Getting your Motorcycle ready for winter
If you live in the UK or the northern hemisphere it’s probably getting close to the time of year when you need to put your motorcycle or scooter into hibernation for a few months whilst mother nature does her thing.
There are a few simple steps you can take to make sure that when you wake her up again everything will be good to go. If you don’t do anything then it’s possible you could be lucky, but it’s also possible that you may end up with fuel that has gone off, brittle or corroded chain, flat or damaged tyres and a battery that wouldn’t light a torch bulb. These are a nuisance when you want to get going again in the spring but are simple to prevent if you are prepared to spend a little time now.
We have a few simple suggestions below along with a couple of short videos from motorcyclist magazine to show you how to do them and a few links to items for ideas on bits you may need.
The key areas to consider are as follows:
- Battery – if you have a Li battery and disconnect it then they are brilliant at keeping their charge so you should have no issues. If you have a normal lead-acid battery then it’s a good idea to use a battery optimiser to stop it discharging, something like the Oxford EL570 battery management system, be sure to get one that does 6v or 12v depending on your battery voltage.
- Chain – Clean your chain and lubricate it, use a toothbrush or something like the Tirox 360 chain brush to clean it then lubricate it with your preferred chain lub. See the video from Motorcyclist Magazine on how to do this.
- Fuel – there are a few ways to tackle this, 1st you could drain out all the fuel in your system to stop you from having to deal with the annoying problem of fuel going off, especially (but not only) now that E10 is the new normal. If you have a modern bike, it’s more likely that it won’t be such a simple job to empty all the fuel out, so it may be more appropriate to fill your tank up and use a fuel additive like Bel-Ray all in one fuel treatment to prevent the fuel going off.
- Clean & Wax – This may sound obvious but many will think it’s OK to do this in the spring when it’s time to go riding again, which it is, however, this could leave you with other problems to sort out. Dirt, moisture and condensation can cause unwanted problems if left over the winter. By cleaning and protecting the paintwork and chrome with a good wax (or even a bad wax is better than nothing) you shouldn’t get any unwelcome surprises. A relatively low-cost wash & wax, something like Meguiar’s ultimate should be fine.
- Engine Oil – Some will recommend putting fresh oil in before you store your bike and this is OK, especially if your bike is due an oil service, however, if the oil in your bike is in good condition then simply topping it up should be good enough.
- Inlets – It’s a good idea (and simple) to cover the inlets that can allow moisture ingress. For example, cover the exhaust tailpipe (obviously wait until it’s cold) and air inlet if you can get to it. This will help prevent any oxidisation from occurring in your cylinders.
- Tyres – Your tyres don’t like standing in the same position with all the weight of your bike on them for months on end, they can develop flat spots or even become slightly deformed which can cause vibrations if it’s bad enough. This is simple to avoid, simply put your bike on the main stand or invest in a paddock stand like this Oxford unit to keep your wheels off the ground.
- Bike cover – It’s a good idea to keep your bike covered over the winter, even if it’s indoors to prevent dust or dirt getting onto and into nice clean areas and also sticking to any greased parts of the bike. Lots of people throw a cotton blanket over the top which is better than nothing, however, cotton will attract moisture and could cause problems. If your bike has to stay outside then it’s a bit more of a necessity to keep it covered. There are some relatively low-cost options available like the Sightling all-season cover that should do the job fine.
- Run your bike – If it’s possible, start your bike once a month and run it for about 15min to keep all gaskets, cylinders and moving parts lubricated. Remember to remove any exhaust and air inlet covers before you do this. Importantly, if you start it periodically make sure it gets fully up to temperature before switching off as there’s a lot of water vapour created from cold and a hot engine will dispel it. Run it for a minute or so and this vapour stays in the oil, the exhaust system etc which isn’t good. This is the emulsion you can see in the engine oil of a bike which only does short journeys.
- Summary – These are just a few pointers to help you keep your bike happy over the winter months, it’s not an exhaustive list of what to do. Some people will do more, like draining coolant or removing spark plugs but all the above will not take much time but could save you time and money when you come to start riding again in the spring.
This short video from Motorcyclist Magazine will cover most of the above so if you don’t like reading then sit back and watch.