Winterizing
 

This is more for the northerners that can't or don't ride in the winter.

What do you do, if anything, to winterize your bike?

And is there a certain day you do this or call it a "season"? My friend winterizes his the day after Thanksgiving.

Fuel stabilizer, Lube everything, spray anything that could rust with PAM, change the oil if it has not been done in the recently, Plug the exhaust and remove the seat, (Rodents...Slim chance but still.) Record the mileage and remove the battery. Push them up close to the wall of my shed and cover them up.

Now with addition of a liquid cooled bike I tested the coolant strength too. Dont want any freezing.

It usually takes place somewhere around Halloween but can go into Mid November depending on the weather.

N/A:lala:

:gofurslf:

come south grasshopper

I'm working on it.

i leave it stored as short of time as possible. i put fuel stabil in it and change oil. cover it lightly, and wait for the next season.

NOOOOOOO we have enough friggin Ohio plates tearing up our roads as it is :nee:

ususlay the stabilizer if its going to be down for a while, more than 6 weeks take out the battery and put it on a tender, with my own garage now I can leave it in the bike. Put it on the center stand and maybe this year throw a cover on it.

Tom

what i tend to do, more often than not, is live in south florida.

Change it back to coolant.
Fuel Stabilizer.
Oil Change.

All of this is done by my mechanic which is also where I store my bike. ;)

I've been slacking lately

1. Fill up tank and add stabil, go for the last short ride of season. The top off tank with gas.

2. While the bike is warm...change the oil (cheapo dino is fino if you plan on changing it again at the begining of the season)
3. Coolant should be changed every 2 years so if need be change it
4. Battery out and on tender
5. Clean the chain if you want and grease it up
6. Toss the cover on

Make sure the coolant is really still coolant, keep the tank topped off with fresh gas, ride it at least once a week.

Fine. I'll find some NC plates to throw on it, but if I get pulled over I'm blaming you!

but, but she's cute.....

well..there CAN be exceptions made :lol:


I have a few plates on the wall she can use

I don't have to do this anymore (my bikes stay warm and toasty over the winter :nee:) but for ultra cold storage:

1. Drain carbs (if you have carbs, otherwise no, cause you'll spend forever looking for the drain screw).

2. Fuel stabilizer/top off tank.

3. Fresh oil, overfilled as much as possible, (condensation in the cases leads to rusty bits, so I just "pickle" the bottom end in oil). You may want to leave yourself a note...

4. Get the tires off the concrete. If you don't have stands, park on plywood or thick cardboard. Tires and frozen concrete is not a happy combo.

5. Pull the battery, store it someplace warm with a tender on it.

6. Remove seat, place in closet. Foam and vinyl don't like prolonged freezing.

7. Plug exhaust (if you have mice).

8. Sit around and bitch until MotoGP comes back on.

JC

I fill the tank and put stabalizer in it.
I put it at the front of the garage, just incase we have a nice sunny day that I can take it out in January.

:lol: Yeah we don't mind letting these types in.


I don't winterize since I ride most of the year.

Also since my garage is part of my walk-out basement and partially underground it never freezes in there.

If the garage doors are closed it never seems to drop below 50 plus it stays cooler in the summer than outside temps.

My garage is the same way....

How kind of ya'll to let me ride in your state.

replies in bold

Again...

always put in your gas additives at the gas station prior to filling tank. This ensures that as you fill the tank they are adequetly mixed.

Also, no reason to pull a battery if you are putting on a tender. The tender will keep any harm from happeneing to it.

Yes and no.

In general, batteries that are not subjected to extreme conditions tend to last longer. Batteries also do not like huge fluctuations in temperature, over long periods of time (Summer vs. Winter)

"Battery Tender" brand tenders, have an internal component that measures the ambient temp, and compensates accordingly (lower temps = higher charging rates and vice-versa). The temperature at which no compensation is required for a 12 volt battery, is 77 degrees (F).

JC

That is what I did. Put in the stabil, then rode to the gas station(1km), then filled up.

And people use other brands then battery tender?

Go karl. Next time try seafoam instead.

Well, there are others brands out there, so I assume they do.

JC

Is it bad that I do nothing? I pull the bike in the garage after my day of riding, if it's nice I'll get it out again and if not it's there until spring. A couple of times over winter I open the garage door and start it. I do nothing else, Erik either.

I look at it as it's always ready to ride any time I want then... no fussing around with stuff.

It will be nice with the attatched garage now, figure it wont go below 50 in there so I can just leave the battery in the bike.

Tom

Depends on how OCD you are, it's worked for you all this time, no need to change your routine.

I have heard that just starting it and running it for a few minutes does no good and could even cause problems even though I am guilty of doing that a few times myself.

Tom

Yep it needs to get up to normal operating temps at least....

I think that and it just idling doesnt realy charge the battery.

Tom

I don't plan on changing what I do, just wanted to see what all everyone else does.

I let it get up to temp. I don't just start it and then shut it off.

Just suck it up, layer up, pucker up, and take it out for a 10 mile ride each weekend.:D

thats what I used to try to do if the roads werent too bad

take it to work once or twice a month.

Tom

At the very least it's what I do with mine....

Most charging systems don't start throwing juice to the battery until you hit 2500-3000 RPM, so idling won't help your battery any.

Also, excessive idling will cause carbon build up, (even at operating temps), so no, you're not helping. :lol:

JC

I would if there has been no salt or cinders put down, but that happens a little quicker around here.

You are also what, 500 miles, south of me where it is much warmer... I'm not that far from the snow belt.

That's YOUR fault

I wouldn't say it's my FAULT, just my choice to live here. I can't really afford to pick up and leave right now with the way things are.

I ride it.

If the roads are dry, it's out on the road.

Actually the problem is that you're creating moisture issues. When you create that type of moist heat inside the bike's components like exhaust, the heads, cylinders, oil pan. Then as it cools it condenses. You are then not only adding moisture to the oil which works against it. You are also puttig moisture into areas of raw metal. Moisture plus raw metal does one thing. RUST. That is all bad.

You are always better to simply do a complete wash of the bike, oil service, put it on a battery tender, cover, and leave it till spring. There is NO gain by starting it. Why do it?

If you are honestly worried about the piston rings... fog the cyclinders or spray some wd40 thru each spark plug the day before starting it after hibernation.