Total Motorcycle Community Forums

A coworker who has his motorcycle license but hasn't got a bike yet [I talk about him just about every chance I get ] uses the excuse that he doesn't have a garage to keep it in. So I asked if he had a parking spot or a level area around his house, and then told him I don't have a garage either but I bought a Bike Barn to keep my bike in and it's held up for the past 4 years and my bike has kept well even in the winter. Anybody else have a storage/shelter solution you use in lieu of a garage?

Last Year I had to leave mine wintered outside, of course worst winter ever but I had a cover and a tarp over the bike and I sprayed the shyte out of it with silcone spray seemed to winter well, remove your battery though and stable the fuel.

When I lived in Calgary, Canada (ice cold winters) there were times I didn't have a garage for my bike, which really sucked for doing maintenance, oil changes etc, in the winters, I'd remove the battery, fill the tank to full fuel and spray the bike with WD40. If it got really cold (or was going to ice fog or ice rain) I'd put a fleece blanket over it and a tarp.

Later on, I lived in the UK for 3.5 years without a garage. It's much less cold in the winter, but I used a motorcycle bike cover all the time. One winter I didn't remove my battery (lazy) and low and behold, it was dead for spring. But the bike cover was great, although they only lasted 2 years each.

A garage is great, anything that is a shelter is better than nothing. The outside is hard on vehicles, especially motorcycles as you have lots of electrical and metal bits in the open.

Mike

I park it with a cover in riding season...winter, I store it at a local shop.

Jarlaxle wrote:winter, I store it at a local shop.

Good suggestion as well! Many bike shops will offer winter storage (some even heated storage) for a fee.

Mike

I put mine in the front room.

Put it in a friend's garage!

I only have a covered parking space. My vehicle gets parked with part of it sticking out and my bike is parked across the front of the vehicle. I cover it, but I'm in California, so I ride year-round.

This is an old thread, but I have over the years had many solutions. They had a pgm at one dealer that they would store your bike for a dollar a day if you had their brand of bike. I have also stored mine in an underground parking garage in a friend's space where there was a lot of room. Last year I found a girl who has a scoot and rents the rest of her parking space in her heated apartment-building garage (like heated to normal room temp) for other bikes. I got a key card so I could go over and run the bike around every couple of weeks and keep the battery alive and even went for a ride in February when the roads were clear (I live in Toronto). That meant I could get my bike on the road at the earliest opportunity, which in Toronto makes a big difference. I ride until the end of December normally and then dream of riding for 10 weeks.

Storage outside is painful and hard on everything.

Bike cover with a tarp on top, battery tender connected...