Winterization questions

[Dingo.]

If you're blessed with 12 months of summer like weather, this thread is not for you. If, like me, half your year is spent shoveling snow I would like to pick your brain. As my bike sits in my garage shivering and neglected, I have cleaned it, filled the fuel tank almost to the top with regular and some sea-foam (WAAAY better than Sta bil-try it and you'll love it), and jacked the bike up on a MC jack (i read that you have to take the weight off the suspension, WD-40'd the exhaust and covered them and taken the battery into the house and hooked it up to a battery tender. In the spring, I will clean it again, change the oil and filter and wait to go riding.
Now, to my question; what do you guys do to winterize your bikes? Anything I am forgetting?

Dingo.

[dgraves49]

I shut off my petcock and run until it dies. The less gas you have in the carbs the less gunk it will produce to plug the jets. I don't pull the battery I just plug it into the tender.

[jpr1968]

Originally Posted by dgraves49

I shut off my petcock and run until it dies. The less gas you have in the carbs the less gunk it will produce to plug the jets. I don't pull the battery I just plug it into the tender.

I've never shut the petcock off and drained carbs during the winter. I just fill tank, add Startron(better than Seafoam IMHO. No alcohol) and run bike to get treated gas in the carbs. Bike starts up everytime with no problem. I also never take battery out of bike. Sits in a cold garage with a tender hooked up.

[ZackDaniels]

To drain or not to drain? It's personal choice. Draining leaves the seals in the carbs dry and can risk dryrotting/cracking over a long period of time. Leaving gas in risks gunking up the jets which can get bad enough to require a cleaning/rebuild.

Personally I add the treatment and then be sure to go for a short 5-10 min ride before winterizing. Normally I'll start adding treatment to the gas around late Oct/Nov just to be sure it's well into the carbs should a sudden cold front snap in and save me the trouble of scooting around on ice. To me the possibility of gunk requiring a cleaning is an easier fix than replacing seals. Though the seals actually dry rotting/cracking typically requires longer storage than the average winter.

My winterizing process is treated gas, and a full tank topped off with a gas can in the garage to prevent the tank from rusting. Then I'll park it on some 1x4's under the tires to prevent moisture from getting rapped under there and bald spots from forming on the rubber. It's better to jack the bike up and get the tires entirely off the ground, but it's not always an option. The 1x4 means there's porous wood vs sealed concrete under the rubber for moisture to drain away from.

I don't do the rest of the stuff in the first post, but that's because I'm lazy about it and don't think it truly necessary for the length of a typical winter. Not because any of it is a bad idea.

[Dom.Five]

I am another one that does take the battery out. Just put in on the tender.

Also from years of winterizing boats, I learned that Sea Foam, and StaBil, are not the best thing to use. I have found far less troubles in the spring, ( when taking over 200 boat engines out of storage ) Those stored with K-100 MG start effortlessly. The others, stored with the owners preference of other products, have given us some trouble. It was not this bad until the 10% gas hit the stations. Then everything changed. The K-100 MG came highly recommended by the Honda outboard Rep. So we gave it a try. Works like it should. Prevents the alcohol from precipitating out of the Gas, wile in storage. We get it by the case. So I don't know what stores have it. I did find this place on line. :: K100 Fuel Treatment | K100 Gasoline Treatment I don't know if that's the best price, or even if it's a good price. But the link does have some good information about the products. We treat a 6 gal can with it. Then run the engine out of gas. Then hook up the tank to the engine and restart it. Let it run until warm. It's done.

On my Bike I treat the tank just before filling for winter storage. Ride for about 40 or 50 miles to make sure it gets into the Carbs. Then it's all set for winter....

This is the K-100 website :: http://www.k100fueltreatment.com/

[jpr1968]

K-100 products also have alcohol in them and will attract moisture. Startron has no alcohol and is also favored by boaters. Here's a link for fuel additives. http://fueltestkit.com/is_gas_additi..._e10_list.html

[vzshadow]

+1 on the K100. My local dealer has mason jars of gasoline and various fuel stablilzers that are several years old. All have unmixed (gas and ethanol) except the one treated with K100.

[DaWadd]

I personally like to change the oil and filter before storage.

[gat803]

Originally Posted by ZackDaniels

....Then I'll park it on some 1x4's under the tires to prevent moisture from getting rapped under there and bald spots from forming on the rubber. It's better to jack the bike up and get the tires entirely off the ground, but it's not always an option. The 1x4 means there's porous wood vs sealed concrete under the rubber for moisture to drain away from.

Would you mind explaining where you got this from?

Tires wear from use, not from sitting. Even on cars that have set for 15 years (my longest personal experience) indoors on concrete, the tires that were new on the car when it was parked still looked new when we pulled it out of storage. No bald spots. I have never seen tires go bald from sitting. Even flat spots are mostly a thing of the past with modern tire compounds.

Further, the sitting the tires up on wood to keep moisture aware thing, makes no sense what so ever. As you say, wood is porous, it HOLDS moisture. Concrete is not so porous and sealed concrete is even less so, it does NOT hold moisture. Past that, any little bit of water that could possibly get under your tires on a paved surface isn't going to do a thing to the tires. Ozone and sun light are the biggest tire killers. Store 'em inside away from windows or covered up, and you are way ahead of the game.

For the short few months of off season storage, leave the tires on the ground. It won't hurt a thing

[gmck]

what he said. I like nice clean oil with no water and acids in it for storeage. Better yet, move like I did to where you ca ride year round.