Winter Vs. Ducati

My Hyperstrada lives outside :( under a decent cover, but that has been enough to see a few bolts fur up, or get rusty looking - probably doesn't help that I don't clean it often.

Put the Pani in the garage and get a winter hack to destroy - an SV650 or something equally cheap and cheerful.
 
Treat the SV with ACF50 or change some of the mandatory bolts to stainless, they turn into french cheese... Just a pro tip, incase you get one.
 
IC3 said:
Treat the SV with ACF50 or change some of the mandatory bolts to stainless, they turn into french cheese... Just a pro tip, incase you get one.
Click to expand...

It's ok, I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole :D
 
For anyone who might be interested. I spoke to the Ducati dealer where I purchased my Panigale and they provided the following advice:

- No need for paddock stands, I even mentioned the potential for tyre flat spots and they advised this won't be a problem when resting the bike for the winter. Only occurs after much longer durations (like a year).
- I've taken delivery of an Optimate battery conditioner. They advised I plug this into a timer, so the battery only receives 7 hours of charge per week, else there's a risk the battery becomes 'dependent' on the charge and will lost its ability to stay charged.
- No need to fill the tank pre-storage, but the first thing I should do when ready to ride come the spring is take it to a pump and fill it up. As stated earlier, not sure if this correlates to the age of the bike or low mileage.
 
I think the 'filling of the tank' comes from aircraft with much bigger tanks where if they're not full sometimes you can get condensation forming inside the fuel tank, especially if it's exposed to very cold temperatures which leads to water in the fuel. Which is very bad. Aircraft are stored with full tanks for this reason. I can't imagine the size of a bike tank, which is maybe 20 litres (wild guess, no clue!) wouldn't have a dramatic effect. I fact I'd be more worried about the fuel going off if stored for six months. TBH I'd me tempted to empty it completely and then simply put 5 litres in it from a plastic container then brim it at the local garage.
 
Over winter storage as in a couple of months you really need to do nothing, wash any salt off make sure it's dry and park it in the garage job done.
 
It's 12C out there at the moment and the salt has washed away. I don't see why people lock away bikes that they pay good money for and for someone else to reap the benefit when you sell it. And like some else has said around here the weathers crap 90% of the time if I based it on that I'd give up.

I ride a bike because I enjoy riding it. I don't ride a bike to worry about wondering how nice it looks.
It's a bike ride it when you can, and you get the best performance with all that cold air.
 
You might get a fraction of a percentage increased performance from the engine, but in terms of overall performance a cold and constantly wet road isn't really going to deliver best performance.

Personally, I draw the line at the roads being salted, which hopefully also automatically means the roads won't be icy. Looking forward to decent ride this weekend now that work has finished - first proper one since going to Germany in October.
 
If you're a fair weather only biker then I can see the temptation to get out for the odd day in winter when it's dry and mild, but for someone like me who rides 180 miles a week, every week through winter, the last thing I'll be doing is going for a ride for fun. I get enough of the slippery, salt covered roads during the week!! :D

My Tuono is parked up and will be until the first decent weather in Spring, but most years here that's only from November until March. I've got my VFR for winter riding. There's a reason I have 2 bikes...


 
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