It's that sad time of year where most of us get snow or the weather is just to cold to ride.

So what kind of maintenance do you do to prepare the bike to sit until spring.

 

Change/flush the oil and coolant systems before parking it.
The main wear from old fluids is acid build-up created from the combustion process.
Don't want that sitting in the bottom of the crank doing a slow corrosion.

Add fuel stabilizer, run the bike long enough to get it into the entire fuel-path.
Top off the tank. If you have stands, it can help to support the weight off of the tires
(to avoid flat-spots). Other choice is re-position the tires about once a month,
till the new season. Top off the air-pressure.

Adjust/lube all of the various adjustable components (cables, chain, etc).
This is mainly so you won't blow it off on that first nice day at the start of next season. lol

If you don't have a battery tender/conditioner, pull the battery and bring it into a controlled temp environment.

That's the basics, although, I'm sure, there are other tweaks folks might bring to the table.

Ern

 

After doing those things, is it ok to fire the bike up once a month or so? You know, warm it up to operating temps for 5 minutes or so and then shut it down.

 

I have been told in the past that just starting up and then a few mins later shutting it off does it no good at all and in fact can do harm. If you were to get a nice dry but cold day then i would just go for an hours ride somewhere, i think this would be the best route.

 

Cool. If there's an abnormally fair weathered day this fall/winter, I will put a day permit on and take her for a rip :-D Otherwise, I will just let her sleep.