Winterizing Your Bike

Well, the colder weather is approaching and many riders are putting their babies away for the winter. Here are a few steps you need to take before storing your bike for a long period of time.

Clean the mean machine

No one likes a rusty bike. If you clean and wax it before you store it, you reduce the possibility of rust. But be careful, if you wash your bike before storing it, it must be completely dry before you store it or you you will promote rust instead of preventing it (be very careful not to get water in the muffler of pipes). Clean off all the bugs, tar, mud and whatever else you have meaning to clean off when you had time! Polish the chrome, aluminum, stainless steel, etc. with a good metal polish. While your at it, clean/lube the chain and cables. Basically, clean your bike like you were planning to sell it then step back and admire your beautiful bike.

Fuel

The most important thing when letting your bike sit for any period of time is to make sure you add fuel stabilizer to your fuel. Gas these days has numerous additives many of which evaporate quickly causing gas to break down and get gunky. This isn’t a problem in a car because when is the last time you left gas sitting in your car for more than a month (you’re lucky if it lasts a week). However, bikes are another matter, if it isn’t your primary source of transportation, a bike can sit for weeks at a time allowing the fuel to breakdown and gum up the carburetor (there goes a couple hundred dollars down the drain).

First, add fuel stabilizer and then fill up your gas tank as high as it can go (prevents rusting of the fuel tank itself). Run the motorcycle for a while to get the stabilized fuel into the carburetor. Next turn off your fuel while the bike is running to get all the extra gas out of the carburetor. Finally, drain the carburetor bowls of any fuel (this step is very important since the the bowl houses floats and needle valves which are easily clogged by old gas).

Now that the engine is warm, when was the last time you changed the oil and oil filter? It only takes a few minutes and should really be done before you store it.

Prep the engine

Remove a spark plug from each cylinder on your engine and squirt in a tablespoon or so of engine oil into each cylinder. Next, turn the engine over a few times with your starter (you did let it run out of gas didn’t you?) and stay away from the spark plug ports since they might give you back some of that oil. Now, if the spark plugs look good and are gapped properly, put them back in. Otherwise, replace them with new, properly gapped plugs.

All of this is to help protect the engine’s cylinders from rust. Nothing says lovin’ like a piston ring rusted to a cylinder wall…happy times…just kidding.

Keep you battery healthy

Your battery will naturally drain down to nothing if left unattended for a long period of time. If it is left for too long, you will have to replace it. To prevent this tragedy, install a trickle charger on your battery like the Batter Tender Jr. It is small but intelligent enough to not over charge your battery and uses a quick disconnect plug so you don’t have to go into your bike every time you want to hook it up. Doing this will keep your battery healthy in between rides and save you money on new batteries.

Coolant

Check your radiator fluid (coolant/anti-freeze) with a hygrometer. If it will not be sufficient for the temperatures you will be exposing your bike to, drain your system and replace it (go ahead and replace it anyway if you haven’t done so in the last two or three years).

Park it

Make sure you find a warm, dry place to park your bike. Keep it out of the elements! And while you’re at it, put a breathable cover over it to keep the dust off but allow any built-up moisture to escape.

Final thoughts

We hope this helps take the pain out of storing your baby for an extended period of time (not just winter but any time you have to leave it alone for more than a couple of months). Just remember, if you don’t want to go to all this trouble (it isn’t really that bad), add fuel stabilizer, a battery tender and crank up your bike every couple of weeks to keep things working.

She Rides and He Rides Too
5925 Atlanta Hwy, Suite 300
Alpharetta, GA 30004
(770) 967-2453

www.she-rides.com

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