brrr. tis a bit chilly out. winterizing?

[duder]

its that time again. time to put the bikes up. i've seen some posts on here about winterizing, but nothing too detailed. it seems that anybody who has to winterize their bike is made fun of by all those lucky fellows who live where the sun always shines and 60 degrees is considered winter coat weather.

well to all of those guys who live in the north, where men grow thick beards and eat habanero chili all winter long to stay warm... what do you guys do to get the bike ready for winter? oh yeah. i'll still ride it when I get a 30 degree day. but what do ya'll do when it's sitting in your garage at -20F?!

mostly, i will fill the tank and add stabil. i'll lube the chain up good. i'll put the bike on the center stand. pull the battery and keep it inside on trickle, as well as keep the seat indoors. but other than that, I can't really think of too much more.

any thoughts? thanks!

[TimRav]

I won't make fun of ya, duder, but I wouldn't winterize it just yet. Should be plenty of decent days left to ride a bit.

Two things I'd add to your winterization routine:
1. Oil & filter change. Some do it before parking the bike for the winter, some do it when they start riding in the spring. I prefer to do it early.
2. Put a small piece of wood or plywood under your front tire while it's parked.
Something about moisture absorbtion, protection from the concrete floor or whatever.

Also, I don't pull my battery. I just hook on the tender, which works fine - tho my garage also doesn't get extremely cold. If it did I'd probably park the battery inside during winter.

[airgreesemonkey]

another thing you will want to do once you are ready is to spray some fogging oil in each cylinder to prevent rust from forming inside your engine, also if you change your oil right before putting it up change it again before riding in the spring because oil oxidizes and tends to break down over a few months. in other words you wont get the proper lubing properties you would otherwise want