UP Motorcycling

[Head]

Just to get this going how about a list of things to remember to do for winterizing your ride.

I run Stabil through the tank till the bike peters out, yank the tank and drain any left over. I know you should fill it up, but I'm always doing something like painting, or trying to fight off rust.

Yank the battery and put it on a tender, I need to pick one up any suggestions?

That's about the extent of my winter ritual. Anything else.?

[Jenn]

We bought a trickle charger (about $40 at Advanced Auto) and it has been wonderful.

As for winterizing the bike, OM puts steel wool in the tail pipe, fills gas tank, leaves the battery on bike but plugged in, and parks it on a mat. I think this will all be my job this year since I ride it now too. That's ok, I don't mind helping.

[rdnkjeeper]

The other thing I do is change all the fluids. I will pull the plugs to inspect them, but not always replace them. I also store the bike with a cover on it.

The order I do things is.....I fire up the bike and go for a ride to get everything nice and warmed up. I then stop and fill up the gas tank. Proceed right into my garage where I change all the fluids, check the plugs and give it a pretty good once over. The way I stop the bike in the garage is to shut the petcock and let the carb run out of gas.

After I replace all the fluids I roll (the bike won't be restarted until spring) the bike outside and give it a pretty good cleaning. Blow dry it with air and push it back into the garage. Park it on the pad ( I haven't decided if I am going to park it on the jack or not. Some people do so the suspension isn't compressed all winter), Make sure it is dry, stuff some steel wool in the tail pipes, make sure the trickle charger is all set and then cover it up. I

It should be good to go until spring.....I do check on it every few weeks though to make sure nothing bad has happened.

[Lugnut87]

I was considering turning my fuel petcock off and running all the fuel out of the float bowls. Then filling the tank with fuel and putting Stabil in it. It would make me feel better that there is no fuel in the darn Mikuni Carbs on the old Yamaha's. I know if you do nothing to the carbs on the XS1100 you will for sure be cleaning them come spring.

Does that seem to be a good idea or would this open the carbs up to corrosion for the winter?

The tank on my XS1100 has been acid cleaned and lined with red coat so I know that rust will not be an issue, but my XJ650 just has a brand new tank on it with no coating inside. Filling the tank should prevent the rust from forming, correct?

[Head]

Filling the tank should prevent the rust from forming, correct?

Correct. Nothing to oxidize the metal with all the gas in the way. Not sure about running the carbs dry, I thought running Stabil through kept things from gumming up.

Before disconnecting the battery pull a plug and pour a tablespoon of oil in the cylinder, reinsert plug and crank it a second or so. Repeat for each cylinder. I almost forgot. Prevents cylinder/wall rusting.