[Maverik]

What Happens to Fuel When it is Stored?
Any fuel, be it gasoline, diesel, or heating fuel, is made up of many different organic compounds. These organic compounds are constantly changing over time becoming new compounds that change the characteristics of fuel..........

Well said! It's been easy, effective and cheap way to store the bike for long period of time. I let the bike run for 5 minutes or so every 2-3 weeks, it was fine.

HOWEVER, when I parked my bike at the airport for a bit more than a month, I didn't add stabilizer. When I came back, man it was so hard to start the engine... The battery was fine, but the engine simply didn't start. After a dozen of trys, it finally started....phew. I wouldn't know what to do without bike 200km away from my house...., not to mention it was south of the border. I suspect that the remaining gas in fuel injector, or inside of fuel lines went bad over time, it gave me a hard time starting.


It's only recent that I learned fresh fuels are so important.

 

[Maverik]

This is one of the worst things you can do for your engine. If you store your bike, store your bike. Running it for a few minutes once every few weeks just traps more moisture in the oil, which is then distributed through the engine. Moisture = corrosion and rust wherever its trapped against your engine's metal parts.

Maybe I should added that I rode 3-4 times each winter, that's why I didn't want to go whole storage procedure written on my manual. And oil traps the moisture? How can it happen? Can you explain?