Winter storage

[SimNC30]

I've recently come to accept that as the weather gets steadily worse over the next few months, I won't be using my NC30 - it's not essential for commuting etc and I won't miss riding in the cold. So my bike is sat in my (cold) garage for winter and I wanted to know if anyone else will be leaving their bikes tucked away until Spring and so they have any tips they want to share for decent winter storage?

So far I've thought:

- Keep it covered up

- Maintan the battery

- Move the bike every now and then so the same patch of tyre isn't in contact with the ground all the time

- Run the engine for 15 mins every few weeks

- Is it likely that unburnt fuel in the carbs will gunk up and cause problems when I start using properly again?

Basically - how's it best to keep a bike stored for a few months without it deteriorating and being problematic when the next gloriously sunny, cold spring day comes round?

Si

[Neosophist]

You won't have any fuel problems running it every few weeks.

Some tips.

- Fill the fuel tank upto the brim, this will remove air / space for condensation to happen.

-Run it every 2 - 3 weeks. Run it upto temp (let the fan kick in, cut off, then kick back in again) this will ensure the oil gets hot enough to burn off any condensation, feel free to vary the revs to help oil circulation (no more than 10,000 though without a load on the engine)

-Paddock stands will negate the need to keep moving it.

Only if your going into longer term storage >3 months, then i'd advise the above (fill tank with petrol, drain carbs by carb screws (turn petrol tap off), fill engine with oil to top, raise bike off floor.

remove battery away from bike.

But you don't need to do all that so you'll be fine :-)

Might want spray some WD40 etc over the bike if its very damp, just to stop the condensation rusting it up.