Just wondering the proper way to prepare my bike for winter storage. Do I change the oil before storage or in the spring? How about sta-bil for the fuel or drain all the fuel out? What about the tires, do they need to be off the garage floor? I'm going to make up a checklist for winter storage prep as well as off season maintenance so any and all suggestions will be appreciated. Winter sucks.

whats winter

Hi Bro,
My procedure
1 clean it like you stole it
2 change oil
3 if not in heated garage remove antifreze
4 empty gas tank or fill up tank with stabilizer
5 plug in trickle charger
6 plug in portable heater
7 blamkets
8 cover
9 night night

Blamket? Is that like a Sham-WOW?

KISS:

*Change the oil before storage
Used oil has contaminates as a result of the combustion chamber, which is acidic and will/can cause rust to form on internal parts while in storage. Fresh oil will prevent this.

*Remove your battery, or use a trickle charger.
Your batt will discharge overtime, this usually results in a junk batt come spring. Unless you like buying expensive MC batteries, keep it charged. If you pull it keep it in a heated garage or your basement. I usually give mine a full charge after pulling it and store it in my shop for the winter, then charge it again in the spring before installing it.

*Use a fuel stabilizer(I use Sea Foam) and go for a short ride to get it all worked through the whole fuel system.
Some people like to disconnect the fuel line as well and drain out what's in the line, that's up to you. If you choose to take that route just don't forget to reinstall the line before you try starting or your gonna have a mess.

It is good practice to get the tires off the ground.
If you have a front and rear bike stands you're good to go. Bleed half the air out of the tires once they are off the ground.

Give it a bath and a good waxing and cover it.

**** Those first three things are an absolute must****

Unless your storing the bike in the middle of the Arctic, or Canada, you don't need to drain the coolant. If you're uncertain about the condition of your coolant you can go to the local auto parts store and buy a cheap coolant tester that will tell you the exact freezing point of your antifreeze in the bike. (It requires an expensive tool to know the exact freezing point, but a cheap tester will be good enough to give you a range it will be safe)

I might be missing a step or two but if you do these things you'll be just fine and riding in no time come spring!

* Last updated by: nasty on 10/7/2013 @ 8:08 PM *

Don't forget to clean and oil your chain!

Hi Bro,
My procedure
1 clean it like you stole it - coat the fork legs with AFT. Soak a paper towel with ATF and wipe the rear shock rod down.
2 change oil ~ and filter
3 if not in heated garage remove antifreze ~ or change that chemical reaction, meaning, remove the acid now with fresh coolant.
4 empty gas tank or fill up tank with stabilizer ~ or drain tank. Coat the whole tank with AFT. Especially the ceiling that if you stabull'dit, there is your air bubble of condensation = rust spots occur that begin to follow the room temp, where stalagmite set in.
5 plug in trickle charger ~ remove battery, and bench charge it. This way you coat the lugs with vaseline so no greenshit forms, eats the cable endsandshit. If green/white at the bolts/nuts, cable ends, take a paper cup filled with vinegar, dip the parts in, and hold the ends in while it cleans the cable ends. You'll see it boil and eat the shit off. You'll know it's all eaten away once the bubbles stop coming off the parts/ends. Then, dip parts/ends in fresh water to clean. Take vaseline to coat them for storage. Place bolts/nuts on the battery or bolted to the cables. One or the other.
6 plug in portable heater ~ and cause condensation? You want less vapor in the room. Room temp and dry is your best bet in the garage. That means, no washing/drying in same room. There is your heater w/vapor has to go out the clothes someplace, might as well be on the forks to pit and sit in that micro-pore. Oh cool, the ATF took care of that.
7 blamkets ~ are a condensation keeper, yes? We want the bike to breath. Unless you are in a dry climate, have things falling on it, like e-quakes, blame nature for it so you def blamket.
8 cover ~ for dust for sure. But it has to breath somehow so you can keep the metal dry inside the engine.
9 night night ~ is where those fucking road ants live. So when one needs nesting, spiders resting, the blankey is over that house made for wire harness feastings. So it's a few boxes of baking soda around the wheels, stands, anything that a bug be crawling up a path? They fly in, well that job might be to soak the blankey with raid or skin so soft you have little ones/the old lady's nose. Mouse trap the crap around the bike. That's more a nightea nightime shutting her down.

* Last updated by: Hub on 10/7/2013 @ 8:35 PM *

Filling the tank full of gas would be a lot easier than draining and coating it with transmission fluid and just as effective for a few months of storage. Stay away from an ethanol blend during storage. That stuff will suck the moisture right out of the air and into your fuel system.

