Are Stands Useful for Winter Storage?

Hi All,

I'm thinking ahead to storing my bike in an unheated garage over winter. Concrete floor but temperatures below -15 deg. F. Thinking I should look into bike stands to get the rubber off the concrete. Anyone out there had experience with this and can point me in a good direction? Maybe the center stand is sufficient with a small front fork jack to get both tires off the floor? Thanks.

 

Back when I lived in Calgary, AB I used to store my bike in a garden shed attached to the back of the house that had enough room in it for three bikes (width wise) but just barely enough room for the length of the longest bike plus an extra foot. My friend and I always put the bikes on the center stand and every couple weeks or so, we would rotate the front tire a bit to prevent getting flat spots on the tires. We also made sure the tires were pumped to the high end of the allowable tire pressure to make sure the front tires wouldn't flatten out as they lost pressure due to the cold air temperature. Calgary frequently gets down to -30 to -45*C during the winter and can stay that way for weeks at a time. If you've got the room and money for a front stand then it couldn't hurt, but I don't know I'd be really concerned about it.

Just for comparison sake, when changing the front tire on my bike, I usually ask my son for assistance by getting him to sit on the passenger portion of the seat to lift the front of the bike completely off the ground. As he only weighs 48 pounds I can't imagine that there is much weight on the front tire, or suspension for that matter, when the bike is up on the center stand.

 

Once you get that front wheel off the ground, don't forget your boy and leave him in that cold garage.

 

Nah, just used that as an example for how much weight is likely on the tire, and Liam only sits there long enough to get the wheel on or off. During the winter, he regularly wants to go sit on the bike in the garage and make vroom, vroom noises to satisfy the lost time during the winter and get his bike (riding) time. Kelowna rarely gets below -10*C during the winter so not usually too cold in the garage. In Calgary however, I doubt he'd be willing to go near the garage at -40. Liam hates the cold weather and he's the first one to admit it. LOL.

 

Since this is not in the plan, maybe somebody in Calgary can hire SOW this Winter.

Not much call for kidscicles in Kelowna eh?

 

Where iz fhat lil bugger. Haven't seen him for weeks! LOL.

I wouldn't worry about that in the slightest. Yes you might get a flat spot but not likely. Even if so, it will work its way out after a couple miles.

 

My bikes manage fine when they spend 5 months over winter in an unheated garage with temps regularly down to -20 (in January its occasionally colder as I am based in a ski resort). The winter/long term storage process recommended by Honda seems OTT. Whilst many swear by fuel stabil - the top quality fuel available over here seems to get through without, so in autumn I ride off the regular 95 stuff and then only fill the tanks with 4* 98 octane premium ethanol free - if over winter the quality drops a few octanes it is still always good enough to fire up perfectly come spring. The batteries are removed and kept indoors and hooked up once a month to a battery tender for a few hours.

Of the two, the VFR is easy to store on the centre stand, the garage floor is sealed concrete so I can still slide it (carefully) right into the corner of the garage and then prop the front tyre(tire) just off the ground by supporting the front axle with a couple of firewood logs. Storing the Street Triple is more of a challenge as it has no main stand. It has to go up on paddock stands - which always attempt to drop the bike if you then try to reposition the bike close up against the garage wall to leave space for the 4x4. If you can get by without a paddock stand, then I would do so, because personally I think they are a menace. Just remember to cover the bike with a decent bike cover otherwise by springtime you will find the whole bike covered with dust.

Just my 2p



SkiMad

 

On the centerstand at least on the mach 1 91, the bike is easy to tilt with little effort. I don't see why one person couldn't slide a chunk of 2X4 under the front tire to keep it off the deck.

 

Maybe I can learn something new here BB. I just don't see what the reasoning is behind putting another basically hard surface under the tire in place of another. What's wrong with just letting the front tire rest on the concrete over the winter. As you eluded to, there is not a hell of a lot of weight on this tire. So long as the tire is properly inflated, it should survive the winter just fine.

I understand that when you are storing a much heavier vehilce such as a car, for a much longer period of time, it is advisable to put the car partially up on blocks or jack stands. Even then, you don't get the tires right off the ground. Doing so would damage the suspension if the suspension is made to hang there bearing the weight of the tire and wheel, when in fact the suspension is designed to bear compress on top of that tire and wheel.

