Electrical / battery problem?

["Linda & Steve Berto" <s.l.berto@xxxxxxxxx>]

When I went out for a ride this weekend I noticed that my tach wasn't working
when I was sitting at a light, and also the neutral light wasn't on and the
battery light was lit up.  After I started moving the tach started working and
the battery light went off.  This kept happening when I started to slow down
the tach would die and the battery light would come on.  After a while I
noticed that it was when I grabbed my front brake lever that the tach would
die and the battery light would come on.
I live in Northern Virginia where it has been very cold lately with some snow
so I haven't been riding the bike as often as before, sometimes only one day
on a weekend for a few hours, after not riding it for 2 weeks.  It is a 2002
R1150R with 35,000 miles on it.  I had the battery replaced about 2 or 3 years
ago so it may be the battery going dead, but then also a few months ago the
bike fell over when it was parked on it's sidestand on a slanted road on a
very windy day and I was wondering if maybe some battery fluid leaked out and
started shorting out some wiring under the gas tank.
Unfortunately I live in a garden style apartment complex with no garage and
keep the bike outside all the time and don't have a place where I can bring it
inside and work on it.  Before I take it to the dealers I was wondering if
anyone had ever had a similar problem, and if so, what was it from and what
was the fix.

Steve Berto
Annandale, Va
s.l.berto@xxxxxxxxx