Laying a bike up for 6-12 months

Luke

Luke

Luke

Soldato
Joined
19 Jul 2005
Posts
7,069
Location
S. Yorkshire
I've got two bikes and for financial reasons (not because I'm a wuss and winter is coming) I need to lay them up. One will be for about 6 months, one for nearly a year. They have both been SORN'ed.
How should I best prepare them for this, and what should I be doing in order to make sure that when I come to get them back on the road they aren't siezed up.

I've got a trickle charger attached to one, and I may get another for the 2nd bike.

I know I need to give them a damn good clean before storing them.

Any other tips?

If it makes a difference it's a ZZR1100 and an Africa Twin.

Cheers
 
Have a quick read of this
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/maintenance/motorcyclewinterstorage.htm

Don't drain the oil, your internals will rust lol, I left the clutch cover off a bike for a week, note it was still covered from the weather, just no oil in it and it started to get surface rust! just make sure you change the oil when you come to ride it again, it is also a good idea to start it up for 15 mins every couple of months if you can.
 
Done the same to mine end of last month tax ran out, sorn'd it.

It's locked away in a storage room covered and locked with an optimate hooked up. If it was left outside I'd have given it a liberal spray over with wd40 or equivalent.

If I was to use it through winter I'd have to give it a spring overhaul anyway, so come March/April I'll drag it out, change oil and filter and brake fluid as routine.

I guess it depends on how anal you are with bikes. Some go mad, some don't bother, either way they will be ridden the following year! They're not going to fall to bits over a few months :)
 
Make sure it's dry when stored. Give it a really good clean, loob chain, spray a shed load of WD40 onto a cloth and wipe it over any metal parts that maybe subject to corrosion, I've heard people mention putting some kind of plug in the exhaust too. Try to keep the tyres off the ground else they may rot. Try to give the brakes a good clean, I mean the pistons else they could seize, get some brake cleaner and use some old toothbrushes.

It's only a year, if they're cleaned, loobed and stored in a warm dry place it really isnt going to be a major problem.
 
All you need really is a couple of really strong metal square stools/bike stands to lift both wheels off the ground, Dis connect the battery & clean teh bike a few times with FS365.
On return though drain all the fuel & put fresh in Before starting it, Same with the Oil & make sure you prime all the oil pipes prior to starting. Priming can be done with the relevant oil & one of those cake decorating squirter thingys.
 
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