A buddy of mines is going out of the country for a good year and maybe even close to 2. I agreed to house his F4i in my garage for the time being since my garage is more secure and in a much safer area than his apartment parking garage. He canceled the insurance and placed it under non op so I told him I don't want to ride his baby fearing that I might drop it or something might go wrong. So the bike is basically going to sit in my garage for atleast a good entire year.

How do I store a bike for that long? I'm going to take the battery out and put it on a tender/trickle charger. But what about the gas? I don't think topping if off and adding stabilizer for more than one year would be good for the fuel pump and possibly the injectors. Should I run the bike completely dry of fuel and drain the oil? I've been reading a ton of threads on forums but all seem too short in length, like a riding season/couple of months at most. How should I store a fuel injected bike for almost 2 years? Thanks

 

The best thing for that bike would be to ride it a few miles every few weeks.

If your not going to run it, run the gas out of it. Don't worry about rust, you're in California so it shouldn't be a problem. Get it all out of the fuel rail. Disconnect the battery. I wouldn't charge it, it will probably need replacing anyway. Drain all the fluids. Get the tires in the air if you can. The rubber may be too hard to use in 2 years anyway. Coat the chain in white grease and cover it tight. Roll the bike on a tarp and wrap it upwards to keep dirt and animals from getting up in there.

 

Thanks for the reply. The bike is on stands as of now and I'm going to drain the gas later today. However, how do I get rid of the fuel in the rail? Do I crank the engine over until it won't start? I've heard that doing so is bad for fuel pumps in cars. I hope I don't have to take the fuel rails apart.

 

Drain the tank and let it run the lines out of gas. If you want to get what's left out, take the inlet fuel line off and let it evaporate for a bit.