Am I missing something here BB?

 

Not too much. We could start with the difference between allude and elude and that 2X4s are not really 2X4" and haven't been for years. Also my apologies to all the metric dudes who still call them 2X4s.

Confining the bikes to VFRs with centerstands and VFRs that are going to be stored on frozen concrete and using an actual chunk of 2X4 is really not necessary. The deal here is that a piece of wood is a better insulator than bare or even painted or coated frozen concrete for long periods. The best, would of course be jack stands or jacking the whole bike up off the deck.

A long exposure to a frozen surface on tires that we rely on more than car tires are better off in the long haul withoot creating flat spots. Overfilling or overpressure may help some but compressed air is subject to the various gas laws as are ambient gas mixtures.

Some centerstands do not lift either end of a given bike off the deck. My BMW has a deep oil pan and what is called a Reynolds Rideoff stand. My SR has a stock centerstand that has been gusseted in aboot 6 places because the OEM stand was a POS. My garage floor is painted with epoxy and I don't have a clue whether if freezes or not.

Now to the car vs bike tire thing. Car tires though similar in general appearance are way different than bike tires in many ways. Price, longevity ect. My guess is that there is much more on automobile storage than bike storage, the former being the larger number.

From what I have read you don't store your bike anyway.. LOL

 

Well. That's true. BTW. You remind me of my grade three teacher Mrs. Gillespie. She hounded me too. But she was a rather fat bitch so I really did not may much attention to what she said unless she had a the strap hanging from her claws.

Growing up and driving many years in Winnipeg, I became very aware of square tires. Pull away in the morning after parking all night on concrete street, especially if your tires were a little low on air, was definitely a jaw jarring experience for the first couple miles, but the tire rounded itself out after that.

I just don't think this is a big thing to concern ourselves with on a bike. Then again, I don't live where it freezes very often (note I did not say it does not freeze) and like you learned, I don't really park it for long either.

BTW. Just turned 115,000 miles last weekend somewhere in either northern Washington, eastern Idaho or northern Oregon. Those roads are just orgasmic. Four days of hard riding on those twisties and when I got home, I slept for two days. I was exhausted.

Now buzz off and quite correcting my errors!

 

>>>Sorry bout that. I only alluded to your elusion.

 

No need to worry here, I got a stand for both wheels and I still take the bike out for a spin sometimes even in winter-only on the best days-not a pussy like you guys-instant it gets cold you switch to the truck.BB doesn't have a bike to worry about everything he gets is free-troll duty!

 

I hate to be the one with the bad news but those shemales do not have pussies.

 

SOW, at first I said to myself, you are full of shit. then I realized, you must truely be, full of shit. because that's all you spit all across the forums. Is stupid, and useless shit.

 

At least he's not posting any pix of his close encounters with shemales of the other kind.

 

Come ride with me sometime in the weather I have ridden is many times. Bring snow pants, mittens and a toque. You will freeze even the stinkiest portions of you anatomy so that they will nearly drop off your pansied body.

You should really know what you speak of before you speak.

BTW. Don't know what a toque is? I will relieve you of your stresses. It is what we Canadians call your head sock. Bob and Doug McKenzie were fond of them eh.

 

I have a leather head wrap and a real Michael Jordan Leather $1,000 jacket-its very warm. I road all winter 2 years in a row and on ice and snow and salt, hardest part was getting out of the driveway-won't do it again unless the weather is excellent which does happen sometimes-I don't believe in letting a bike sit that long-it causes too much problems. The vfr is much better for cold weather riding with the radiator on the sides and that cat on the bottom-pouring out heat. I don't think, I would match a Canadian in cold weather however. I kind of think of the black vfr as a ragging black bull- very hard to ride but a lot of fun. I would suggest you a 45 sprocket with all the weight you carry. Lowing gearing is much better, at least for me. I am glad people like to read my posts so carefully as I have a lot of info to share.:strawberry:

 

Not needed. I think after 115,000 miles with stock, I am satisfied they do the job quite nicely. But we are off topicc. Lets get back shall we?

 

I've always thrown rugs or carpet remnant under the tires. Keeps them off the cold concrete and allows for a bit of padding. Never had problems. And air it up pretty much to the limit first as well.