Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I'm going to putting my bike in storage soon for the winter and have a few questions. I live fairly close to my storage shed where I'll be keeping the bike so I'll be able to go over and visit whenever need be (I think this will be the time that I have a few mods done to the bike as well as to not take away riding time ) But what I want to know is, if I am able to start the bike few times each month and prolly take it for a spin around parking lot (if the lot is plowed) do I really need to winterize it? Meaning, do stuff the the spark plugs, battery, gas additives, etc..?

I'd say yes. If you're starting the bike and riding it at low speeds you're just draining the battery further. Plus, you know how life is. You intend to go over there and check on the bike, but then other things come up and next thing you know it's been 3 months and your bike won't start.

Last winter the longest stretch I went without riding was 8 weeks (Jan/Feb) and hope this winter will be the same. But I'll still be plugging the battery in and keeping some sta-bil in the tank at a minimum.

Don't start it up and run unless you can get it up to full operating temp(you can't do this in a parking lot without alot of time and effort). You will just be building up condensation in the crankcase, and that's bad.

Add some fuel stabilizer(run it long enough to get that stabilizer throughout the carbs and everything) and leave the poor old girl sit quietly as you do whatever work you plan on doing. Keep the air intake covered when you are not there working on it to keep the mice and critters out of there. I spent a day cleaning out my airbox this spring cause it was crammed full of popping corn thanx to some bloody mouse who must have thought he won the lottery when he busted into our garbage and found a whole bag of it... also, don't store the bike next to where you put the garbage out for pick-up, and don't leave the garbage there for a week ..... Then when the roads are safe, you can take her out and get her hot.

Plug up the exhaust as well, mice are tenacious little bastards. And depending how long it's going to sit for it might be worth the effort to pull the battery and set it on a trickle charger.

Even better would to be to just roll the bike into the living room

spray some WD-40 on any chrome parts as well and keep the bike covered. WD-40 will keep the chrome from rust pitting. For me I thought it was hell when I went 3 weeks without riding (wouldnt stop snowing). Good thing I had the bike in to get new tires . Hopefully this winter that wont happen but for some reason i think this winter will be worse than last winter. then again I havent been riding cause my chain is stretched to the max tensioning and I dont want the chain to break while riding down the road. Someday ill get that extra $$$ to buy myself new chain and sprockets (already know the part #'s and everything just need the $$$). Damn wife and getting an Old Navy credit card.

Oh and I like Sev's idea of rolling it into the living room but im sure my bike would be sticky and probably knocked over a few times from my 4 children 6 and under. Plus the wife would probably kill me.

Winterize it, you'll be glad you did.

We did that to our bikes last year and they both fired up this year without hiccup. We used the guide on TMWs maintenance guide page:

http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/maintena ... torage.htm