Go for a ride to warm up the engine and do an oil/filter change. (Acids develop in oil as it gets old and used.)

Drain the carb. After that, I usually squirt a little WD40 back up the drain and let it drain out.

Take out the sparkplug, put a little 2-stroke oil in the cylinder and turn the engine over a few times. Turn it to TDC (tod-dead-centre) and put the plug back in. (2-stroke oil is designed to burn off clean when you next fire it up.)

Change the old brake fluid (it has slowly been absorbing moisture).

Service the chain.

Drop tire pressures to about 25-26 lbs.

Check battery fluid and put it on a trickle charger.

Have a beer.

 

Well here is what I do. Change oil and filter, clean and lube chain, fill tank and ad fuel stabel, wash and wax and cover it up til spring.

 

You're right Tom I forgot about fuel/stabilizer.

 

This bike is fuel injected and doesnt have a carb, also has a maintenence free battary

 

Right again. I guess you can tell I don't have a CBR (yet).
Do you know if there is anything necessary to winterize/store fuel injection?

 

Keep tank full with fresh premium, apply trickle charger for several days every month and park it on a swatch of burber carpet. Don't want the tires sitting on cement for months on end. Cover him up in his bike cozy and wait impatiently for warmer weather. Sadly my garage is unheated. Only one bike stand for stable of three. Mine doesn't rank high enough to be off ground

 

So your bike is male eh? Mine's name is Freya. I'll run her in winter wearing very warm gear... weather permitting. Might buy a heated jacket. She'll go on a battery tenderizer if she sits too long.

 

"Winterizing," wait, it'll come back to me... Oh yeah, I remember now. LOL.

Sorry, couldn't help it. Grew up in Minnesota/Colorado so I did my time.

 

Fill the tank and stabilize fuel, wax, store/optimize battery, cover the bike, grab the snowboard and wish for a snow storm.

 

Ride

Wait for one nice day in thirty and go for a ride anyway? Maybe through a weather window and keep going south for a week.

 

I've been winterizing cycles for a while now, and these are the things I do every year -

Check the coolant to make sure it's safe for your storage temps. Change the coolant if it's more than a couple years old.

Adjust and lube the chain.

Change the brake fluid if it's anything but crystal clear.

Wash and wax.

Add fuel stabilizer and fill the tank to the top. Use Ethanol-free fuel if possible. Run or ride the cycle for at least 10 min to make sure the stabilizer gets to the carbs/injectors.

While it's still warm, change the oil and filter. For storage especially, a synthetic oil has advantages over conventional oil. After changing, start the cycle up and run it for about 10 seconds - no more. The fresh oil will coat the engine and protect it from corrosion during storage. Do not start it up at any time during storage to "warm it up"! You are just adding acids and moisture to your fresh oil!

I also inflate the tires to about 40 PSI to make sure they don't squat as the temps drop. I've never worried about being up on a stand or tires on the concrete. I haven't seen any problems because of it.

Remove the battery if you are storing in cold temps. Use a trickle charger regularly or a battery tender.

Block the intake and exhaust openings.

Cover it to keep dust off it.

I like to do all maintenance before storing so I can just install the battery and ride in spring.

Never had any problems with the "storage" fuel, but I usually add some fuel system cleaner to the first tank of fuel after running the storage fuel.

That's about all I can think of for now...

 

What I did was move to an island in the Pacific where I can ride year around. Yes, really.

 

BOOOOOO!

 

So it's getting to that point in the year when I'm thinking about winterizing the bike and putting her away for the winter. I've read the thread and a bunch of other articles on the inter-webs about what I should be doing. This will be my first year winterizing a bike so this is my to do list

- wash/ wax bike
- fill up tank with gas and sta-bil
- run bike with sta-bil to get everything into the fuel injectors
- pull spark plugs/ drop a little oil in the cylinder/ rotate engine a few times to coat
- clean and lube chain
- change oil and filter
- bring battery inside and run on trickle charger once a month
- inflate tire 5lbs over recommended pressure
- put bike on rear stand and carpet under the front wheel (going to be on concrete)
- cover bike

am I missing anything?

 

So it's getting to that point in the year when I'm thinking about winterizing the bike and putting her away for the winter. I've read the thread and a bunch of other articles on the inter-webs about what I should be doing. This will be my first year winterizing a bike so this is my to do list

- wash/ wax bike
- fill up tank with gas and sta-bil
- run bike with sta-bil to get everything into the fuel injectors
- pull spark plugs/ drop a little oil in the cylinder/ rotate engine a few times to coat
- clean and lube chain
- change oil and filter
- bring battery inside and run on trickle charger once a month
- inflate tire 5lbs over recommended pressure
- put bike on rear stand and carpet under the front wheel (going to be on concrete)
- cover bike

am I missing anything?

Blocking the intake and exhaust openings is always a good idea.

Do all maintenance so it's ready to ride when riding season rolls around.

I don't squirt oil into the cylinders, but if you did, you'd want to do it after you changed the oil. Synthetic oil is best for storage (and everything else too...) and it's best to start it after the oil change and run it for no more than about 10 seconds to circulate the clean oil.

DO NOT start it up again until you are ready to take it for a full ride.

 

I agree with most of the things in here.
-You don't need to put oil down the cylinder, it will not do anything. ATF would clean it out if you wanted but that's not necessary on these.
-I would not change the oil filter, just change the oil and then do a fresh oil change w/ filter in the spring.
-Check all fluids
-Purchase an automatic trickle charger (it turns itself off when not needed) and integrate it on the bike. Mine has the plug under the pillion seat and stores beside the tray with the strap quite nicely.
-Fuel stabilizer with a full tank of fuel.

