| Author | Message | ||
     Verdad |
Hey, Y'all - My job is taking me out of the country for a year or so, and I'm hoping to get some information on what I may need to do to safely store my bike for a while. I'll be back for a couple weeks in six months or so, and can ride it then if I have a chance. I've heard tell about fuel stabilizers and trickle-chargers, and whatnot - but have never had to store a bike before. Could y'all offer some suggestions on what is *Required* and what is *Recommended* regarding what I need to do? As always I greatly appreciate the support from everyone on the site. Thanks. Russ | ||
| Ratbuell |
Park it somewhere safe. NOT on concrete - that can/will damage/flatspot the tires. Put boards under the tires, or put it on pitbull stands. I, if I have to store a small engine for a season (riding mower for winter; snowblower for summer; bikes for winter), will run it near empty. Add a proper amount of seafoam for the size of the tank. Fill the tank AFTER adding the seafoam, to mix it up. Run the engine for five minutes or so, to get the seafoam throughout the system. Park it. My mower started this season like I ran it a week earlier. Snowblower at the start of winter? Same, acted like I'd used it a week earlier. Bikes...same story. 6 months? Unhook the battery, and bring a jump box to be safe when you come to get it. Or, put it on a smart "tender" type charger that will maintain the charge automatically. If you're really paranoid...change the oil before riding it (store it with old oil, no sense letting brand new oil "age"...) That said...I've never changed oil when getting bikes out of winter storage, and never had an issue from it. If you were storing it for six YEARS? Yeah...change it. Six months...ride, smile, repeat. MY storage procedure (again - no problems yet): 1. seafoam. 2. Park not on concrete. 3. Battery tender (BT Junior, actually). ...that's all. It's not the space shuttle, people get too worked up over this stuff. I got a Jeep running yesterday that hadn't run in three or four YEARS. New ignition box (reason for not running), jumpers to my jeep, gas down throat of the carb, turn key, runs. Kinda. Had to de-gunk the carb because it sat without fuel treatment (buddy's jeep)...but once I did that, purrs like a kitten. 3 years. Old gas. Old oil. Old coolant. Good oil pressure. Good coolant temps. Rock solid idle. Engines are tough creations; people overthink this "storage" thing... | ||
| Sagehawk |
I've never stored a bike here in south texas but ive often wondered about taking the belt tensioner off to let that belt sit relaxed instead of under tension. not so much for the driven pulley diameter but for the drive pulley diameter. Its fairly small for a belt to sit and never move. If you try it let us know how you make out for belt life. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
Ideally, you would want to store the bike with fresh oil. Moisture in the oil causes acidification. Acidic oil can allow etching of bearing surfaces. Used oil already has begun this degradation. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I've heard the "don't park tires on concrete" thing a lot, but never quite understood it. Seems like the tire will age... if the rubber is still good, the "flat spot" will work it's way out in short order. If not, the rubber is shot anyway, the tire is just too old and too hard. But maybe there is some science to it... I've not had any experience with it. I do know that Stabil works by creating a "film" over the gas a few molecules thick that effectively seals it. So follow the instructions and mix it fresh if you use it. And I know a full tank of gas, right to the brim, will keep water out of the tank and thus keep rust down. The battery conditioners seem to work well also (the good ones, not the harbor freight one). | ||
| Dualsportdad |
Fresh oil, fill tank of gas with stabil, inflate tires to max psi, disconnect battery. When you get back drain all the gas, fresh gas, adjust tire pressure, reconnect battery and ride. | ||
| Etennuly |
I would just fill the tank with premium(hopefully non alcohol) gasoline and unhook the battery. | ||
| Verdad |
Thanks for everyone's responses. Fortunately it'll be in my garage, so as long as my kids leave it alone, I'll be fine. I just bought the Sea Foam and a ("California-compliant") battery tender off Amazon for $30. That and taking the tire precautions, I feel pretty good about leaving it for a while. Thanks again. | ||
| Fotoguzzi |
so sorry you have to leave the family for that much time.. where ya going? |
