Winter Motorcycle Care
Each and every year people open up their garages and sheds to find that their motorcycle as incurred significant damage over the winter months due to insufficient care during winter. Most of these people having assumed that simply leaving their bikes somewhere with a roof is enough to completely protect it. Fortunately however, proper bike care can make these issues a thing of the past, and can keep your bike in perfect working order for many winters to come.
One of the most important things to make sure that you do first of all is to cover your bike with a well fitting cover. This not only helps to keep it more dry and safe from the elements, but also helps to stop fabric and leather from rotting, and rubber and plastic from warping. All too many sheds and garages tend to be cold and leaky, meaning a cover is essential in case of this happening.
Before you put your bike away for the winter, you should always make sure that it is clean and that any pieces of dirt and grime are removed. During winter, then the temperatures drop, the pieces of dirt and grime often freeze, which can sometimes make them expand and cause damage to parts of the engine. Also when pieces that have become frozen fall off, they can sometimes damage paintwork, particularly on older bikes. When the paintwork becomes damaged, then the metal underneath is exposed to damage from rust and oxidation.
If you tend to encounter particularly long winters where you are, then getting the bike out every now and then during winter, and starting it up is a good idea. This makes sure that the fuel left in the tank is kept in a good consistency, and also allows you to check for any other damage that might otherwise have gone unnoticed until the spring.
Alternatively, adding stabilizer to your fuel tank as winter is setting in is another way to prevent fuel separation. Although this tends to be expensive, particularly in winter, you can get it a little cheaper in perpetually cold areas all year round. If stabilizer isn't readily available, then draining all the fuel from your engine is another option that many people tend to also use.
After this stage is completed, then treating all the exposed metal areas with a protective oil is another good idea. This helps to keep moisture from collecting on the bike, and also stops damage from oxidation and corrosion. This is particularly important if it gets very cold where you live, because often serious damage can occur even if the bike is otherwise well kept and covered.
The first thing to do when preparing your bike for its winter hibernation is to choose an appropriate storage place. Most people tend to use either a garage or a garden shed made from either metal or wood. Generally speaking garages tend to be more weather proof then sheds, and less liable to become very cold as well. Metal sheds are secure, however they often tend to collect moisture, which usually finds its way inside at some point, and from there can damage your bike.
Increasingly many motorcycle owners are seeking different places to keep their bike that will better protect them during the winter months. Many people are now keeping their bikes in cellars, which tends to be a mixed bag when it comes to preservation. On the one hand, cellars are warmer than the outside, although many again tend to have problems with damp and leakage. Also some cellars don't have doors large enough to get your bike in and out of.
An increasingly available and popular option is to use indoor self storage facilities to house your bike. These are not only secure and dry, but are also warm enough to prevent any damage at all. The only drawback with this option is that self storage facilities cost money every month to rent out, however this is typically not that much compared to repair costs from weather damage.
There are now also specialized facilities designed for bike storage during the winter, although they aren't yet widespread. Also not all self storage places have facilities available big enough for bikes, although most tend to be, so checking before pay for anything is a good idea.
