South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

Well for me that’s it now..... the temprature is below 10 deg in the days and dropping to 0 ish at night. There is now a regular level of rain about and I am seeing road gritters on the motorways and trunk roads..... for me the fair weather sports bike rider that’s it now until March / April 2019.

So started to prep the bike for the winter and wanted to share what I do.
I am sure others will wonder why but hopefully this will help somebody.

To start give the bike a good wash and get all the road grim off (so grim does not damage the bike in the next months)
Then a decent Shammy off to get rid of all the water.
Then I use a bike protector spray to make sure the last of that water has gone.( making sure nothing is going to rust)

Next it’s sort the chain..... find a rag and grab the wd40
Spray the rag with WD40 and this gets rid of all the crap off the chain
Then spray the change with chain cleaner to get this bits you could not get to with the rag and to get rid of the WD40, then a good over the top spray of chain oil to make sure it’s not going to rust for the coming 6 months.

Then bike to disappear into the garage.

Then time to protect the tyres. Years back I left the bike on the floor and the tyres went hard and were total crap by the new year. Soooooo
1. Get the bike off the floor on paddock stands
2. Next drop the tyre pressures down to about 20 so the rubber is not under pressure without being used.
3. Find your oldest and crap tyre warmers (or the worst you can find on eBay) and put them on the tyres and leave them there. Don’t plug them in. Just give your tyres a little body warmer

Next plug the bike into a battery optimiser of some sort to keep the battery charged and fresh for next year.
Apply any and all chains and padlocks to keep the bike safe.

Then you can l leave it for the next month..... and then the 1st of every month do the same routine.

1. Chains and padlocks off
2. Tyre warmers off
3. Bounce the front forks just so you get movement
4. Spin the front wheel so the brakes do not stick to the disk
5. Pump the brakes to make sure the brakes work and release
6. Bounce the rear shock so you get it moving
7. Start the engine and allow the bike to warm up to normal running temperature
8. Whilst still on the paddock stand then at no more then about 3000 revs go up through the gears from 1 to 6 then back down again to neutral (helping to keep inner workings lubed whilst not riding)
9. Put your locks and tyre warmers back on
10. Repeated in a months time.

March is then servicing time. Buy your oil and filters and get it serviced ready for the 1st rides end of March beginning of April.

Hope this is helpful to somebody. If not hey hum.... just what I do.

Bloody hell.

I've serviced both mine and am gonna make a point of riding them all through the dark months as i've not been able to for the Last 6 weeks.

Winter days can be good too.

billinom8s wrote: ↑Nov 3rd, '18, 23:55 Bloody hell.

I've serviced both mine and am gonna make a point of riding them all through the dark months as i've not been able to for the Last 6 weeks.

Winter days can be good too.

Wot he said - except for the servicing bit; I do that when funds & time permit.

That is a lot of work... I can't say I've noticed any effects on a tyre from leaving the bike sat in the garage for 5 months.

Give it a good clean or the fly splats will turned mouldy.
Maybe give the engine area a blast down with some protective spray (FS365 or WD40)
Add a little more air to the tyres
Make sure chain is lubed
Once a month I connect the Optimate to top off the battery
..and that is it.

No starting the engine just for the fun of it. IMHO it's doing more harm than good, lots of engines don't like extended idling, and a few blips of the throttle is no substitute for a 20 min ride. What it will do though is advertise to the world that there is a nice bike stored in that garage.

Recently, due to having a garage that suffers heavily from condensation, I have taken to storing my roadies inside a makeshift tent with a 20W lamp under the sump of each. There can be condensation literally dripping off my trail bike but my roadies are bone dry in their tent.

690 is cleaned and parked up. Will stick it on the optimate from time to time but that will be it. 950 ready for winter duties. Will wash it occasionally, lube the chain occasionally and stick it on the optimate occasionally. Seems to have worked ok like that for the last 10 years.

My baby tucked away from the horrible wind, rain and cold.

She needs a duvet mate

julesh wrote: ↑Nov 4th, '18, 16:46 She needs a duvet mate

Hummmm might just add one

The 595 is sorn and tucked away,the Xr is going to be ridden through the winter elements.

I'd suggest putting a dust sheet over.

I've seen a few bike manuals that say to take the plugs out and put a little oil in each cylinder over the winter thought I've never done that.