People have probably been shot for less, but here goes....

There really is alot to this topic. I am a professional and have ALOT of experience with unsuccessful storage. I say it's not smart to start your bike in 20F weather and allow it to warm up only to shut it off...for more than one reason. Rule of thumb...if you can't take your bike for at least a short ride, don't bother starting it...you'll do more harm than good.

Fuel? ...there's more than one way it can degrade. There's plenty of good web info on the details. It's hard to know how long it will keep 'cause it depends on how long it sat in a storage tank before you pumped it, and then the conditions under which it was stored. I can tell you in our cold, dry Winter cimate fuel will keep fine for at least 6 or 7 months. The same fuel in hot humid summer conditions probably won't.

 

After 30+ years of storing bikes, cars and such I agree with all of those who say prep it right and leave it a lone. Fill fuel tank, stablize the fuel and take the battery out and or put a battery tender on it. I usually get at least a year to 3 years more out of my batteries than what they are rated for. As long as they are being constantly charged they have a lot less chance of sulfating. Idling won't really do it, to short of time. Use ONLY a 2amp charger. Anything more and you heat the lead plates and start to deteriorate them. As was mentioned of letting it idle the motor doesn't really get hot enough and burn off moisture and the acids that build up internally. You end up doing more damage than good in the long run. If it's a carburetored motor then drain the carbs. Carbon build up in the cylinders is greater at idle than at running speeds. The place you store it helps greatly. Keep it as dry as possible and low humidity as possible. This is just for winter storage of up to six months. Over that there's a few extra steps I'd take. It's worked for me all these years.

 

I'm in agreement with K1C on all points, especially changing the oil BEFORE you put it up. Letting dirty motor oil set in your engine (ie lower end) bathes your crank journals/ bearings in all kinds of great stuff like sulfuric acid, a by product of combustion. And what about the top end? The cams, the rings etc? Are you gonna fog the cylinders once a week, too? Cold temps and cold oil make for MUCHO FRICTION.

 

I store my bike in my basement durning the winter if I ran it me and my dog would be dead! Thats not cool.

 

Even if you want to say "gas goes bad in 3 months" say, and I am not saying that, but if you wanted to say that is what you beleive, so if you are storing your bike for only 2 months you don't need to do anything. The question becomes, not how long you store the bike, but how long have you had the gas? So you have to look at 1, how long was the gas stored at the distributer before being shipped to the station? 2, how long was it at the station? 3, right before you put the bike away for good, aren't you riding it less and less as the weather turns? so how old is the gas in your tank at the time you start storage? Do you run it dry, then fill it up with brand new, fresh, stuff prior to storage? most of us no, so you may have gas in your tank that you got a month ago already? 4, how often is the spring weather not what we were hoping for, or we get busy with life and can't get to work on our bike when we wanted? So you thought you would break it out of storage in say mid March, but then the weather is bad for those first couple of weekends, so you don't do anything. The third weekend it is nice, but you had plans with the wife/GF/husband/BF? or you got into a car accident and your arm is in a sling. Now the 2 months of storage you expected, have turned into 4 months, past the time you thought the gas would go bad and you didn't treat it.
Really, Sta-bil is pretty cheap stuff, like what maybe $10 for a small bottle? Although I think even less. It isn't real expensive stuff. And the headaches associated with gummed up carbs or fuel injectors, is such a problem, just treat it, cheap insurance against a known problem.

and I have also read/heard that gas can go bad as quick as a month

 

3.5 month minimum layaway up here, and I'll guess longer for a lot of folks in the Northern Midwest and Canuck land.

 

Most engine wear--to bearings, rings, pistons, and cylinders--comes during startup especially when oil is slow to circulate during cold weather.

On both carbed and FI bikes the enrichener circuits needed to get the bike to fire strip lubricant from cylinder walls causing scuffing of piston skirts and cylinder walls.

Stabil in the tank is good, but might not prevent clogging of jets in carbs. Fuel should not remain sitting in carbs for more that a few weeks, and draining all fuel through float bowl drain screws should be standard practice to avoid needing to clean carbs in Spring.

Running the engine is a VERY inefficient way to charge a battery !! You need a 1-amp battery charger if you own a motorcycle, no real way around that fact.

Besides the moisture condensing in the crankcase on cool-down, there are other rust-promoting factors involved in periodic starting.

My practice has been to turn the petcock to OFF, run the engine till it dies, activate the choke to restart the engine for about 10 seconds, then remove plugs, oil up the cylinders, drain the carbs, suff some rags into the exhaust, and remove the battery and bring it indoors, where i boost it for at least 24 hours once per month.

If you need the affrirmation that the engine still turns over, just use the starter button to roll it over a few turns, but don't start it.

Oil the chain before storage.

