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We wanted to share this email that we received from John with our followers. Yes we are motorcycle buyers but we love hearing from people who need help and advice with motorcycling in general. We love to here from you all. We appreciate all our followers and fellow bikers. We are bikers first..bike buyers second.
Q. Hello, John here from Wimbledon. I am the proud owner of a 2014 Ducati Panigale. I use my bike mainly in spring and summer and to be honest have no plans to ride it over winter. Its going to be off the road for a good few months before I use it again. It is garaged and has a battery charger fitted.
I have read so many different things online in relation to storing a bike up for winter I wanted to ask your advice if I can please. Can I cause any harm/damage if I start my bike every few weeks and let it run until it reaches the optimum running temperature? Thank for your time and I am hoping you reply. John
A. Hello John, if you are going to sit your bike up for the winter then its generally best to store it for the whole time, rather than start and run it every few weeks. You can leave the battery connected, always best to do this if you have an alarm fitted. You can always leave a trickle charger connected and we recommend fitting a lead to the battery so you can just plug one in without removing the whole battery.
We advise cleaning your bike before storing it and make sure its completely dry we leave a layer of wax on our bikes to protect the body work, always stored in a dry location, otherwise condensation can form and cause corrosion.
Your last ride before storing your bike up should be long enough that the bike gets hot and this will make sure that any moisture is evaporated and internal condensation doesn't appear. Try and stick some cloths up the exhaust exits to stop damp air getting in there oh and also rodents!!!
Fill the petrol tank right up to the top to keep moisture out and this will also ensure that there is hardly any air in the tank and also to stop it evaporating. If your bike has carbs, drain them too, as the petrol in there will definitely evaporate and could gum up causing you to have to have the carbs stripped and cleaned. Fuel Injection systems don’t suffer like this.
It’s also good practice to change the oil before your last ride. You don't want to store your pride and joy being stored with a bunch of dirty old oil that's going to sit in there all winter long. A little oil poured down the spark plug holes will help keep the bores from rusting also.
Ideally its best to keep the bike off the ground i.e. both wheels off the ground during storage using paddock stands. If you can’t do that then rotate the wheels every couple of weeks to spread the load, and make sure you don't let the tyres go flat or they could go out of shape and get flat spots (lose their round shape) A decent cover to keep the dust off and let the air circulate is best too (don't use a plastic sheet).
We hope this helps.
Martin @ anybikebought.com