Winter laying up procedure, what's yours ?

[weeksy]

Do you drain the fluids ? Remove the battery ? Up on paddock stands ? Tank full of fuel or empty ?

What's your process usually ?

I assume more people will be doing the winter lay up this year as working from home etc.

[cheb]

Drain the fuel tank, and that's about it, maybe a dust cover. The carb(s) are drained more frequently anyway. They are stored in a heated workshop so no worries there.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I ran the CBR until the carbs emptied and it cut out....'bout it really. I still use the bike on occasional sunny winter days anyway, so I just need to turn the fuel tap back on and thumb the starter for a little longer. Its a Honda: previously it sat for 3 years with no maintenance at all and still started on the button, even with 3 year old petrol in it.

The Triumphs are in bits anyway

[bevvo]

Mines usually parked in the garage ready to go in case we get a spell of mild weather. If not, I wheel it out, start it up and let it run for a bit to get it up to temp then park it again.

[Yorick]

I never did a thing back in the UK. And the bike always fired up in Spring.

[MingtheMerciless]

Good clean, optimate, wipe various non stoppy shiny bits with acf50. Run it up to temp on the paddock stand every couple of weeks to move the oil around. But it is ready to go should I need it for work if the trains aren't running (been rail replacement bus wanka once, never again).

[Yorick]

Motorcycle dealers will have bikes in the shop (or warehouse) over winter. Do they just leave them alone or do they have a procedure for each one. Serious question.

Over the country there are many huge car parks full of brand new cars and they sometimes sit there for months. Maybe that doesn't worry car owners.

[cheb]

My main concern is stale fuel, carbed 2Ts being a bit more sensitive to fueling than FIed 4Ts. For the effort and cost involved it's worth doing. The carbs are drained onto the ground outside and the petrol in the tank gets bunged into the garden fuel and thence into a Citroen something or other at the end of the season.

[Tricky]

On all my bikes , and particularly on the ones that have carbs or plastic tanks, I ensure that they have Esso Super fuel in them if I know they're not going to be used for a while, but if I'm honest, that's pretty much as far as my preps go.
Esso Super is one of the few that still doesn't contain ethanol, which as anyone who has carbed bikes will know is an absolute fecker- the water separates and creates untold problems in small passages in carbs, and that's not to mention its capability of rotting rubber seals and hoses, and swelling plastic and GF tanks

Some of my bikes don't get used for many months (or even years in one or two cases, embarrassingly...) and as long as I do that, they're always OK, just a matter of a quick check of the tyre pressures, and that nothing's started leaking etc when I want to ride them again and we're away

With steel tanked FI bikes, I don't worry so much and don't really do anything, just chuck a blanket over them.
Am not a believer in leaving bikes on an Optimate/trickle charger unless it's something that has an alarm or something else that produces a current drain- my old ZX10 trackbike used to go from at least the end of the summer to march/April usually every year without being used or fired up, and there was always something in the battery come spring and it never failed to start- the original (sealed Yuasa) battery lasted 13 years like that before I replaced it.

All of the above is for bikes in a nice dry and warm(ish) garage, would be a different matter if they were in a really cold or damp shed, or outside.

[cheb]

The garden tools and the like are either emptied at the end of the season or have Aspen fuel left in them

[cheb]

Batteries I leave to stand, both my bikes have kickstarts, and spawn's has a Motobatt.

[Rockburner]

With the BMWs I don't do much - the K12 needed to have the battery out because (I think) the OE alarm caused a bit of parastic drain, but the Rockster doesn't have that so it just parks up.

When I came back and started the K after 15 months of travelling it fired up like it had been put away yesterday, no problem at all and ran fine.

Last time I fired up the Rockster after a while, it hadn't been used for about 4 months and fired up perfectly, so this winter it'll go into the garage and be fine, should be ready to go at a moments notice. It might get a coating of ACF50.

With carbed bikes (the ZXR400 mainly), I'd drain the carbs and turn the fuel off, keep the battery indoors somewhere warm and they'd be fine the next year.

[Skub]

the original (sealed Yuasa) battery lasted 13 years like that before I replaced it.

My ten was 16 years old when I sold it,still on the original battery. They must have been quality in 2004!

Regarding the OP,

I don't think you need to go to the bother of draining fluids etc,when the bike is idle for 3 or 4 months. I might consider that if it was to sit for years.

Mine is cleaned,I use an Optimate every time I park it in the garage anyway,so barring any work I want to do,the bike is ready to roll any time I take a notion. Sometimes I use an Oxford bike cover I got free with something years ago.

I don't usually start the engine unless I'm going somewhere,but if I have to,I let it run until the fan come on.

[Dodgy69]

I'll give mine a run on the less cold days, then it's clean and more acf .salt is horrid stuff. The esso ethanal free fuel is a good idea, but I'm not sure how long cheap fuel takes to go off.

I don't start mine up unless I'm going a good 20 miles and get the oil up to temp.

[ogri]

Sits outside the flat, go for a spin at least once a week same as rest of year

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Chuck them in the back of the garage so that I can get at the winter project bikes is about it, all of my bikes are over 30 years old, all have carbs, all get run on Super Unleaded, usually Shell (because it's the nearest brand garage), the FZ750 will start no problems in the spring, the FZR400 will need a lot of turning over but will eventually start, the YPVS will be 3 kicks and it'll start up, the Kawasaki will have blocked it's pilot jets again thanks to the shite that someone lined the tank with dissolving in petrol, this winters job might be cutting the bottom out of the tank, cleaning it properly and getting it welded back together.

[cheb]

For info on the cheap fuel going off thing read up on what some hybrid cars need. If you don't put a certain amount of fuel in in one go or you haven't filled up in a while it'll only run on the IC engine until any remaining fuel is used up.

This may vary between manufacturers but that all do it to some extent AFAIK. Mostly it's come to be noticed because of lockdown and similar restrictions.

[Bigyin]

Cover all the exposed metal bits in ACF 50

Fit a set of bar muffs to the one that doesnt have heated grips

Put the liners back into my textiles

Carry on riding

[Supermofo]

I give me bike a good clean, a Mr Sheene, lube the chain well and cover it in the garage from dust. My garage is pretty damp so last year the seat had grown some mould over winter but no corrosion on the bike as it sees rain a couple of times a year and no salt at all, so I don't bother with ACF50 etc.

Petrol wise the 690 has a plastic tank so I fill with Esso super for the last few rides of the year (other super unleaded at others times but never normal petrol just cos the 690 is so economical anyway) and thats that. Having said that this year in attempting to dry up the inevitable small pool of water that collects around the inside of the filler cab after washing I managed to dribble a tiny bit of water into the tank Still can't be arsed to drain it and will hope for the best. Given the tank is plastic I tend to leave it with low-ish fuel level if poss so I can brim with fresh in spring.

Battery is taken out and lives under the stairs till spring. Give it a charge once a month or so.

Never seen the wisdom in running a bike up over winter unless riding as in my mind that's just more likely to build up condensation, although I should imagine it'll help with fuel issues by running it through.

Last year my bike was left Oct to end of lockdown nearly and it took a little while to fire but run fine once it did. Normally though it's being ridden by March sort of time so 4-5 months.

[Taipan]

I never did a thing back in the UK. And the bike always fired up in Spring.

Same here. My lawnmower is no different. Its generally about 90-100 days of not using it, or before we see the occasional good day that suits FWBs, so I've never seen the point of messing with fuels tbh.