other motorcycle I've ever owned - as well. For the three seasons I've owned it, all I ever did was remove the battery before storage, and throw it back in there when I returned home. No tender. Same battery for all 3 years. Not even a hint of a problem. I recently did it again when I went home. It had been sitting for a year. The battery was not on a tender. Same old routine: put battery back in, press start, go (okay, had to choke it/ warm it up/ let the WD-40 burn off, but basically pretty easy).

What should I know about moto batteries?

Many thanks,

Andrew