As winter approaches I was wondering if anyone had any good practices for storing a bike.

What I usually do:
1. If I have a stand I put it up... if it's on a kick stand I try to rotate the tires once a month to avoid "dry rot" and flat spots
2. Start the bike once a month
3. Fill the gas tank to full to prevent the gas from breaking down as easily (there is stuff you can buy to prevent the gas from breaking down but running it once a month works better IMO)

Any other good practices out there?
I've heard of people with older bikes taking off the fairings and spraying the entire engine cavity with WD-40 to keep the rubber and seals moisturized? Any truth to this?

 

This is the first year I will have mine and this is what I plan on doing.

1- use Stabol or what ever it is called in a full tank of gas and start the engine when ever I miss how it sounds.
2- hook the battery to a battery tender to keep it fresh.

By starting the bike and running it at idle will wear the batter down because the bike does not charge the battery under 5000 RPM.

My suggetsion to you is to buy a battery tender and let the battery cycle all winter when you are not running the engine. All the performance parts web sites sell the Battery Tender or something like it. The Battery Tender specificly comes with a pig tail quick dis-connect plug that connects directly to the battery and allows you to run the plug end under the rear seat. That way all you have to do is remove the rear seat and connect the BT it.

 

how much is a battery tender?

 

It's about $50 or so.

 

i see it all over the forum that a bike doesnt charge till 5 grand..... has anyone but me hooked up a multi-meter to the bike while its running..??

at idle - 12.24 to 12.30

at 2k - 12.8 to 12.9

at 3k - 13.2 to 13.5

at 4k - 13.7 to 14

at 5k - 14 to 14.3

from my test my stator is chargeing my batter anything after idle. i dont understand why ppl keep saying 5k is the only time it charges

the difference in potential is obviously after idle

just my opinion

 

if you have a good, charged battery you will see 12v and above. If you have an aged battery and having problems with the bike, that's when the shop manuals tell you to do this test. Try measuring the rectifier and let us know what you get at different rpms. When I have time, I'll do the same. I believe I'm the one you are referring to about putting this out. Hell, I'm going out right now and see what mine shows at different rpms. I got the info from hear-say over the years, but I can give you the page number of the shop manual to look it up for the 600RR. Damn... it’s 37 degrees out right now, I’m going to freeze.

 

Ok, I'm back and almost warmed up. Here is the info from the shop manual with the page numbers:

Standard: Measured battery voltage (page 17-5) <
Measured charging voltage (page 17-9) < 15.5 V at
5,000 rpm


Here is my results with the meter:

13.04 @ rest
12.01 @ key on
11.01 @ starting (actual starting with button pressed)
14.06 @ idle 1500
14.11 @ 3000
14.33 @ 4000
14.30 @ 5000
14.28 @ 6000

See a trend; it's at the highest at 4000 rpm.

I'm going out of town tomorrow, so sometime this week. I'll test the rectifier if I can get to it.

I think all this test shows is that my bike is new and has a new battery. If it was three years old and had the original battery in it, then the test might show if my rectifier was compensating for the old battery at 4000-5000 rpm. But the book states to test your battery at charging voltage, 15.5 V @ 5000 rpm. Mine never showed that, so who knows.