Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I have a bike that I would like to keep in good shape as it is now. Can someone refer me to a web site or how to store a bike for years rather than a season? I'm thinking of at least 5 years. I understand somethings like tires will not last that long but how can I make it more likely that it will run and run well when the time comes?

Thank you for your time. Dan

Five years is a LONG time to store a bike. Unless you've got some sort of climate controlled space to do so (which will also be $$$-ive) - or the bike is some sort of museum piece one of a kind.

The typical recommendation for long term storage is fresh oil, fuel stabilizer to the tank (full tank), pull out the battery. In 5 years, many of the "soft bits" - gaskets, etc. will have hardened and probably need replacing as well, and you can't tell which ones are okay, and which ones have gone bad.

Makes much more sense to sell the bike to someone who will ride it, and buy another one afterward.

P

I believe if it will be in storage for that long that it's recommended to drain the gas completely from the system, even fuel stabilizers won't help for that long a period of time. Also you may need to spray down the cylinders with a fogger. The fogger is a much thicker type of oil that will coat the cylinder heads and walls and is more resistant to draining away. You have to pull the spark plugs and spray the fogger in through the spark plug holes and turn the engine over a few times repeating this for each cylinder.

As Lion_Lady pointed out, unless this bike has significant sentimental value to you, it's much easier to not hold on to it. That said if you're keeping it regardless, I'm not sure if not having the fluids circulate for such a long time may dry out some gaskets and seals, perhaps someone else can chime in regarding this but I know on my bike if it sits for a long time the water pump seal may dry out and need replacing...

Good luck.

I do have a sentimental value attached to the bike. I do have limited skill and money to prep it. Storing it in a dry, unheated garage, with a full cover is no problem.

When a fogger was mentioned for the inside of the cylinders, is WD40 acceptable or something else? As a kid we used about one ounce of two cycle oil and cycled the engine a few times. Then cleaned/gapped the plugs and put in by hand lightly. No tool used to reduce/eliminate any torque on the plug, so it was less than finger tight.

Exhaust was plugged tightly with clean rags.

Gas was drained from tank and carb bowls.

Empty space in air cleaner box was filled with clean rags to the max.

If four cycle and prior to last engine run, we changed the oil and then after the cylinder oil prep, filled the case to the max.

Bike was put up on cylinder blocks for tires were off the floor.

We didn't due anything for the brakes but there must be something to keep them from seizing due to corrosion due to moisture in the air and lack of movement. I don't know how to properly bleed brakes. Is there a non-special tool method for this?

Also should I leave the brake system empty if drained (refill when revived) or simply refill with new fluid for storage?

The storage prep of the brakes is my last area of question. Unless I forgot something ?

I do have a sentimental value attached to the bike. I do have limited skill and money to prep it. Storing it in a dry, unheated garage, with a full cover is no problem.

When a fogger was mentioned for the inside of the cylinders, is WD40 acceptable or something else? As a kid we used about one ounce of two cycle oil and cycled the engine a few times. Then cleaned/gapped the plugs and put in by hand lightly. No tool used to reduce/eliminate any torque on the plug, so it was less than finger tight.

Not sure about the WD40. It will probably work great to "displace" the water in the cylinders but it's kind of thin so not sure how well it will last over 5 years? I guess I'm not really sure but I don't think a fogger costs too much. Maybe someone else who has used it and had good results can chime in ? This stuff is what a friend of mine used http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/fog.aspx Not sure how much better it is than WD40 ?

Exhaust was plugged tightly with clean rags.

Gas was drained from tank and carb bowls.

Empty space in air cleaner box was filled with clean rags to the max.

If four cycle and prior to last engine run, we changed the oil and then after the cylinder oil prep, filled the case to the max.

Bike was put up on cylinder blocks for tires were off the floor.

Sounds like you've thought of most things. Looks good to me.

We didn't due anything for the brakes but there must be something to keep them from seizing due to corrosion due to moisture in the air and lack of movement. I don't know how to properly bleed brakes. Is there a non-special tool method for this?

Also should I leave the brake system empty if drained (refill when revived) or simply refill with new fluid for storage?

The storage prep of the brakes is my last area of question. Unless I forgot something ?

Hmm. That's a good question. In theory I think a complete bleeding of the system should be good. Without any use there's not much chance of the brake fluid absorbing moisture which is what would cause any issues with internal components, slave and master cylinders, etc... Again I'm not sure but my instinct says bleed the brakes and fill with fresh brake fluid, maybe someone can chime in if they disagree... I'm sure there's a how to on this somewhere on the forum, it's not hard, takes maybe 20 mins to do alone.

Anyway, hope that helps and good luck again.

Bike jacks tires off the ground,pull plugs spay oil inside replace plugs, drain brake fluid completely leave motor oil and fork oil, remove battery then spray the entire bike with wd40 and cover well. I would not use rags to seall the exhaust you may have rodent city in there when you open her up again.When you do open her up again imediatly change all fluids and filters

I want self storage Wakerley to store bike during winters. I am going out of station for 3 months. Help me!

Past Halloween. And still got zombie......threads. Lol

I'm disappointed that nobody posted that there is a knowlege base in the light airplane world on this topic.

There are corrosion-inhibiting oils which are used to store airplane engines for long periods of time. (they call it "pickling") Considering that a low-end airplane engine cost begins at $25,000 and goes upwards quickly, the techniques for storage are pretty thorough.

I think the steps are to drain the engine of regular oil and FILL (not to dipstick full - FILL) with the special preservative oil.And the cylinders too. Not sure what they do with the fuel system. Probably remove as much fuel as possible and put in a preservative oil with vapor corrosion inhibitor also.
Definitely remove the batteries and jack up the airframe to take the load off the tires.
Airplanes use an oil-based brake fluid so they wouldn't have the issues that we would with moisture absorption.

Ideally you'd want controlled humidity overall as well.

Considering that folks come up with 'barn finds' regularly where the treasure wasn't cared for in any way, I'd expect that you actually could be pretty successful in storing a bike for 5 years if lots of care was taken at the time and the bike was stored in relatively controlled conditions. And it would be best if there were someone trustworthy to check and attend to the bike periodically. (think of a museum)