 

Yes!! I agree with this. Good point about the carbon build up...especially on highly tuned sportbike engines. A few years back I worked on a CBR600RR with low compression. The combustion chambers were so gummed up with carbon, chunks were coming off and getting wedged in the valve seats. Honda actually paid for the repair under extended warranty, which consisted of scraping carbon, removing and reseating valves. Turns out the guy was doing excessive idle and low RPM...apparently 600RRs don't like that too much. Don't remember the exact milage on the bike but it was pretty low...I'm thinkin' 2500 miles or so. I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from proper warm-up...but excessive idling is just not good.

This kinda thing happens more than people think...I ran into a similar situation on a 680 Rincon four wheeler just a couple months ago...nasty carbon build up causing low compression by contaminating valve seats.

 

I have a question for the room I understand that idling your bike is not a good way to keep the battary charged but I happen to live in an apartment and can't plug a battary tender in for lack of a plug and rules on using ext cords. I normarlly don't worry to much about it becuase i try to ride year round but here recently we have been having some snow and ice that is not customary here in the North Carolina coast (I was very shocked to see snow when I woke up this morning. don't know how yall handel all that snow up north.)

 

AMEN brother, You people that worry about your gas sitting for extended periods are wasting your time. I have a couple old cars that sit for 6 months at a time, with ZERO preparation. I have one car that only gets driven about 20 miles per year. The same fuel has been in that tank for years. and yep,... you guessed it, no GEL. As for storage prep, i turn the key off, and usually throw a cover over it. I have Jet Ski's that are treated the same way. Everything starts right up and drives away with no issue.

 

The climate is a definet factor here. We get different gasolines for winter and summer seasons. Even here in SC we're constantly cleaning carbs on bikes, atvs,watercraft and generators that sit for extended periods. Consider yourself lucky, the rest of us are just a bunch of idiots.

 

Well, while there is some truth to your last sentence, my experience isn't only from California. I've lived in Alaska, Oregon, and Illinois for 10+ years. That coupled with the fact that i've been in the automotive buisness for the past 23+ years should give me some useful experience.


.....but what do i know. im just the guy who doesn't worry about all this shit and has no problems with any of my vehicles. Must be miracle.

 

Not all Canuckland. Mine will be sitting for a month ...and only because I won't be home. This is yet another good reason to gear up and ride, even in cooler wet weather. My 06 has over 90,000 km on it. No problems with it that are not caused by yours truly directly.

 

Must Be !!!

 

+1 on that, I can't tell you how many times we've prepped a brand new motorcycle, dirtbike or atv thinking it would sell quickly only to have the gas go bad while it sat in the showroom or warehouse.

 

Huh...wonder what all that green crap is I've been finding in fuel systems all these years? And maybe it's just a coincidence that almost every time I see a melted snowmobile piston I find that same stuff in the carbs.

I agree there are times when fuel can last surpisingly long...but not always. And some types of issues it can cause can be real expensive. I consider concern over fuel storage VERY valid.

 

Actually, the colder it is, the SLOWER your battery will discharge. A fully charged battery wont' freeze until around -70F, however a weak or discharged battery can freeze at much higher temps...even around 10F. If you had a good strong battery to begin with you have no worries.

At my location, we've had snow on the ground since Dec 5. We've had above freezing temps maybe three or four days since then. You get used to it...alot of people around here even like it. Skiing, snowboarding, sno machines, ice fishing...there's actually plenty of things to do. Big snowstorms around here actually HELP the economy quite a bit.

 

If gas is your issue, go to your local little airport and get 100LL, it's expensive compared to auto gas but it never goes bad. It doesn't have the additives that auto fuel has. I know some very expensive toys that sit for sevral years and the 100LL never goes bad. If I had to store my bike I would put avgas in it and only worry about the battery.

 

I'll tell you what I know. My step-dad is retired from a refinery and one of my best friends owns and operates many oil wells.

Both have informed me that not all gasolines are equal. Some are very refines and last, others are not so refined and last a month. Problem is you can't tell which one you may be pumping and since most of us commute to work, we fill up once to twice a week and burn it up.

The quality may be due to local or State regulations. I know the local boaters in my area loved Maryland gass. Come to find out Maryland was still using the MTBE additive and not ethanol like Delaware. Many claimed it did not needed treated and lasted longer than Delaware gas. Well now it appears the same. Maryland removed the MTBE and uses Ethanol like Delaware. The boaters I know just buy an dtreat the Delaware gas.

So wehter its due to State regulations requiring a more refined gas so you West Coasters have it better, I am unsure. But their is no doubt gas does and can go bad. It appears various factors are involved and as someone stated Stabil and the other gas treatments arn't expensive (i use Startron).

My 2 cents.

BZ