Episode Details

Official Website: https://www.lawabidingbiker.com

There are many misconceptions about what to do when winterizing your motorcycle and we are going to clear it up in this podcast episode & article. It's actually a very easy process and easy to do. (Some links/pictures are affiliate links. No additional cost to you, but if you click through and make a purchase we get a small commission. It helps support us)

Battery

When winterizing your motorcycle, you don't need to remove the battery if you don't want to as it's just extra work. Unless there is no power where you store your motorcycle. Whether the battery is on or off the bike, make sure you plug the battery into a reliable "float" charger/maintainer/tender that reads feedback voltage from the battery and tops it off as needed. Don't use a "trickle" charger that constantly feeds a small amount of current to the battery nonstop as that will overcharge the battery.

• Check out this article and video I did on Lead Acid vs. Lithium-Ion batteries
• Get a battery tender here

Don't start your engine up every now and then to "warm it up" after winterizing your motorcycle

This is a very common mistake and we already released podcast episode #130 going over the reasons not to do this in detail. A cold start is hard on the engine. Understand, that if you aren't running the engine under load up to full operating temperature, moisture condenses out of the air into places water doesn't belong.

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Unless you are planning on going for an actual decent ride to burn off moisture and charge that battery up, then you are better off just not starting it at all.

Further, when it's cold outside the gasoline is less likely to evaporate. Your motorcycle purposely runs "rich" and compensates for this initially by adding more gasoline to the air-vapor mixture. That's the problem, you're actually putting extra fuel into the combustion chamber to make it burn and some of it can get onto the cylinder walls.

Gasoline is a great solvent and it can actually wash the oil off the cylinder walls if you run your motor in those cold idle conditions for an extended period of time. Over time, that can have a detrimental effect on the lubrication and life of things like piston rings and cylinder liners. This can have a serious effect on the overall operating life of your motorcycle engine.

Don't drain your fuel tank

Leave the fuel tank full when winterizing your motorcycle and add a quality fuel stabilizer additive. If you empty the tank it's vulnerable to corrosion and dried out seals.

For carbureted bikes, be sure to turn the petcock off and drain the carb bowls.

• Get fuel stabilizer here

Check your antifreeze on water-cooled bikes

Just check the anti-freeze and make sure that it is not all water or that it has too high of a watery consistency. You can use a simple affordable Anti-Freeze Hydrometer to test what temps your anti-freeze is good for.

• Get an Anti-Freeze Hydrometer here

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