Hey everyone! Just wanted to check with you UK guys if you store your bikes for the winter? Seems to me that the UK dont get that full blown winter as we in Norway does. Do you ride all through the winter? If not, would be great to look at some of your winter storage solutions. I have my bike in my garage on stands. Nothing fancy, just an cold but dry garage.
I don't store during winter. but I did it for 18 months while I worked abroad. you don't say which part of norway you are the winter is much more severe up north compared to south and the west cost is generally wet (bergen and co) and possibly humid. How long are you storing the bike for as winter is much longer up north! If you have poser in the garage, then a maintenance charger is a must (even for the rest of the year). I have used few and prefer CTEK. Once fully charged, it just monitors the volts and does a 10 day top up cycles (unless the bat volts drop unexpectedly). I prefer this to continuous trickle charging. If not then disconnect the battery and charge it once a month. Wash & clean the bike and spray the engine and rubber parts (not the tyres, brakes, handle bar grips and levers obviously) with maintenance spray such as silicon spray (I always cover the O2 sensor tail as well as the air intake openings) Spray rust protecting lubricant on the chain Fill up you fuel tank and add fuel stabilizer and block the air intakes (to stop spiders and other undesirables nesting in the air box!) MAke sure your cooling antifreeze strength is ok for the winter temperatures. This should do for staters
On the subject of chargers in maintenance mode I have an Oxford Oximiser 3x which is a nice but of kit, however if the power is cut it doesn't automatically go back in to charge/maintenance mode. To get around this I am putting my old UPS in the garage to ensure it keeps working during power cuts, brown-outs and workmen who flip the master circuit breaker rather than just the appropriate switch/socket ones.
yes from what I have heard, this is not uncommon and when you are away for 18 months (as in my case), you don't want this to happen. my original accumen did not have this issue
Thanks for your tips! I live in Fredrikstad, and that is south-east in Norway. I guess the bike wont be sitting for very long. 4-5 months from now i guess. I have cleaned and vaxed the bike properly. I also use a rear stand to store it. I have never used a charger earlier and to be honest i have never had a problem. How do you make sure the antifreeze is proper? I cleaned the chain and lubed it with normal Motul Chain spray yesterday, will it rust then?
