Winterizing my bike is inevitable and my riding season is March to November. Its possible to get a few days riding in during those cold months but for the most part the bikes set in the garage plugged into a wall. For better or worse I have experience winterizing my bikes. Here is what you should consider if you are going to winterize your motorcycle.
- Battery Tender
- Fuel Treatment
- Full Fuel Tank
- Critters
- Tires
“Fuel Treatment”
There are essentially two different Fuel Treatments on the market STA-BIL and Star Tron. I used STA-BIL for years without issue but in recent years have moved to Star Tron. I initially found out about Star Tron from a fire fighter friend that used Star Tron because its the only treatment that was warrantied for the fire departments Honda generators. However the reason I prefer it is the convenient “Single Dose” bottles. The Single Dose bottles are exactly 1 once and treat 3-6 gallons of gasoline, which is the typical size of most motorcycle gas tanks. No measuring and easy to transport makes winterizing very simple just top off the tank with the highest octane premium gas you can find and poor in 1 bottle. It is important that the fuel stabilize not just be in the tank but also ran through the fuel injection system so ride the bike a few miles and your should be fine. Here is an Amazon link to the product Star Tron
“Full Fuel Tank”
A full tank is a happy tank, so keep the tank full during winter months. A more scientific answer would be condensation where gas turns into a liquid (opposite of evaporation). So in the winter months it gets cold and your bikes gas tank cools down to the Dew Point and you can get water in your gas. The bigger the air space and the lower the fuel lever the higher the ratio of water to gas. You want Less Air and More Fuel to keep your fuel system healthy.
Here is an illustration of a fuel tank, the yellow represents fuel, the white represents dry air space and the blue dots represent water vapor in the air space.
In the above illustration you can see where condensation could be an issue because of the water vapor ratio to fuel ratio.
The best preventative action you can take is to fill your tank as full as possible with fuel that has been treated. You might want to check your fuel level and top off every couple of months.
I also add fuel treatment to a 5 gallon gas can that I use to top the bike off from those few rides I am able to sneak in during the winter.
“Critters”
For some reason vermin will crawl into your motorcycle and eat the wires. Depending on the conditions of your bikes storage you may want to set out some traps or poison just to ensure that no mice eat your wires.
“Tires”
Watch the tire pressure and use a center stand. Since this article is just about short term winter storage you should have no issues with tires (but I go through a couple of sets of tires a year).
