Non-Heated Winter Storage

[jcrawford]

put the bike on stands so that the tires don't get flat spots

even in an enclosed trailer?

[nhbubba]

No. In an enclosed trailer gravity is practically negated. Therefore your tires will not flat spot, not in an enclosed trailer.

[jcrawford]

No. In an enclosed trailer gravity is practically negated. Therefore your tires will not flat spot, not in an enclosed trailer.

lol your funny I thought if you parked it on wood or concrete it was good. Guess I will store it on stands

[FZR]

No. In an enclosed trailer gravity is practically negated. Therefore your tires will not flat spot, not in an enclosed trailer.

Lol!!

[nhbubba]

In seriousness though. I've never worried about it. I think some people are just excessively paranoid. You're storing it for a couple months over the winter, not a decade while you go to mars or something.

My bikes get stored on their center stands. Not because I'm paranoid about the tires, but because the bike stores in less space that way. I fitted my 'strom with a center stand partly for this very reason. All my bikes before this came with center stands.

Sport bikes don't do center stands though. So...

[aldend123]

OP, Who are you getting your advice from? I'd stop listening to them. Curious what their logic was though.... care to share?
Also, I think that dealer friend of yours would be happy to store the bike. That's an extra package, and they'll need you to buy some insurance to cover the bike while it's under their roof.

In terms of flat spotting, what about over-inflating the tires to shrink the size of the contact patch? Otherwise, I'd think the flat spots will resolve themselves as the tire heats up. First ride might be a little wild though :p

[Ryno]

Tires will be fine, that's overkill for sure. Cold won't hurt a thing. Worst thing people do is start their bike up every so often during the winter. Prep it, park it and leave it alone until it's time to ride.

[tsorfas]

Tires will be fine, that's overkill for sure. Cold won't hurt a thing. Worst thing people do is start their bike up every so often during the winter. Prep it, park it and leave it alone until it's time to ride.

im one of those people i dont understand hows that bad for the bike though?

[csmutty]

im one of those people i dont understand hows that bad for the bike though?

Usually it doesn't get up to temperature which means there is condensation in the engine. This means that you have water sitting in your engine. Also you should have fresh oil in your bike before you store it, and starting it up would introduce acid content to the oil which will also deteriorate components.

[tsorfas]

Usually it doesn't get up to temperature which means there is condensation in the engine. This means that you have water sitting in your engine. Also you should have fresh oil in your bike before you store it, and starting it up would introduce acid content to the oil which will also deteriorate components.

i always change the oil before i store it, but when i run i leave it to run for like 30-45 mins. i watch the temparature and even in very low temperatures it maxes out almost 10 times.
I thought it was good to run the bike so the oil moves around and you slowly use up the gas so u can add fresh before the season starts again..?

[aldend123]

Usually it doesn't get up to temperature which means there is condensation in the engine. This means that you have water sitting in your engine. Also you should have fresh oil in your bike before you store it, and starting it up would introduce acid content to the oil which will also deteriorate components.

Also, important if you keep high weight oil in the bike. Starting a bike with 20W-50 in the dead of a new england winter is a bad idea.

RE using up gas, you can always drain the tank at the beginning of the season. Also, pretty sure you want to keep the tank full to keep the surfaces from being exposed to oxygen, and therefore rot. Though probably more important for old bikes, not as much for new ones. So, not much benefit there.

[NPDCPA]

...when i run i leave it to run for like 30-45 mins. i watch the temparature and even in very low temperatures it maxes out almost 10 times.

Not good to leave any internal combustion engine idling for an extended amount of time.

[Stromper]

Idle Bad + Only some power used will really heat a motor and especially the chain.

I put an extra 10 psi in the tires as my flattening protection. After my Van sits for 2 weeks it takes 20 miles on the highway before they're round again.

Buy yourself like 20 feet of GOOD chain like 3/8 links and a couple of locks. Periodically through life you will find reasons to use it.

I do put them asleep with new cheap oil and filters.

With double stabilized gas plus oil etc. filled to the filler neck I have not had a problem with the gas the next spring. Yes the 2nd tank runs better but still no problem

[NPDCPA]

If you have a newer Ducati with a plastic tank, leave it as empty as possible during winter or yours will expand like mine did.

[Manny]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_6 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E200 Safari/6533.18.5)

Usually it doesn't get up to temperature which means there is condensation in the engine. This means that you have water sitting in your engine. Also you should have fresh oil in your bike before you store it, and starting it up would introduce acid content to the oil which will also deteriorate components.

i always change the oil before i store it, but when i run i leave it to run for like 30-45 mins. i watch the temparature and even in very low temperatures it maxes out almost 10 times.
I thought it was good to run the bike so the oil moves around and you slowly use up the gas so u can add fresh before the season starts again..?

You let the bike idle for 40 minutes throughout the winter burning through a whole tank of gas in the process?

Remind me not to buy a used bike you have ever owned!

[butcher bergs]

i always change the oil before i store it, but when i run i leave it to run for like 30-45 mins. i watch the temparature and even in very low temperatures it maxes out almost 10 times.
I thought it was good to run the bike so the oil moves around and you slowly use up the gas so u can add fresh before the season starts again..?

Pull the battery out and trickle charge it once a month.

Absolutely no need to circulate oil throughout the engine. Once oil contacts a surface there is always a film left behind unless it is washed away.

Once the bike prepped for long-term storage just let it be until you are ready to ride it. It's really that simple.

[tsorfas]

Pull the battery out and trickle charge it once a month.

Absolutely no need to circulate oil throughout the engine. Once oil contacts a surface there is always a film left behind unless it is washed away.

Once the bike prepped for long-term storage just let it be until you are ready to ride it. It's really that simple.

well this year is being pretty tough to put the bike away.. 65+ temps after thanksgiving!!!!
im not complaining, totally loving the weather so far.. in a perfect world it would go like this through out winter and we wont see any snow!!!

put another 250miles this weekend with not really an extra gear but a balaklava! surprisingly (for me at least) you see a lot more HD riders than streetbikers in Central MA