hey guys my first winter is comming up with an04 f4iand i was just wondering what all needs to be done so it can sit in a heated garage for the next few months?

 

I would at a minimum keep a full tank for the winter. This isso that a mojority of the tank isn't exposed to air (oxygen). It takes quite a while for fuel to varnesh which is in the ball park of about12 months of just sitting idle. I also turn off the fuel to the bike and let the bike burn the last in the fuel lines and carbs.
You will also need to tend to the battery. I take my battery out of the bike and bring it inside the house becausemy bike isn't stored in a heated garage. You could probably get away with just disconnecting the battery from the bike since it'll be in a heated garage. I also put the battery on a trickle charger to maintain the battery. Every once in a while, I'll pull the bike out of the garage and start it up and let it idle to the point of where the fan kicks in. When I'm done with that, I just put it back in and take the battery out. That is the extent of winterizing I do for my bike.

 

not possible on the F4i. Besides, you don't want the fuel system to be dryed of gasoline... ever.

This is bad bad bad. don't ever do this.


Look, storing a bike is not rocket science. does your oil have at least 50% life left? If so, leave it. if not, change it. Fill the tank with fresh gasoline from a popular gas station. remove the battery and store in a cool place. if yoiu store it indoors, it will not start the bike in 6 months if you don't maintain it. however this is not that big a deal if you don't want to buy a $50 battery tender jr. as you can jump or bump start it in the spring. it might not start the bike, but it will have enough juice to initialize the systems so that you can bump it. cover the bike with a good motorcycle cover and buy yourself an ultrasonic rodent repellant and plug it in near the bike. this will prevent rats and mice from making a home in your bike while you're away. Now, here's the simplist but most important part of storing a motorcycle...

walk away and don't come back until spring. DO NOT START IT until you're ready to put some serious miles on it.

That's it. That's all you need to do. anything else that i didn't mention is not a requirement but rather something to make you feel better. wanna stabilize your fuel? Fine, go ahead, it's not going to make a difference come spring. Wash it? Hey, whatever gets your rocks off. Clean the Chain? It can wait, believe me. Put the tires up off the ground? Fine, whatever, again, not going to make a difference come spring. hope you bought lifts for another reason... seems like a silly thing to drop $100 on if that's all you're going to use them for...

 

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend starting the bike off and on. I did that when I had my rummage sale this summer about three times and the first time I took it out after that I wasmissin like a bitch until the temp came up to normal. Starting it thru the winter will probably just fowl your plugs since your not going to ride anywhere.

 

The only thing I would add is that, if you're not putting the bike up on stands for the winter, you probably want to roll it backward or forward a few inches every week or so to keep the tires from forming flat spots.

Don't start it unless you're going to ride it. The engine doesn't spin fast enough at idle to recharge the battery, so you'll be draining the charge unless you get out and put on a few miles at highway speed.

 

unless your tires were made in the 60's, that's never going to happen.

also, i don't know where you guys get your information from, but if the bike is running, the battery is charging.

 

A little FYI for ya knightslugger... the charging system doesn't kick in till 5k rpm. So, if the bike is idling... it isn't charging. This is straight out of a Honda manual.

 

It does send voltage to the battery under 5k RPM, its just at 5k RPM is where it achieves peak voltage.

I'm not sure if the battery requires peak voltage before it can begin charging, that could be the case.... in which case the statement "the bike doesnt charge the battery under 5k rpm" would be true.

 

When the bike is at an idle, the voltage is at what ever the battery is.If you were to check a car, the voltage would be some where in the relm of 13 + V when idling. The charging system on bikes don'tput out enough voltage to charge when idling. To get the voltage to increase to a voltage that would higher than the battery, the rpm'shave tohigher than an idle. Anyway, were wondering off the topic of winterizing. Sorry about that c_s_2005.

 

Can you show me the page number where it specifies the voltage to amperage supply @ 1250 rpm please? I've read it a few times too you see and i've not read that peice of information once. i have however read that the way honda prefers to TEST the charging system is done with the engine at 5000 RPM... do nat make the assumption that the testing value is not the chargeing value. becuase you'd be wrong. believe me, the bike will charge the battery at idle. if you like, i can arrange a little demonstration. I'll run my battery dead starting it. then i'll bump start it, and leave it running at idle for a period of 15 minutes. i will shut the bike down, and restart it using the battery.

if you're so confident that it will not charge the battery, then this is going to be easy money for you. $500 bux says i'm right, and you're dead wrong. but think carefully... i've run my battery down many times... and i don't have a charger.