Winter months and Battery Tender

[grapeman!]

Perhaps this topic has already been beaten to death already but what do you do for the winter months with your battery? My bike is in my unheated garage covered with little attention unless we get a indian summer that happens to fall on the weekend.

[TAG-Caver]

What I do when the bike is down due to salted roads is fire it up once a month and run it for a minute or two. The battery usually needs recharged before attempting to start. Like you, my garage is unheated. A battery tender would keep the battery from running down, but I still think it's a good idea to run the motor monthly to splash the oil around. You should also do an oil + filter change just before hibernation for corrosion protection. Yeah, winter sucks, but at least it really makes you appreciate the springtime!

Kevin

[daveyator]

My battery tenders are keeping my RV trailer batteries up to snuff so I'm forced to ride all fall and winter here in California. Sorry couldn't resist!

[celticus]

I put my battery tender on the bike when I return from a trip and leave it there for a couple of days. I plug it back up for a few days every other week and it seems to be holding up pretty well. The only battery problem my bike has had was due to some illadvised horn wiring I did.

Mark

[ka5ysy]

WInter? whats that????

[famousperson]

Last Winter my bike sat for three months without being ridden and no battery tender. Other times it has gone for weeks without a tender. I have never had a problem firing it up the first time. I'm going to try the same thing this Winter because I'm too cheap to get a tender. That may be false economy, though. We'll see what happens.

[ErikM]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll comment on this but FWIW running a bike for a few minutes when it's been sitting is a BAD thing for the motor. The simple reason is that the oil doesn't have a chance to come up to operating tempeture and burn off the condensation that has been created.. Here's a good article on winter storage http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/tech/w ... index.html

My bike also sits once the snow flies and what I do is make sure bike is parked with a full tank of fuel, treated with a fuel stabilizer (Stabil) bike on battery tender, extra air in tires to discourage flat spots, bike cleaned up and under a nice soft cover.

What I do when the bike is down due to salted roads is fire it up once a month and run it for a minute or two. The battery usually needs recharged before attempting to start. Like you, my garage is unheated. A battery tender would keep the battery from running down, but I still think it's a good idea to run the motor monthly to splash the oil around. You should also do an oil + filter change just before hibernation for corrosion protection. Yeah, winter sucks, but at least it really makes you appreciate the springtime!

Kevin

[danstl]

The tender and stabil are good ideas. One additional step I take is to put mine in a zip closed cover. You push or ride the bike onto it, put it on the center or side stand, put some Damp Rid or similar inside and zip the thing closed. That keeps the mice and other critters out. The bike stays clean, warmer and starts right up when you are ready for it.