Winter Storage question

[Mike Hufnagel]

I've always had the privlage of keeping all my bikes in a heated garage for winter storage. However the collection has grown a bit & had to build an outside storage shed to accomadate the overflow. It is very secure doesn't leak a drop, but was wondering if there were any more precations I should take (light oil in the cylinder, etc), altough not exposed to the elements, expcept for the freezing cold?

74 Yamaha TY 250
75 Jackpiner w/ 250 eng.
80 Ktm Mc 400
82 KTM GS250II (import)
82 KTM 495
2) 84 Yam RZ350
98 KTM 300mxc
00 KTM Duke 2
06 KTM 950 Adv.
08 Suzuki DR70Z

[Speedy]

quote:Originally posted by Mike Hufnagel

I've always had the privlage of keeping all my bikes in a heated garage for winter storage. However the collection has grown a bit & had to build an outside storage shed to accomadate the overflow. It is very secure doesn't leak a drop, but was wondering if there were any more precations I should take (light oil in the cylinder, etc), altough not exposed to the elements, expcept for the freezing cold?

74 Yamaha TY 250
75 Jackpiner w/ 250 eng.
80 Ktm Mc 400
82 KTM GS250II (import)
82 KTM 495
2) 84 Yam RZ350
98 KTM 300mxc
00 KTM Duke 2
06 KTM 950 Adv.
08 Suzuki DR70Z

Problem is......you have to many....

Seriously...There is a difference in winterstorage between your 2 and 4 strokers.
But,all bikes OFF the ground.All batteries taken off the bikes,brought inside and put on a charging system all winter.
A teaspoon Motor or 2 stroke oil in the cylinder but more important to kick all motors over from time to time so the pistons get a difference resting place.
Put fresh trany or engine oil into the engines.
Spray all bikes with a nice coat of winter rising oil(PAM)
Watercooled bikes make sure the antifreeze is correct,or even better drain all water out of the systems.
I open all ignition covers and spray the internals with my wifes hairnet spray.(You can use it when your wife is at work).-:)))
MOST IMPORTANT thing in a kind of a gardenshet,make sure no mice can enter the building.
They build nests into any opening they can find,and eat all the rubbers from the bikes.
And,,,keep the bikes WITH SOUL(EUROS) a good distance away from the bikes WITHOUT SOULS ( JAPANESE).

[Gordon Brennan]

quote:And,,,keep the bikes WITH SOUL(EUROS) a good distance away from the bikes WITHOUT SOULS ( JAPANESE).

Now .... That's not very Christmassy. Mine are all nestled together. If they can't get along, they will go outside, under a tarp.

[dirtbike]

If kept kind of inside, yet cold I don't think you have to do a whole lot. But you need to drain all gas since it can turn bad and you don't want to run on it when spring comes anyway.

[joe novak]

Hello,  I have never had gas go bad during Winter months.  It is just too cold in Ohio for anything to evaporate.   Spring is the real problem when moisture condenses on every metal in the garage...  I open the windows and turn on a fan to circulate the air.  Joe

[tomale]

It is an interesting idea, not that I really have to worry too much, because my bikes are never put to bed.. however, I did store my MC 5 for a long time in a barn in eastern washington. We use to live over there and the winters were really cold and lots of snow.. I would like to say that I was careful to maintain the bike while it was in cold storage but the truth was in the plus 15 years that it was there I visited it several times and I did turn it over. but what i did to begin with putting the bike on blocks and added fresh oil to the trans, in fact I over filled it, pulled the sparkplug out and dumped a bunch of oil in, and then turned it over to make sure that everything was coated, I emptied the gas tank and carb..  and plugged carb. I did not need to plug the pipe because I had a spark arrestor on it. when I finally got around to bringing it home, I found that the bike did really well. I ended up flushing out everything and replacing the air cleaner but for the most part I had to do very little. I figure I got lucky because it is so dry over there... sort of changes barn fresh... still I have seen other bikes left under a tarp on the side of a house and after only a few months it was ruined...

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)74'
250 hare scrambler (project bike)

[dirtbike]

Joe Novak, The risk isn't very high I belive, but many people have reported that the quality of gas differ very much and you can get "bad gas" occationally. I think it's a good idea to drain it and store it in a steel petrol can instead.

And later on, mix it with fresh premix when spring comes.

[Mike Hufnagel]

Oh, definately drain the gas! I have used sta-bill in the past with no problems on 4 strokes but always drained the gas on my 2 strokes. (I wonder what would happen if I did?)
I may have some old Aquanet left over from the old "hair band" days!:) Pam? Never! I'll use some good quality olive oil (in case I'm out in the shed with some really good bread).

Lots of good ideas though! I must remind myself to check the quality of my coolant. (Maybe I should get a 55 gallons drum of desicant) As far as the Jap bikes go, I may have the 2 RZ's sold so that will leave me with 2 left.   Anybody want to buy their son, daughter, grandkids a drz70 for xmas? (really)

Thanks

74 Yamaha TY 250
75 Jackpiner w/ 250 eng.
80 Ktm Mc 400
82 KTM GS250II (import)
82 KTM 495
2) 84 Yam RZ350
98 KTM 300mxc
00 KTM Duke 2
06 KTM 950 Adv.
08 Suzuki DR70Z

[Roy Smithson]

I went to a local bike repair shop to start a bike for them that had been sitting for several years.

It was a easy project and after the bike was running the owner told me they were having trouble with bikes that had sta-bil in the tank for gasoline.

His supplier told him he needed to start using sta-bil for gasahol as most gas is a mix of a least 10% ethanol.

Souns resonable. Roy

[brian kirby]

A better way to ''pickle'' an engine for storage is to do it with fogging oil. Go to an outboard dealer and buy some fogging oil, they will know what you want. Remove whatever you have to so you can spray the fogging oil into the intake WHILE the engine is running. This coats the entire crank and top end with an even coat of the oil, it will smoke a lot both when you fog it and when you restart it again, but it is the BEST way to preserve a two stroke for storage.

Brian

[454MRW]

Or, you could just use Golden Spectro, which has a anti-rust and corrosion inhibitor built in. I have never had any storage problems using a 32:1 mixture, even with pump gas. Mike

Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S
75 Can Am 175 TNT & 77 250 Black Widow
1976-78 RM & 77-79 PE Suzuki's
74 CR250M 07 CR125R & CR150R

[Steve Minor]

For what it's worth....when the "Old Salts" here on the NC coast put a 2-stroke outboard up for the winter, they "fog" them (like Brian said) with WD40...

Steve Minor
Wilmington, NC