RobbRacer
04-29-2005, 01:48 PM
The best solution is to move someplace where you never get snowed in more than 3 days at a time. A man has to have his priorities. If for some inexplicable reason this is not an option for you, here's an alternative. Here is a printable checklist.
1. Find a nice place for your bike to spend the winter. You want to avoid water condensation. Water condensing in the engine or exhaust pipes can cause rust. You can guard against water condensation by keeping your bike somewhere where the temperature doesn't change so very much, like never below 50f. Your living room is a great place, although if you're married I concede that your wife will likely have a different view on this point. A heated and secure garage would be good. An unheated garage is next best. Outdoors under a waterproof tarp where the bike is sometimes in the sun is the worst possible location. The daily heating and cooling under a waterproof tarp is guaranteed to cause water condensation. Avoid wind, dripping water, damp and musty places, and vermin. Another thing to avoid is a garage holding a dryer which is not vented to the outside. Make certain your dryer is vented, or you'll pay an extraordinarily high price. Unvented dryers have been known to lead to completely seized up motors.
2. Completely wash the bike and dry the bike. Wax the bike and polish all the shiny bits.
3. Clean and lube the chain.
4. Fill the tires with air to their max load spec - see the sidewalls. This helps prevent flat spots.
5. Gasoline oxidizes as it ages. This produces varnish as a byproduct, which is bad for carburetor jets and fuel injector outlets. To avoid this use a fuel stabilizer. Add the amount recommended on the bottle in the tank and fill the tank completely with gasoline - a full gas tank won't rust internally. Run the engine for a couple minutes to warm up the engine oil and to get the stabilizer into your carbs/fuel injectors.
6. Now that the engine is warm, change the oil and filter. Storing a bike with used oil is not a good idea. Water vapor and condensation in your crankcase oil will combine at room temperature with sulpher to form sulphuric acid. This is a bad thing. The sulpher mostly gets into the oil as combustion by-products, so if the oil is new, this is not a problem.
Synthetic oils have a big advantage for winter storage. The increased film strength of synthetic oils means it takes considerably longer for the oil to all drain down to the oil pan, so when you finally do start your engine there's still a little oil on all the bearings. Also, synthetics offer superior protection for cold weather starts. If you drained out normal oil and replaced it with synthetic, you have to start the motor and run it for a minute to get the synthetic oil pumped all throughout the motor.
7. Remove the air filter, start the engine and spray the specified amount of Engine Fogging Oil into the airbox. This will coat the inside of the engine to prevent condensation and rust. Shown are fogging oil products by Briggs and Stratton, Yamaha, Pennzoil, Golden Eagle.
8. If you have carburetors, turn off your fuel and drain your float bowls. If you have fuel injection, start the bike and run it for a minute to get the fuel lines filled with stabilized gas.
9. Spray Pledge furniture wax on any chrome, or polished or raw aluminum.
10. Clean and treat all leather with saddle soap and a good leather oil.
11. Treat plastics and vinyl with Armor all. If you really want to go nuts, you can Armor all your tires and hydraulic hoses too. Alternatively, use a silicon spray like Tire Black.
12. Put some motor oil all over the front fork tubes. Get on the bike, hold the front brake and bounce the bike up and down to work the front suspension. This will keep the rubber seals from drying out and protect the exposed fork tube.
13. Check your battery, make sure it’s full. If not, add distilled water. Use a trickle charger every four weeks or even better, get a "Battery Tender" and leave it on 24/7.
14. Check your radiator level, add aluminum safe antifreeze as necessary.
15. Put the bike on its center stand to take as much weight off the wheels as possible. The tires don't like to sit in one place with weight on them for a long time. This is a bigger problem if you live in a city with smog, as the ozone makes this problem a lot worse. On the center stand the bike is almost balanced, so the rear tire is in the air and the front tire has only maybe 50 pounds on it.
16. Use plastic wrap and rubber bands to seal the outlets of the mufflers. Also seal the engine air intake, if you can get to it.
17. Use a good breathable motorcycle cover to keep the dust off. Don't use plastic covers, they trap moisture. An old sheet works great.
18. Before you start the bike again, remember to remove the plastic wrap from the exhaust pipes and airbox inlets, and wipe the Pledge wax off the exhaust pipes. If your memory is as bad as mine, you might tape a note to yourself over the ignition keyhole. You don't have to worry about the fuel stabilizer, it will just burn away.
19. You can just leave the bike in this condition for many months. You don't have to worry about valve springs - modern valve springs that are made to allow the engine to rev to 8000+ rpm won't sag. If you're so desperate for a motorcycle fix that you simply have to start it, make certain to run it for at least 5 minutes or so. Starting your engine for, say, 30 seconds is a bad idea - you pay the extra wear and tear price of starting an engine where the oil is cold and has all sunk to the sump, and you don't heat the oil and exhaust up enough to boil off sulphurics and water vapor. Remember to open the garage door while the engine is running.
