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Couple winter storage questions...


sprocket226

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Hello everyone.

Sorry I havent posted in a while...

Have a couple of questions about putting my bike up for the winter.

Bike I had last year, I pulled the battery, put it on stands, let air out of the tires, ect.

 

Bike I have now, I'm just going to leave it "ready to ride"...It fired right up today, just going to start it and let it run for awhile, once every week or two. Will that be OK? My garage is attached, but not heated, but it never gets really cold in there.

 

Any advise appreciated... Thanks!

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No don't start it up every week and let it run. Resist the temptation and let it sit until you're ready to ride come spring. I don't recall the science behind it but something something bad for it. 

 

I would still pull the battery and put it on stands. 

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You are about to get many different opinions.

Clean it, so the crud doesn't set in. Put some fuel stabilizer in. Park it on some wood, like plywood to keep the tires off the damp cement. Battery on a tender, or at least bring it inside. Cover it and you are done.

Wood under the tires is probably pointless, it isnt going to sit that long. I dont do that anymore. Modern tires dont rot or get flat spots.like the did decades ago.

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Wash it, plug into tender and have it ready to roll at a moments notice if there is a out of the blue warm day. Ive never used sabilizer, never let air out of tire, never parked on wood, never removed battery and never had any issues in 20 years. Your parking it for a few months not years. All that other crap is nonsense. 

Edited by 2talltim
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Agree with everything except run it every two weeks or so. Get the thing up to operating temp and ur good. Even better, actually ride it unless it's salty on the road.

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I put a tender on the battery and start it once maybe twice a month and let it get up to operating temp. Clean of course and chain lubed well to avoid corrosion. Ready to ride any chance I get.

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Realize that running a parked bike ( in an unheated garage or storage bay ) really does little more than waste fuel. The condensation inside the case that boils off when you run the bike, just reappears once it's shut down and dewpoint is again reached during cool down. Later model engine internals and tires aren't of the same standard as old bikes, so days of needing to fog ( or fill ) the upper cyl's, overfilling the crankcase, putting the bike on stands, or planks, or dropping tire pressures aren't a necessity anymore unless it's going to sit for a considerable period of time. But, peace of mind is what it is with OCD bikers ( and I'm one myself from time to time ).

Clean the bike, especially the chain, and lube the chain and cables. Retorque the common fasteners of the axles, triples, drivetrain, brakes, and controls.

FILL the tank with fresh fuel to choke out more condensation of the fuel system, but there's little can be done to keep it ALL out unless you're privy to climate controlled conditions. Fuel stabilizer/cleaner isn't a must, but wont hurt one bit to run some through the system before storage, and treated fuel is less likely to allow the fuel to congeal. If you do feel the desire to run the bike occasionally, check the fuel level from time to time and top the tank off when it drops below the cap.

Schedule your last oil change just before you park the bike for the winter. Acids develop in the oil as it breaks down and becomes more soiled, so swap/run in clean oil before it's parked. This is sort of mundane if it's just sitting for a few months, but the longer it sits opens up more opportunity for corrosion to eat at the internals. Never know what can happen over the winter months that might kill your riding plans the following season, so consider it more a precautionary measure. But, it's also convenient to kick off the spring with a simple tire check before a days worth of riding as soon as the weather cracks instead of the bike needing some servicing that first sunny day.

Battery Tenders are cheap and easy ways to help maintain cell life, even if you yank the battery and bring it indoors - a little charge cycle once in a while keeps the "memory" up on it.

Edited by Hellmutt
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A friend of mine left his quad on the farm after gun season in a hunting blind he put up by the house. He also had 200lbs of corn in the blind....

He came up the other day to put some more corn out and check some cameras and said it sounded funny.

I got around to tearing into it today. Air box and clutch was Packed full of corn

I don't think he'll be storing corn and the quad together anymore

Lol

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Sent from [emoji631] on my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Once I saw that he had left the corn in the blind with the quad, I figured that was going to be causing the noise he heard. But I was really surprised with the amount of corn that had been packed in there.

Sent from [emoji631] on my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Wow. That's crazy!

No corn near my bike. I did pull the battery and put it on the trickle charger in the basement.

Looks like winter may be here to stay, so I'll just let it sit.

But if we do get decent riding weather, I can have it ready in a few minutes.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

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