Winterizing and Storage

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Convict#4616 · Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:50 pm

If youve seen my intro post you know Ive just bought my very first bike, its a GZ250. I have to take my safety class next year and save up for my gear this winter and do a lot of reading. So.... since im not gonna take it out except for extremely tame riding in the parking lot... Ive wheeled the thing into the living room of my Apt where I plan on keeping her warm and safe during the winter.

What would you suggest I do to keep her in good shape till then? I know I dont HAVE to drain the fuel out if I put a stabalizer in it (right?) but it might be a good idea if its gonna be inside. What are your thoughts on this my new friends? I dont want my carb to need a cleaning when the warm weather hits... plus, its a small apt, what about fumes?

Convict#4616 · Sat Oct 21, 2006 4:02 am

nine views and nothing..... Is that a stupid question?

Sev · #3 Unread post by **Sev** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 4:58 am

First things first, if you're storing it in your house remove the gas, and the battery.

Place the battery on a trickle charger

Change the oil and crank it over a couple of times to make sure that you have a good spread of it on the engine.

If you winterize it, do not start it again until you can get it up to peak operating temperature.

Fix any damage to the bike.

Inflate the tires to maximum safe pressure (and optionally block the bike off the ground).

Some people suggest removing the spark plugs and dumping a little engine oil in through the holes.

Drain the old fuel out of the carb as well.

Shorts · #4 Unread post by **Shorts** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:33 am

Convict#4616 wrote:nine views and nothing..... Is that a stupid question?

Patience, not everyone puts their bike away for winter.

And you could have run a search.

Loonette · #5 Unread post by **Loonette** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 12:05 pm

Shorts wrote:
Convict#4616 wrote:nine views and nothing..... Is that a stupid question?

Patience, not everyone puts their bike away for winter.

And you could have run a search.

Yes, please don't take non-responses personally. I was one of the "viewers" this morning, but I literally didn't have time to type a response before running out the door to start family stuff.

Anyhoo... there is a lot of information on the forums about winterizing. Since we don't have a garage, and are unable to fit the bikes into the house, we ride them year-round. We keep them covered, put stabil in the gas, and keep the snow cleared away. If the temps are above 30 degrees and there is no snow or salt on the roads, then we take the bikes out for at least an hour.

At one time, when we had smaller bikes (one was a Rebel - perhaps similar in size to your bike), we kept them in the basement for one winter (we have a five-step exterior walkdown in the back of our house). We didn't drain the gas or do anything special aside of putting the batteries on trickle chargers and putting stabil in the gas tank. Moisture is an issue with storing a bike, which is why it might be recommended to oil the spark plugs. We never did that as we have a dehumidifier in our basement.

Also, we were concerned about liability issues with storing gas in the house, but we contacted our insurance company, and their response was... they had never heard of such a thing, but there was nothing in our fire policy prohibiting us from storing the bikes in the basement. Since you are in an apartment, that's a whole different story. I'm sure most landlords would say "no" just as a standard. But lots of people do store their bikes in apartments, so... it's really up to you what you're willing to deal with.

Good luck - personally I dread the approach of every winter simply because I wish I had a nice heated garage with all the comforts available for our bikes. Still, I do enjoy the occasional nice winter day when I can go out for a couple of hours on my baby.

Cheers,
Loonette

qwerty · #6 Unread post by **qwerty** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:40 pm

When I store bikes I begin with a bath and wax. Then I lube the chain, cables, swing arm pivot, wheel bearings, and everything else that needs lubing. I do a full tune-up, lube the chain, and air and fuel filters. I drain the tank, then start the bike and let it idle until it runs out of gas. As the engine begins to sputter, I roll on the choke to keep it going. Once the tank is empty, I spray the inside with SeaFoam. Then I change the oil and filter, remove the spark plug and squirt oil on the piston. Then I hit the stater enough (kill switch off) to build oil pressure. Next, I block up the bike and deflate the tires to about 5 pounds, which is enough to hold the shape. Finally, I remove the battery and hook up a very low capacity trickle charger. Weekly throughout the storage period I'll hook up the battery and spin the engine to build oil pressure.

When ready to hit the road, I change the oil and filter, install the battery, air the tires, gas up and go.

MotoF150 · #7 Unread post by **MotoF150** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 2:00 am

My Suzuki M50 is stored for the winter in an unheated garage, what I do is start it up once a week for about 5 mins, I keep the battery in, no charger and I remove the chain and soak it in a pan of motor oil.

Sev · #8 Unread post by **Sev** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 3:44 am

qwerty wrote:When I store bikes I begin with a bath and wax. Then I lube the chain, cables, swing arm pivot, wheel bearings, and everything else that needs lubing. I do a full tune-up, lube the chain, and air and fuel filters. I drain the tank, then start the bike and let it idle until it runs out of gas. As the engine begins to sputter, I roll on the choke to keep it going. Once the tank is empty, I spray the inside with SeaFoam. Then I change the oil and filter, remove the spark plug and squirt oil on the piston. Then I hit the stater enough (kill switch off) to build oil pressure. Next, I block up the bike and deflate the tires to about 5 pounds, which is enough to hold the shape. Finally, I remove the battery and hook up a very low capacity trickle charger. Weekly throughout the storage period I'll hook up the battery and spin the engine to build oil pressure.

When ready to hit the road, I change the oil and filter, install the battery, air the tires, gas up and go.

Unless you own a Harley all wheel bearings are self contained and should never be opened to lube.

I cannot figure out why you would want to lube a standard air filter.

Emptying the tank is an option, but you're better off stabilizing the fuel, and draining the carbs if you're going to be storing it outside.

Running the bike at all after you've pulled it apart for storage is a great way to create condensation, which leads to corrosion, which leads to a shitty engine life. You need to get it up to peak operating temperature to make starting it at all worth while.

Finally, you should inflate your tires to the maximum recomended pressure, then block up the bike in order to prevent flat spots.

qwerty · #9 Unread post by **qwerty** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 5:37 am

I lubed the pivot points, and cleaned or replaced the air and fuel filters. Sorry that wasn't more clear. I've only had older bikes, and some of them had wheel bearings that needed to be greased. I stored indoors in a temperature controlled environment. Gas fumes were unacceptable, so the bike had to be completely empty of gas. The Seafoam prevented the inside of the empty tank from rusting. When I blocked up the bikes, both wheels were off the ground and wouldn't flatspot even if they were flat.

Sev · #10 Unread post by **Sev** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 5:49 am

Underinflating your tires for storage will put undue stress on them. You're better off inflating them to max airpressure and lifting them off the ground. Otherwise you're risking ply seperation, and sidewall cracking.