1. Find a nice place for your bike to spend the winter. You want to avoid water condensation. Water condensing in the engine or exhaust pipes can cause rust. You can guard against water condensation by keeping your bike somewhere where the temperature doesn't change so very much, like never below 50f. Your living room is a great place, although if you're married I concede that your wife will likely have a different view on this point. A heated and secure garage would be good. An unheated garage is next best. Outdoors under a waterproof tarp where the bike is sometimes in the sun is the worst possible location. The daily heating and cooling under a waterproof tarp is guaranteed to cause water condensation. Avoid wind, dripping water, damp and musty places, and vermin. Another thing to avoid is a garage holding a dryer which is not vented to the outside. Make certain your dryer is vented, or you'll pay an extraordinarily high price. Unvented dryers have been known to lead to completely seized up motors.
2. Completely wash the bike and dry the bike. Wax the bike and polish all the shiny bits.
3. Clean and lube the chain.
4. Fill the tires with air to their max load spec - see the sidewalls. This helps prevent flat spots.
5. Gasoline oxidizes as it ages. This produces varnish as a byproduct, which is bad for carburetor jets and fuel injector outlets. To avoid this use a fuel stabilizer. Add the amount recommended on the bottle in the tank and fill the tank completely with gasoline - a full gas tank won't rust internally. Run the engine for a couple minutes to warm up the engine oil and to get the stabilizer into your carbs/fuel injectors.
6. Now that the engine is warm, change the oil and filter. Storing a bike with used oil is not a good idea. Water vapor and condensation in your crankcase oil will combine at room temperature with sulpher to form sulphuric acid. This is a bad thing. The sulpher mostly gets into the oil as combustion by-products, so if the oil is new, this is not a problem.
Synthetic oils have a big advantage for winter storage. The increased film strength of synthetic oils means it takes considerably longer for the oil to all drain down to the oil pan, so when you finally do start your engine there's still a little oil on all the bearings. Also, synthetics offer superior protection for cold weather starts. If you drained out normal oil and replaced it with synthetic, you have to start the motor and run it for a minute to get the synthetic oil pumped all throughout the motor.
7. Remove the air filter, start the engine and spray the specified amount of Engine Fogging Oil into the airbox. This will coat the inside of the engine to prevent condensation and rust. Shown are fogging oil products by Briggs and Stratton, Yamaha, Pennzoil, Golden Eagle.
8. If you have carburetors, turn off your fuel and drain your float bowls. If you have fuel injection, start the bike and run it for a minute to get the fuel lines filled with stabilized gas.
9. Spray Pledge furniture wax on any chrome, or polished or raw aluminum.
10. Clean and treat all leather with saddle soap and a good leather oil.
11. Treat plastics and vinyl with Armor all. If you really want to go nuts, you can Armor all your tires and hydraulic hoses too. Alternatively, use a silicon spray like Tire Black.
12. Put some motor oil all over the front fork tubes. Get on the bike, hold the front brake and bounce the bike up and down to work the front suspension. This will keep the rubber seals from drying out and protect the exposed fork tube.
13. Check your battery, make sure it’s full. If not, add distilled water. Use a trickle charger every four weeks or even better, get a "Battery Tender" and leave it on 24/7.
14. Check your radiator level, add aluminum safe antifreeze as necessary.
15. Put the bike on its center stand to take as much weight off the wheels as possible. The tires don't like to sit in one place with weight on them for a long time. This is a bigger problem if you live in a city with smog, as the ozone makes this problem a lot worse. On the center stand the bike is almost balanced, so the rear tire is in the air and the front tire has only maybe 50 pounds on it.
16. Use plastic wrap and rubber bands to seal the outlets of the mufflers. Also seal the engine air intake, if you can get to it.
17. Use a good breathable motorcycle cover to keep the dust off. Don't use plastic covers, they trap moisture. An old sheet works great.
18. Before you start the bike again, remember to remove the plastic wrap from the exhaust pipes and airbox inlets, and wipe the Pledge wax off the exhaust pipes. If your memory is as bad as mine, you might tape a note to yourself over the ignition keyhole. You don't have to worry about the fuel stabilizer, it will just burn away.
19. You can just leave the bike in this condition for many months. You don't have to worry about valve springs - modern valve springs that are made to allow the engine to rev to 8000+ rpm won't sag. If you're so desperate for a motorcycle fix that you simply have to start it, make certain to run it for at least 5 minutes or so. Starting your engine for, say, 30 seconds is a bad idea - you pay the extra wear and tear price of starting an engine where the oil is cold and has all sunk to the sump, and you don't heat the oil and exhaust up enough to boil off sulphurics and water vapor. Remember to open the garage door while the engine is running.