* Last updated by: nasty on 10/7/2013 @ 10:14 PM *

Agreed, nasty. But say owners do live with the washer-drier in a small garage. Damp states that you can see could still live at the top of the tank sorta speak. Unless we are coated inside, why do you think they have that stuff mix with water?

STA-BIL® Ethanol Fuel Treatment and Stabilizer protects against corrosion, helps remove water...

A pain in the ass to do for sure, but lets for argument sake say the tank is coated. We drop down anyway and rot that which is not coated. We have the fuel filter to deal with. Small as that filter is, that puppy clogs up down the road, this is more we find some sort of rust past the screen, down the eye of an injector opening and look at that spray out that 1 hole, never mind the other 9 or 11 or how ever many they are using.

When we come back from some trip, not top off the gas, that heat off the bike travels up. That tank is going to feel that vapor even as we ride during the season. In a way we are trapped everyday. So when you have these fuel pumps needing a filter cleaning/swap, where does it begin, sans a dirty, exposed filler nozzle at the gas station and whatever that delivers out the end?

It would be nice if they actually coated these tanks with something decent right from the factory.

Something I believe no one else mentioned. Place dryer sheets around, and stuffed into the body panels. especially inside the foremans, and under the covers where the air tubes run. And under the seat where the pcm and other wiring is. Also under whatever cover you put on it.

My friends zx10r is at the shop now getting some of the ignition wires redone due to a mouse's nest and some chewed wires. The scent of dryer sheets will help prevent critters from wanting to climb in and around the bike to make a nest.

This does work. I do this to my 2 cars that I store in the winter. Outside. I have had something chew on the wires of my trickle charger where it runs under the front bumper on the ground, but nothing up in the engine compartment.

It's all been said...
Excellent boyz!
W

I do most of that except I go out an start my bikes and let them run till the fans come on to burn off the moisture out of the motor and exhaust, keep the gas tank full, if I have to run the heater I pop open the gas caps to let the moisture out so all fluids and and the metal tank come back to temp at the same time an condensation goes out, been working for a long time that way, still trickle charge and change oil and all that stuff but I may take a winter ride if the weather permits, as I don't completely ever shut my bikes down.

Living in the north WIsconsin, I find that starting the bike without riding it during the winter cannot help but cause moisture in the crankcase and exhaust and probably other parts of the engine. Best to leave it alone until its time to ride.

Here is what I do and the order to do it so that you will not need to start the motor after oil change.

winter storage

Check anti-freeze protection.
Long ride to warm up drive chain, clean chain with kerosene.
Long ride to fling kerosene from chain and stir up motor oil.
Fill fuel tank to neck with regular gasoline.
Add 1 oz Sea Foam/gallon of fuel to fuel tank.
Lift the bike on stands.
Reduce tire pressure.
Top off fuel tank if necessary.
Change oil and filter
Run motor for 1 minute to circulate the fresh oil and treated gasoline
Shut bike down in 6th gear.
Stuff muffler with cloth.
Squirt oil into each cylinder through spark plug holes and turn the engine by rotating the wheel.
Connect battery to maintainer.
Grease the drive chain heavily and any other corrosion prone parts.
Remove fairings, wash, buff and wax.
Check all bolts for tightness.

Now THAT's love...happy bike...happy shredder;)

I just ride it , unless it gets REALLY cold, like below 60 or something ......Haha welcome to California suckers!

Mad

Now THAT's love...happy bike...happy shredder;)

Shut bike down in 6th gear.

Temps don't usually get that bad out here where I can't ride in the winter. MadDevil you suck!! LOL

Thanks guys that's great info. This bike has kinda become part of the family and I want to take good care of her. My garage is heated but it still gets moisture in it due to my wife pulling her car in covered in rain/snow. I think I will put a de-humidifier next to my bike just to be safe. I've had two bikes in the past get rust spots in the gas tank. I'm sure with my new found knowledge I'll be far better off this time around.

Damn Mad that's a low blow. Oddly enough my bike is a California model...in upstate NY.

Mad I am coming out to Cali! Watch out!

hope he has room so all af us can come and visit, lol

Anastasia is gone to sleepy for winter

Winter?.........what's that? :-p

Blue I love those white wheels and by the way you and Mad suck out there on the west coast, lmao, I guess I need a winter home in Cali!

I'm not putting mine up until PennDOT puts the plows on their trucks.