Winter Storage Preparation

Its been getting down to high 20's, low 30's at night here in the mountains of Arizona.

Put your battery in the nice warm house. Get your tires, or if you live in the South, thats Tars elevated off the floor. Seal up the end of your exhaust system, and carbs. Change your oil and filter. Take the plugs out, and squirt some motor oil down into each cylinder and turn the motor a few times to coat cylinder walls.

Drain fuel tank, and coat inside of tank with motor oil. I never drain my carbs anymore. I run VP 110 race gas in my bikes. This stuff never turns bad, or turns to goo. It evaporates and leaves nothing but the smell behind!!!

Springtime comes just wash the fuel tank out, throw in some VP 110, install new sparking type plugs, install battery, and fire that puppy up!!!

650ed wrote: Best bet is simply don't store it. I run the engine on mine about once per week for 15 minutes or so until it is up to operating temperature. This keeps oil on the cylinder walls, cams, etc.; keeps fuel muck from forming in the carbs; and keeps the battery charged. As a bonus, when spring comes the bike will always start up with no muss / no fuss. Ed

This. I'm lucky as here in Richmond, I can count non-riding winter time in days because in between snow, we often get temps in the 50's and 60's so I can actually ride. I rode to work this past Friday and, while brisk, it was well worth it. When the snow comes and it's a week or 2 in between rides, I do what Ed suggested.

Shabba wrote:

650ed wrote: Best bet is simply don't store it. I run the engine on mine about once per week for 15 minutes or so until it is up to operating temperature. This keeps oil on the cylinder walls, cams, etc.; keeps fuel muck from forming in the carbs; and keeps the battery charged. As a bonus, when spring comes the bike will always start up with no muss / no fuss. Ed

This. I'm lucky as here in Richmond, I can count non-riding winter time in days because in between snow, we often get temps in the 50's and 60's so I can actually ride. I rode to work this past Friday and, while brisk, it was well worth it. When the snow comes and it's a week or 2 in between rides, I do what Ed suggested.

We might get a couple days like that in Michigan, but my rides are done when the roads get salted.

They salt the piss out of the roads here too

Yeah,salt is a bitch.They dont use a lot where I live now,but when I lived in the city they salted like the streets were eggs.When I had my Harley down there I would hose it down as often as I could but it still ate the crap outta my motor mounts.Didnt keep me from riding in the winter,tho.

stokes wrote: Yeah,salt is a bitch......

If it makes you feels any better I once hit a Baltimore City salt dump truck with my BSA. :laugh: Unfortunately, other than leaving a tire print on the rear differential cover of the truck, I didn't leave much sign that I had hit it. The same could not be said for me or my BSA. :whistle: Ed

650ed wrote:

stokes wrote: Yeah,salt is a bitch......

If it makes you feels any better I once hit a Baltimore City salt dump truck with my BSA. :laugh: Unfortunately, other than leaving a tire print on the rear differential cover of the truck, I didn't leave much sign that I had hit it. The same could not be said for me or my BSA. :whistle: Ed

:silly: ...Salt Shaker Ed :lol: :lol: :lol: :whistle:

BSA's were built like tanks......dump trucks are tankier

For me winter prep. is put the liner back in my jacket and get the heavy glove's out of the drawer.
With the temp. swings here in the winter I might go two maybe three days that are to cold to ride then it's back warm enough to ride.
Our forecast this weekend is a low Friday morning of 29 with a high of upper 30's/low 40's
then be in the 60's on Sunday.

60's here.
Steve

This what I try to do for winter storage. Full gas tank. If weather permitting I go to a station with pure gas. No alcohol. treat with Stabil and them add TC-W3 (found in two stroke oil) 2oz per 4 gallons of gas. Operate until carbs have the mixture in them.

I would not start and idle. It takes about 15 miles to bring a motorcycle completely up to operating temp enough to burn off any moisture. Starting a bring up to operating temps on the temp gauge doesn't include the oil in the transmission. when I bought my C14 in Dec of 08, friends would stop by to see it. starting the motor was just part of the demo. Then one day I discovered the sight gauge had white foam around it. I wasn't burning off the moisture. just a heads up for you....By the way the Stabil goes in the C14, the TC-W3 does not.

I think what I'm going to do is make the 900 completely dry. I have to re-kit the petcock anyways. Tim

Z1Driver wrote: ...........I would not start and idle. It takes about 15 miles to bring a motorcycle completely up to operating temp enough to burn off any moisture. Starting a bring up to operating temps on the temp gauge doesn't include the oil in the transmission................. Tim

I strongly disagree. I've been doing this on my KZ650-C1 every winter for the past 39 years and it has not caused any problems. You need to let the bike idle for 15 minutes or so when the outside air temperature is cold to ensure the engine is up to full operating temperature, but you are wrong about the oil in the transmission. That oil is the same as the oil that circulates through the rest of the engine, so it is not possible for it to have a different temperature. Also, I don't know which bike you have that came with a temperature gauge, but there is no temperature gauge on the KZ650 other than putting my hand on the rear section of the mufflers. Ed