WINTER STORAGE TIPS 101
As winter approaches and many of you are considering parking your bikes for winter. Here are a few helpful tips for making sure your bike is ready to ride again come springtime.
The most critical areas of your motorcycle affected by cold and prolonged sitting are:
• Battery
• Fuel System
• Tires
• Engine oil
• Paint and Finish
GOOD AND BAD STORAGE EXAMPLES
BEST: Don’t stop riding. Get some quality gear and show your friends how manly you really are by riding year round.
GOOD:
1. Clean your bike before you store it. Dead bugs and such have acids in their stomachs that will over time discolor your paint. Store your bike inside a garage or better yet the living room. This will help prevent dirt and debris from building up on the finish of the bike and excessive moisture causing rust and corrosion on chains, bolts, chrome and other metals.
2. Purchase and USE! a battery tender. All batteries lose voltage just from sitting, in or out of the bike. This is multiplied by the cold. Most modern motorcycles draw a small amount of amperage even when off. Don’t expect your battery to start your bike if you haven’t used it in a month. A battery tender will keep your battery healthy and ready to use, and they’re much cheaper than a new battery.
We recommend the Battery Tender JR. usually $39.95 msrp, usually on sale.
3. Keep your tire pressure properly maintained. Storing your bike indoors will also help prevent weather rotting. If you have motorcycle jacks, use them. Or at least move the bike around periodically to avoid flat spots from forming in the tires from prolonged sitting.
4. Start your bike at least once every two weeks or so. Let it warm up to operating temperature. This will keep oil circulated in the motor and on the cylinder walls. An alternative to this is injecting the engine with fogging oil. Ask your mechanic to do this or show you how.
5. Use a quality brand of fuel stabilizer in at least one or two tank refills before storage and top off your tank. The quality of gas these days is awful. Ethanol is one of the worst things to happen to fuel in years. It robs your bike of horsepower and mileage, it destroys the plasticizers in rubber and fuel lines, and worst of all it leaves heavy residue deposits in the fuel system. This is especially critical on carbureted bikes. The pilot jets inside the carburetor have holes about the size of a bread wrap wire. When these jets become clogged with fuel residues, your bike will not run correctly.
BAD:
1. Park your bike outside and do nothing – Your bike will look like crap come spring time and you’ll be lucky if it cleans up
2. Forget about your battery – Your battery will be dead. Motorcycle stators are not strong enough to recharge a battery, they only maintain the charge. If you have to jump start your bike, make sure the car is NOT running and make sure it’s not a 24v vehicle. I’ve seen people fry EXPENSIVE ECMs, wiring harnesses, controllers, and the battery itself jumping their bikes. Recharge the battery with a low amperage charger (like a battery tender @ .6amps), and yes it will take all day and night to do so. New batteries range $50-$150.
3. Be cool, drive around on flat tires. Tube tires typically lose more air pressure than tubeless tires. Either way, if you’re driving around with 10psi in your tires, the tires will wear fast and unevenly, you will suffer terrible handling, and be more prone to flats and rim damage.
4. Ignore the engine, its fine, right? Whatever. Condensation will form in your fuel tank rusting the inside and contaminating the fuel. If the rust and water in your fuel doesn’t make your bike run like crap, the stale ethanol will gum up your carburetors. Then you’ll kill your brand new $100 battery trying to start the bike before having to take it to the shop for the tank to be flushed and the carburetors to be disassembled, cleaned, and rebuilt. Not usually cheap, depending on the bike.
If you’ve let the bike sit for years without treating the cylinders, it’s possible for the piston rings to seize and rust to the pistons, resulting in loss of compression. This requires an engine rebuild to remedy typically.
So take a little bit of care of your bike. It’ll look great all cleaned up and shiny sitting next to the Christmas tree over the holidays, and come spring time you’ll be ready to rock and roll.
p.s. Use these tips on everything with a motor. Like your:
• Lawnmower
• Old car
• Boat or jet ski
• Go-kart
• ATVs
• Chainsaw (most quality 2-stroke oils have fuel stabilizers in them)
