How To Store Your Motorcycle During The Winter

If you live in a part of the world where winter turns the roads to ice and snow falls on a regular basis, it’s probably a good idea to put your bike away for the winter season. That said, if you plan to store your motorcycle during the winter months, you need to take some extra precautions so that your bike starts right up once spring eventually rolls around. This article details the steps you should take when preparing your motorcycle for several months of wintertime storage.

Clean Your Motorcycle

It may seem obvious, but the first (and most important) step is to thoroughly clean your motorcycle. If you leave any dirt, mud or grime on your bike during the winter, it will do nothing but corrode your paint and eat away at the exterior or your bike. Before putting your bike in storage, be sure to give your motorcycle a total cleaning… and make sure it’s completely dry before putting the bike away for the winter.

Change Your Oil

When a motorcycle sits unused for a long period of time, the stagnant motor oil can become acidic and eat away at your engine’s inner workings. This isn’t good! To prevent this from happening, you should change your motor oil before putting the bike in storage and change the oil once again as soon as you pull your motorcycle out of storage in the spring.

Fill Your Gas Tank & Add Stabilizer

Moisture is bad for metal, and since your motorcycle’s gas tank is made out of metal, you want to do everything you can to protect the tank during the cold winter months. There are two different ways to do this. The more difficult way is to completely drain and dry out your gas tank. The easier way, however, is to simply fill your gas tank all the way up and then add some kind of fuel stabilizer to the gas. Filling up your gas tank prevents moisture from creeping in to the tank and doing damage  during the winter months… and fuel stabilizer keeps your gasoline from turning into sludge over the winter – something that is very important if you want to avoid expensive repair costs when spring arrives.

Remove Your Battery

During the winter, you shouldn’t keep the battery connected to your motorcycle. Letting the battery sit on your bike for months on end will do nothing but corrode your motorcycle at an accelerated pace. After removing the battery from your bike, check the fluid level in your battery and clean any corrosion from the posts. If your bike has the right connections, you may be able to plug a trickle charger in to your bike without removing the battery at all.

Lube Everything On Your Bike

Before you put your motorcycle in storage for the season, lube everything that needs lubing. If your bike has a chain drive, clean and lube the chain. Be sure to lube your throttle and clutch cables. And if you want to play it extra safe, lube all of your motorcycle’s pivot points, such as its shifter, kick stand and foot pegs.

Consider Using Anti-Freeze

If you are storing your motorcycle in a location where conditions are near or below freezing, you may want to consider adding anti-freeze to your bike’s systems. Anti-freeze will help to do exactly what its name implies – prevent any of the liquids on your motorcycle from completely freezing up.

Protect Your Motorcycle From Insects & Rodents

You also need to consider the possibility that while your bike in in storage, it may become the home for countless insects, rodents and pests. Do what you can to plug up any and all holes in your motorcycle so as to prevent these creates from making a home inside your bike or eating away at any exposed cables. Be sure to unplug these various holes before attempting to drive your motorcycle in the spring.

Elevate Your Bike If Possible

Depending on where you plan to store your motorcycle during the cold winter months, you should do what you can to elevate your motorcycle up off the ground. When storing your bike for an extended period of time, water on the ground can eat away at and ruin your tires. And the pure weight of your bike alone, can sometimes make the wheels and tires completely uneven and wobbly.

Protect Your Motorcycle With A Cover

Finally, after putting your motorcycle in storage and completing each of the various steps mentioned above, place a protective cover over the top of your bike. The cover should be big enough to cover all of the exposed parts of the motorcycle except for the very bottom portion of the wheels. This will allow the motorcycle to “breathe” while in storage. The thin cover may not seem to be doing all that much, but in reality, even a motorcycle that is stored outside in the winter with nothing but a protective cover over it can be ready to ride with little to no work being done to it once the spring arrives.

So there it is! 9 steps you should take when preparing your motorcycle for winter storage.

What other tips or pieces of advice do you have when storing your motorcycle during the cold winter months?

Photo by Johan V.