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

I have a semi-heated garage (it never gets below about 40 degrees in there) and I usually just put the bike in the battery tender and forget it. Both are fuel injected, so no carbs to mess with. The longest layup has been about 3 months. The wife and I went for a ride on new years even. That was on the CBR though. I haven't really kept track of when the last time the VFR was ridden. I know I rode it this past Thursday and she ran great! <shrug>

 

The problem with today's fuel is the Ethanol that they mix into it. Fuel with Ethanol will start to break down only after 3 weeks, yes I said 3 weeks. Just remember when you use stabil for your winterizing, you use the correct stabil. Stabil now makes a few different formulas, they now make one specially for todays ethanol based fuel.

 

Good information. I have a station near me that advertises 100% gasoline, no ethanol. I try to buy all my fuel there when I can, but of course when I am out riding away from home I can't do that. :doh:

 

Inground fuel tanks are notorious for getting condensation in them. If you get the bottom of the fuel storage tank you'll know it your mileage goes to crap. Yes the high alcohol fuel today are shit. the gas companies use corn alcohol to CUT the fuel. ethanol is cheaper than fuel so they stick it in to make more money. I will only ever use chevron 93 octane, they are the only company that really cares about their fuel quality. Methyl hydrate is used in winter in cars to emulsify the water in the fuel and allow it to burn out, it isn't neccessary in warmer climates. However I lived in the cnd prairies for 10 year so I have seen very low temps up to -50. Now in vancouver so I'll just need sta bil and to keep adding a bit of fuel to the tank over the off season.

 

I'm one not to even start the (any) bike (s) if it's not being ridden. Summer staleness seemed to be a bigger concern over wintertime hibernation. Lately poor fuel quailty has become the issue.

Yes, I agree 110%.
Local fuel is crap........... I've been loading up my cans and hauling gas (#93) in from out of town for the past several years. Now it's all become horse piss (even diesel isn't diesel any more) no matter where I shop.
I started one of the bikes from a 3 week nap a while back......... it ran really rough and the exhaust reeked of stale gas...........3 WEEKS!!!!!!!
Once the old gas burned off, the stink went away and performance came back to normal. It was a week away from having to pull the carbs for a tear-down.

I'm in a climate that allows riding 8 months out of the year, so I've never "winterized" anything.
Summer months are brutally hot, and a few weeks in Jan/Feb are too cold to ride. Mar/April are optimum.
.................but few of the project bikes waiting for tweeking are mothballed for now, which won't be uncovered for another year or two.

The local tractor parts store keeps a blue (can't recall the brand) addative that counteracts E10 and stabilizes the gas. In the process of the purchase, I heard all the gripes/complaints of what havoc E10 plays on float needles and carb diaphragms.

My solution?
I inversted in a drum of VP110. The VP rep' stated that is has a 2-year shelf life, and I know a collector of Poppin' Johnnies that's using VP's small engine fuel to save the hassle of draining tanks/bowls.

So, my 20gal rack barrel is filled 75% w/super and 25% VP, and used to run in the bikes.
Yes it's a huge up-front investemnt, but the Duc and the street smokers love it......... didn't notice any difference in the VFR.
No more worries of stale fuel in the carbs.
Just have to swap the chargers between bikes.

Think the fuel is bad now?
Just wait 'till the E15 is phased into use.

 

+1 M/C charging systems are useless under about 5k on average.

 

Hey guys my 2000 has a pair of upstream o2 sensors and a cat. Anyone had any problems with skunky fuel destroying the o2's or cat? Or even the fuel pump for that matter? This is my first injected bike, and as much as I love honda for their reliability and engineering skills I hate the cost of their dealer parts, so I'm looking to be pretty anal rententive when it comes to maintenence.

 

sorry to bump an old thread, but I have searched the forums and cant come up with a how to on draining the carbs so i can get this beast started!

 

I'm assuming you have the plastics off...anyway on the carbs, you should see a little screw on the bottom of you float bowl, each carb has one, loosen that up until gas comes out. if you unscrew until the screw comes out and no fuel flows out, you have issues.

 

have to take both side fairings off to do it?

 

yes, you might have to take both sides off, or you might be able to get to them by just taking the tank off. I was originally thinking in a inline four mentalility and forgot the carbs are on the top of the motor on the V4, but the idea is the same on the float bowls, the left front and left rear should have the float bowl screw on the left side and the right F/R carbs should be on the right.

 

this is a pic of what im looking at. I cant figure out which screw it is. the only one that is by itself seems to be the gold one (bottom right hand corner) I loosened it and nothing happened.

 

nm found it