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Post by stevep on Dec 15, 2023 13:33:59 GMT -5
Fill the tank, drain the float bowl, remove the battery, a good spray with furniture wax (or lemon pledge if your name's GCrank) and on with the covers, then pray it doesn't wet sump! Along with some draught exclusion along the edge of the garage door, that's mine.
What's yours? (Smugness allowed if you live somewhere you can ride all year.....Neal.)
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Post by gotsron on Dec 16, 2023 12:49:31 GMT -5
I'm not very organized about it Steve, i will begin to keep the tank full of non-ethanol gasoline when the weather begins to close in. Once the snow comes to stay I'll drain the float bowl, usually by running it dry. I'll check the battery charge at intervals, usually by flipping on the ignition and lights, and charging the battery if the light dim when I hit the horn button. I will start the SR several times during the winter and run it long enough to get the cylinder head warm to the touch, and then shut the fuel off and run the carb dry again, while dreaming of riding weather the whole time.
I have a barn which stays dry and has a concrete floor where I keep the bikes in winter if I don't have plans for some
"improvement" project over the season. Otherwise they spend the winter in my shop or my laundry room (no fuel allowed in the house)
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Post by gcrank1 on Dec 16, 2023 17:15:58 GMT -5
I liked to run Non-eth gas as eth-blend plugs things up in storage! The mc's and small engine stuff I have starts and runs well after 4+ months of lay-up. The gas in the tank keeps the condensation down in there but I prefer to pop the line and drain the gas after lay-up and dump into the car; fresh into the mc and good to go. If left with eth-blend I figure 50% will need the carb pulled; arggg. I used to run the bikes in winter if the weather was good but concluded it makes no sense. It has been shown that cold starts on a piston driven aircraft engine cause more wear than many hours of running and puts more stress on the starting system. Also condensation develops because the whole thing doesnt get truly up to operating temp. So I quit running them decades ago. I store the SR (yep, still have the '81 cafe racer) up on compression. It has never wet sumped on me like that, even in the lonnggg 3+year unexpected lay-up, so Im not going to change. I pump the tires up to about 60psi. Many tend to bleed down over time and a slow leaker that squishes the sidewalls or goes flat can develop a carcass weak spot. I bought a used bike that had a wop-wop-wop front tire until it got warmed up; squeezed a couple thou more out of it before changing. If you up the pressure be sure to let it off come season. Changing the oil in the end of season makes sense because all the innards are happy in clean'ish oil. Batteries! Lead acid batteries LIKE to be kept Fully Charged. Repeat that. Fwiw, I got something like 12 years out of my Suz TU250x oem battery. When not being used regularly and during lay-up it was on a Battery Tender on a simple cheap timer. I set the cycles for 6hrs on/6 off, 24/7. Anything less than a Full Charge causes sulfation (the killer of bats), the deeper the discharge the worse it is. Keep in mind that a '12v' battery is nominal voltage, they are more like a 12.8v. By the time you battery reaches 12v it is pretty much dead. My timer c/w trickle charger was the bee's knees. I was never happy with the idea of months on end of 24/7, the cycling kept the bat charged and let the bat and charger rest in between. Then there was that Lemon Pledge  Worked great and somehow just slipped away..... A good wash, and if up to it a fluff and buff, then drape a breathable cover over (like a sheet) to avoid condensation and it will still be clean come season. Where the Lemon Pledge was great was if I had not done the wash/fluff & buff; the LP kinda 'floated' the grime off during lay-up. A wipe down and rinse come season and it was good to go. |
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Post by stevep on Dec 17, 2023 12:01:23 GMT -5
I read up on the battery charge/discharge cycle process last year. Time well spent understanding the basics. Then downloaded and printed a table that shows the at rest voltage Vs state of charge as a percentage. Now I know what I'm dealing with when I take a voltage reading and make sure to keep the thing topped up and indoors if the bikes not in use for any length of time. The data sheets that came with the Motobatt are useful too, showing discharge over time for different ambient temperatures. Attachments:
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Post by andy on Dec 18, 2023 13:50:33 GMT -5
I don't go overboard.Full tank non ethanol fuel [E5]. Run the motor for 5-10 mins max on tickover once every 2 weeks [or very close]. Never really pay the battery any attention as its never been a problem. Hopefully my wet sumping problems are now sorted or at least improved ! Bike is kept in the garage under an old double bed quilt/blanket. Occasionally go for a shortish runout during a mild/dry spell so I want to jump straight on the bike if the mood and weather is good.
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Post by stevep on Dec 18, 2023 14:14:13 GMT -5
All the time there's no road salt, I'll keep an eye out for a decent day for a 20 mile run. Once that salt goes down I wait for a downpour to shift it before venturing out. The joy of biking in the UK! Don't get me started on potholes. They can host Olympic swimming in some of them down my way.
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Worked great and somehow just slipped away..... A good wash, and if up to it a fluff and buff, then drape a breathable cover over (like a sheet) to avoid condensation and it will still be clean come season. Where the Lemon Pledge was great was if I had not done the wash/fluff & buff; the LP kinda 'floated' the grime off during lay-up. A wipe down and rinse come season and it was good to go.
