Winterizing your motorcycle

[JarSTriple]

Okay, so I did a search for "winterize", "winterizing", and even "winter" and didn't come up with any threads that talked about winterizing your bike. I have a few questions that may seem n00bish, but this will be the first year that I have to winterize one of my bikes. So, here are my questions:

Who winterizes their bikes?

How do you winterize your bike (as in a different/better way than your manual suggests)?

Pros and cons of winterizing?

How important is it?

Where do you store your bike for the winter?

Any input on this or anything else related to winterizing would be much appreciated! Thanks everyone!

[BenDover]

Well, your in Colorado and will have plenty of chances to ride this winter.

Having said that, winterizing is simple:
1) a) Either drain the tank of gas and then run all of the gas out of the carbs.

b) Put some fuel stabilizer in the tank. Shut off the petcock. And run the fuel out of the carbs.

2) Put the bike up on stands to prevent your tires from getting flat spots, or park the tires on some pieces of old carpet.

3) Cover/stuff rags in all the places where bugs and rodents would find a home over the winter. i.e. the can, the ram air ducts, etc...


That's about it.

[CSUAdam]

I don't winterize mine because I ride pretty much all year. But I do have buddies that do it. Usually you drain the oil, un-hook the battery, and add fuel stabilizer to the tank. I don't really know to much about it, I'm sure there is more.

[BenDover]

I wouldn't drain the oil. Water can appear in many places when there is no oil there (oil=good, water=bad). Just change the oil in the spring.

[BenDover]

I forgot about the battery. Yes, unhook it and it couldn't hurt to bring it inside if you don't have a very temperature stable (warm) garage.

[irdave]

On the front range you can ride enough during the winter to not worry about it...

But if you're not going to ride, I'd fill the tank COMPLETELY and add fuel stabilizer. This will prevent any condensation from forming water in the tank.

Change the oil before you store it so that there's not a bunch of crap in the oil soaking into your engine. I'd also pull the plugs and squirt some oil on top of the pistons to help keep everything from rusting. Change the oil before you start riding in the spring, too.

If the bike is going to be sitting on the ground, I'd overinflate the tire... Probably around 50 psi would be good. This will help keep from getting flat spots.

Plug up all the places where rodents could enter...

Disconnect the battery... Also look into a battery trickle charger to keep the thing alive.

And DEFINATELY drain the float bowls so that the crap in the gas doesn't turn to varnish- otherwise you'll have to rebuild your carbs to clean everything out...

And if you're going to do all that, if you have full coverage on your bike, make sure and call your insurance company and let them know you're storing your bike and not riding it. Rates should go down while it's stored.

Much easier just to keep riding it.

[Kim-n-Dean]

The easiest way to winterize your bike is as follows:
Ride it around the block once a month

[Nick_Ninja]

RIDE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT

[Anonymous]

Actually I'd let most of the pressure out of the tires, not overinflate them. Then when you reinflate them it pushes the flat spots out. At least that's how it works with airplanes that sit for a while...

But ... this is Colorado. You will find nice days to go out for coffee on the bike in the middle of January, so screw winterizing, just go ride it! If I don't ride in the winter for a few weeks I'll run it for 20 min or so just to burn out the condensation and recirculate the fluids.

[Hozerking]

place some plywood under the tires to keep the concrete from damaging them
or put it on stands and lower hte tire pressures

I have always been told to fill the tank all the way up to prevent rust! obviously this is not an issue with fiberglass tanks.

If you have carbs just drain the float bowls and frop a few drops of motor oil in the spart plug holes and turn the engine over a few times to get the valls and valves coated with oil.

othwise just let me ride it over the winter and you won't have to worry about any of that.

-al

[Napalm]

Paraphrased from my Kawa Service Manual:

-Deflate 10-15 PSI from tires.
-Empty gas tank and coat interior of tank with SAE 30 weight oil to prevent rust.
-Change oil.
-Run engine to drain gas in carbs and lines.
-Remove battery and put on a trickle charger.
-Cover exhaust and ram-air inlets.
-Take up a winter hobby like snowboarding or watching porn.