Wintering Bikes

Johnnylane

Johnnylane

Moderator
Visit site
I am going to:

Change the oil/filter
Disconnect the battery
Put it on the center stand
Wash it
Lube the chain
Cover it

That's it. Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
little latch under seat slides to right side i belive to remove frt seat.key in side to remove pass seat.
Dunno about wintering,,, live in Savannah, Ga . we ride all year round.:cool:
wash it , then take it on a little cruise to dry all the cracks and crevices. otherwise the water just sits,,, discovered that with dirt bikes..:eek:
 
If its not in a heated garage you may wanna throw some carpet under it for moisture control. Also some people suggest using Sta-bil...i try to use it in my boat for the winter, but usually forget. Otherwise your doing it just fine IMO!
 
run sta-bil or run the fuel out, dont leave untreated fuel in the rail/injectors for extended time, varnish will appear. and if you cover it, consider doing somthing to keep rodents away, a nice covered bike is a great mouse den :mad:
 
Battery tender
fill up gas
change oil
lube chain
place on carpet
cover
run every two weeks for 8-10 minutes
check coolant with a hydometer, change every other winter/fall
never ,ever run stabil

I don't know how bad your winters are, but this has worked in Chicago for over 20 years.
 
Steve it's just been my own personal experience with two different bikes that stabil messed up the gas and made spring start up a hassle and expensive. The first bike was an 1987 Honda Hurricane 1000, ended up with about 4hours of labor, new gas, carb cleaner, and new plugs, and the second bike was an 1994 Vmax, cost me $500 to get a dealer to clean and resynch the carbs, after that I have sworn off the stuff and never had a problem with spring start up since. Again this is my personal choice, I have plenty of friends who swear by the stuff, especially boaters, but for me I just pack the tank with as much fuel as I can, and run it every couple of weeks. As to fuel going bad while in the fuel rail ( I am assuming that the bike is injected) the pressure supplied by the regulator is sufficiant to hold it for a couple weeks at a time, and this will not allow any varnish to develop. As far as running any fuel injected engine dry, very bad for pintles in the injectors to be run dry can lead to other problems within system. If your bike is pre-'06 carbed, I have run many carbed bikes dry without any problems and this keeps varnish and gunk from crusting the bowls, floats, and circuits of the carb. Good luck.
 
I can see this as a most fortuitous frienship, Mean 1 we seen to be of the same mind set on lot of gereral topics. Glad to find a group of like minded riders, who want information and are willing to impart honetly theirs.
the sun is shining bright on a Beautiful August day, time to take a ride, talk to all of yous guys later!:eek:
 
racerbruce said:
I can see this as a most fortuitous frienship, Mean 1 we seen to be of the same mind set on lot of gereral topics. Glad to find a group of like minded riders, who want information and are willing to impart honetly theirs.
the sun is shining bright on a Beautiful August day, time to take a ride, talk to all of yous guys later!:eek:
Click to expand...

^^
no probs mate , honest & genuine ppl are always welcomed by me .. ;)

p.s. enjoy your ride
 
Winterising

Well I live in Scotland and it gets fairly chilly here, I usually don't put my bike to it's bed for winter but I do give it a liberal coating of ACF-50 and that keeps all the shit off. Come Spring I just hose it off.

Cheers,

Alex....
 
It's pretty much a good idea to do what you have stated. I live in an area where winter can last from late October till April and the temps commonly get to -20 degrees F to -30 degrees F. I always use stabil but, a very little bit goes a long way. About an ounce or so is good for a full tank of fuel. A couple times when I first started using the stuff I way over did it an also ended up with starting problems in the spring. Another thing that some riders do is to put a few squirts of clean motor oil in the cylinders and crank it over a bit to line the cylinders. On the FZ1 it may be more work than it's worth to get all the plugs out to squirt the oil in. I keep my bike in the garage which is not heated but I also keep it covered with a good cover that keeps everything out. I don't disconnect the battery, but whenever it's warm enough to start it up (20 to 30 above zero) I start it and let it run until it reaches full temperature. I would never put one to be dirty because dirt will attract moisture and moisture causes corrosion.
 
Lonerider59 said:
.....I don't disconnect the battery, but whenever it's warm enough to start it up (20 to 30 above zero) I start it and let it run until it reaches full temperature. I would never put one to be dirty because dirt will attract moisture and moisture causes corrosion.
Click to expand...


With doing a start up and letting it idle is not a good thing -- or so I've read. It actually drains the battery even more then just letting it sit until you are ready to ride.

Has anyone used a battery tender while they still are riding, at least once a week with it being cold, for about 60 miles round trip, or is it meant for a longer storage period?

Thanks,
BroHay
 
BroHay said:
With doing a start up and letting it idle is not a good thing -- or so I've read. It actually drains the battery even more then just letting it sit until you are ready to ride.

Has anyone used a battery tender while they still are riding, at least once a week with it being cold, for about 60 miles round trip, or is it meant for a longer storage period?

Thanks,
BroHay
Click to expand...

I have had my bike plugged in for the last two months. I have been riding up until last week. As soon as the weather got cold, I plugged her in. She's been plugged in ever since. The new battery tenders do just that, they tend the battery. They keep the battery fresh and at the proper voltage. I have always had my batteries on charge during the colder weather for the last 3 bikes that I have owned, even while still riding. It won't hurt the battery at all. The chargers these days, if fully automatic, do not turn on until the battery's voltage drops below a certain point. So plug em in!!!
 
Live and Die by my battery tender

I use a system of battery tenders I have rigged in series on all of my current bikes and it's worked like a charm. I have a 2000 KLR 650 and it has needed a batttery for over 2 years but just as long as I keep it plugged in, the battery tender seems to keep the sulfidation down to a minimum and the bike starts and runs all year long. yeah, I know " quit being a cheap bastard and buy a frickin $40 battery" I would, but the problem seems to me that every time I buy a "new" battery, it last about one riding season and then it takes a shit, and without the optional kick starter, which I just found on ebay, these damn things can leave you stuck somewhere you do not want to be. Or worse, die in a situation when you really need to hit that start button, and have the bike zoom to life.But for $65 us I guess it makes sense to invest in the new kick starter sooner or later. It's just the older I get the less inclined I am to ever want to kick anything bigger than my 1970 cl 100, man,talk about easy kicking and sweet starting, best teaching bike I've ever owned and it's been passed amoung friends for over 35 years, I think the battery is a 1980 something, but I swear I kick it 1,2,3 and it roars to life all 18 horsepower.
battery tenders work,and save battery life that's my 6 peso's worth,now I gotta go take some more Vicidin and go back to bed. :cool::D:rolleyes::innocent:
 
Winterizing? What is that? My brother in Wisconsin tells me about it with his boat and lawn mowers. That is when we really like to ride here in S. Florida. Not as hot! Ride all winter. Now I know why I don't live up North!

You know come to think of it we do winterize our generators so they will be ready for hurricane season!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top