BC Sport Bikes Forum banner

If you store your bike for the winter, do you do all the preparation steps?

  • Yep, I cover all the bases.

    Votes: 8 47.1%
  • I do some of the stuff, but not all.

    Votes: 8 47.1%
  • Nope, I just park her and wait till spring.

    Votes: 1 5.9%

Winter Storage

2K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  TeeTee 
#1 ·
Well, it's just about time for me to tuck her away for the winter... so I've been doing some research on what to do in preparation for it... and here are some of the sites I found...

http://www.clarity.net/~adam/winter-storage.html
http://www.procycle-hdd.com/service/winter_storage.html
http://www3.sympatico.ca/elhum/winter.htm
http://www.epinions.com/auto-review-6441-B0574B1-3A18BB89-prod4
http://www.canadianrider.com/tech_winter_storage_1.htm

They all generally say the same things, except for perhaps a few minor things...

I guess I'll have to go out and pick up a few items like gas stabilizer and some cheap oil... and hopefully I can figure out how to change the oil... haven't done it before...
 
See less See more
1
#7 ·
Deputy said:
Where's the option for "take it to BK and they do everything for you, including washing it :thumbup, and then prep it for you and have it ready a week after you call and ask for it in the spring?
Ooh, good point... since I was thinkin' 'bout takin' it to BK myself, I guess I should have thought to include it in the poll... but I guess that would more or less fall under the 1st option. :p
 
#8 ·
I'm just gonna throw some 2 stroke oil in the gas....put fresh oil in it and park it on the centerstand..(heated garage)....I pull it out and start her up once a month or so and let it get good and hot to keep any condensation out of the mufflers
 
G
#9 ·
Well.. last year I got it serviced, filled a full tank of gas and parked it in my garage for about 3 1/2 months before I put insurance on it again. I did start it up a few times to move it up and down my garage a little to run the battery so it doesn't die.
Seemed to be fine for me... but maybe I'm completely doing something wrong here?

I know some people do the whole oil changing thing. Is this necessary? ...or would it do any harm at all by NOT following all the prep stuff?
 
G
#10 ·
Elaine, I heard that it isn't good to start the bike during storage because the oil produces fumes, condensation or other gases that can actually be bad for the engine when it sits there for a long time (even when it's new oil). That's just what I read so you never know. Also, it may be better to charge your batter with one of those "smart" chargers ("battery tender") that change voltage and/or current after x period of time instead of trying to run your bike to keep a charge.

Of course, all this doesn't apply since your bike ran fine afterwards...hehe. 3.5 months isn't too long.

Umm, so does BK take other bikes as well? Not just Kawasakis? I am thinking about taking my bike somewhere for storage since I may be moving during the winter.
 
G
#11 ·
Bomax was thinking about doing storage... but they weren't confirmed yet. Any news for Bomax?

BK takes any bikes for storage. They have a huge storage space.

Yeah, the bike was running pretty darn well for all the wrongs I did. :p
Does anyone else do the same thing I do?
 
#12 ·
On the oil change thing: a byproduct of combustion
is sulfuric acid, which ends up in the oil. So, it's
recommended to change the oil before you put
it away. Just fill it with Crappy Tire dishwater dino
oil, and drain it out in the spring, and put in
whatever you'd normally use.

That's why oil change intervals are every 6 months,
whether you hit a service mileage interval or not.

It's not a serious thing, but it's cheap to change it.
 
#14 ·
If you do run your bike from time to time in the winter, just make sure you get it good and hot, I put mine on the center stand and let it run it gear with a fan in front of it to help the cooling....if you don't run it, take the battery out and throw it on a tender or charge it once a month
 
#15 ·
There's going to be an Authourized Article on all this when I get a chance to review those links and a couple of others besides.

But in the meantime...
  • Change the oil unless you had it done less than 1000km's before parking it for the season. 1000 km old oil is still good enough.
  • Running the engine for short runs up to where the over temperature fan comes on is OK but not as good as a road ride. Having said this I've resorted to doing the idle to fully warm/hot thing a couple of times but it's truly more work than it's worth. I'd rather just put it to bed properley and be done with it.
  • Leaving it with new or near new oil all winter WITHOUT RUNNING IT is fine.
  • Batteries will not live long on a 10 minute idle once a month. THIS IS NOT ENOUGH TO REPLACE THE STARTING CHARGE LET ALONE CHARGE THE BATTERY UP!!!! Pull the battery out, get a tender or a timer controlled charger and USE it.
  • The cheap 1amp charger Canadian Tire sells controlled by a $6 light timer so the charger comes on for one hour every day will keep your battery tip top and ready to go.

Cold icey garage or heated living room. It doesn't matter. All the stuff should be done the same for either place. The bike doesn't know it's warm or cold. It's not enough of a difference for mere metal to tell. And short runs other than what 3 or 7 describes will do more harm than good. But I'm not so sure about the full hot runs either. Certainly they don't do squat for keeping the battery up. And if the bike is bedded with dry mufflers and plastic baggies are put over the ends they should stay dry.
 
#20 ·
Around here you can leave your battery in the garage without worry. In the interior or anywhere it goes to well into the sub zero area I'd take it into the basement.

Modern motorcycles use mostly sealed batteries. For those that have a vent to hook a tube up to then it will vent a little hydrogen but it's not really a big deal provided you don't overcharge it. If you set it up to charge off a timer as I mentioned you don't need to worry about gassing off as it'll never overcharge. I've used the timer and charger method for years and never even had to top off the water in the spring but the battery was fully charged. The key is to charge but not overcharge.

As for the stabilizer I've never used any. For the longer winters of Ontario I drained the carb float bowls and drained the gas tank of all but the last few ounces. To that I added a cup of oil and sloshed it all around. In the spring I drained that and added a fresh tank of gas. Around here with our 3 month layover I just drain the carbs and fill the tank so I don't get any condensation.

Recently I've decided I'll add a little gas line antifreeze. The alchohal will soak up any water that does condense into the tank and hold it from rusting the metal.

Fuel injection is a different story though. For that I would recomend the stabilizer. And while I think it's total overkill for carbs it won't hurt anything other than your pocketbook.
 
#21 ·
TeeTee said:
Cold icey garage or heated living room. It doesn't matter. All the stuff should be done the same for either place. The bike doesn't know it's warm or cold...
One other thing to keep in mind...those of you that have been going to the track, remember to swap your water-wetter for proper anti-freeze if you're keeping your bike outdoors, or in a non-heated garage. That's something I usually don't do (because I've never track-ridden my bikes before this year) but I keep reminding myself to put that on the list...


BTW - I always do the full winter-prep...short of the fogging oil, because I don't really store my bike for long enough (3-4 mths) to warrant that.
 
#22 ·
Excellent point about the water wetter there Harps. With more of us doing track stuff the possibility is that much higher that someone will forget.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top