One of the most common misconceptions is that you should start it up once a month, DON'T unless you go and ride for a good 20 minutes starting it up is only going to build up condensation in the exhaust, this will cause premature rusting or break down the catalytic converter.

 

I agree with most of the things in here.
-You don't need to put oil down the cylinder, it will not do anything. ATF would clean it out if you wanted but that's not necessary on these.
-I would not change the oil filter, just change the oil and then do a fresh oil change w/ filter in the spring.
-Check all fluids
-Purchase an automatic trickle charger (it turns itself off when not needed) and integrate it on the bike. Mine has the plug under the pillion seat and stores beside the tray with the strap quite nicely.
-Fuel stabilizer with a full tank of fuel.

One of the most common misconceptions is that you should start it up once a month, DON'T unless you go and ride for a good 20 minutes starting it up is only going to build up condensation in the exhaust, this will cause premature rusting or break down the catalytic converter.

Couple things I don't agree with.

If you don't change the filter you don't remove all (or at least as much as you can) of the dirty oil. It's not that expensive - change it every time!

No need to change the oil again in spring if you have used synthetic oil and not run it during storage.

The biggest issue caused by running for short periods is the production of moisture, but not in the exhaust, in the oil. Each start-up adds moisture, acids, and unburned fuel to the oil.

Running at operating temp for an extended period of time, and limiting the time it takes to warm-up (riding gently to warm-up, not idling), will help limit and reduce most of those contaminants.

 

any benefit to only doing an oil change and no filter?

 

I say that just for storage. Mainly because I don't believe in using the same oil you stored the bike with for 4-6 months. I strongly stick to doing oil changes every 3000 miles and 3 months. I'm saying change the oil, store it, then do an oil AND filter change in the spring. It's just my opinion on it, yes a filter is cheap but I don't see the point for of doing it if the bike isn't even going to be running.

Couple things I don't agree with.

If you don't change the filter you don't remove all (or at least as much as you can) of the dirty oil. It's not that expensive - change it every time!

No need to change the oil again in spring if you have used synthetic oil and not run it during storage.

The biggest issue caused by running for short periods is the production of moisture, but not in the exhaust, in the oil. Each start-up adds moisture, acids, and unburned fuel to the oil.

Running at operating temp for an extended period of time, and limiting the time it takes to warm-up (riding gently to warm-up, not idling), will help limit and reduce most of those contaminants.

We are not supposed to use synthetic in these, you can (and I probably will at some point) but I'm just saying that's not what they use.

Have you ever looked at a cold start up in colder weather? That's a HELL of a lot of moisture coming out the exhaust. The amount in the oil would be negligible in comparison. The oil problem happens when someone drives a car a short distance to work every day but never hits operating temperature. The daily part being key in this case as it takes a little time to build up in the crank case but the exhaust there is a larger quantity that does get trapped and even 1 start up and idle for 5 minutes then leaving it sit there for 2 months could really be enough to see the beginning of some rust in the exhaust. I know I've seen pictures of someone in Thailand with a rusty exhaust on one.

I say this from first hand experience. Here in Indiana the shop I work at replaces rusted off exhausts about every few weeks. (no not the same car) The rust from the inside out because we live in a small town and people don't commute far.

 

Owner's Manual Page 119 or thereabouts.

 

Looked up storing the the MC in the owners manual and for the US it says to refer to the Honda Winter Storage Guide for long term storage. Interesting Honda recommends for long term storage to drain the coolant and do another oil change in the spring, even if you changed the oil before storage.

 

REVIVE!! lol

So should I change the oil again come spring if i already changed it for storage? I plan to use conventional oil til its has 3500 miles on it then syn. Now at 1300 mi.

 

No need whatsoever; your oil doesn't deteriorate unless it's being used. Even if it had some condensation from being run sometime during the winter (not a good idea, but some people do start their motorcycles during the storage period) it would be burned off as soon as the engine reached operating temperature.

 

For conventional oil I would change it again in the spring. If you stored it with full synthetic it should be fine again in the spring.

 

Why would you do that? There is NO reason to change the oil until it has been run to the mileage recommended by Honda . . . .

 

Anybody have any recommendations for fuel stabilizers for this bike?

 

Sta-bil is what I've used; others have used Sea Foam and reported it works well . . . .

 

I've just given my bike a coating of ACF-50 today http://www.acf-50.co.uk/motorcycle.htm in preparation for winter. I ride right through winter, apart from when the roads are too icy to ride on. Over here, that can be anything from 1 day to 2 or 3 weeks. Major routes are usually well gritted, and when it's iffy, I stick to Motorways, because there's hardly any leaning into corners, and they're gritted better than smaller roads. It was nice to ride to work on dry roads this morning, the first time in a couple of weeks.

 

Winter is getting here and I am not planing on riding in cold. However I have only 280 miles on my 250 and don't know if it is worth for me to do an oil change yet. What do you guys suggest?

 

CHANGE it! I'm in about the same situation, and tha's what I plan to do pretty soon.

You'll want fresh unused oil in the sump when you store that engine, so change the oil and leave the engine unstarted until spring comes along and you can ride long enough to get everything back up to operating temperature. Your motorcycle will thank you . . . .