Winterizing My Motorcycles

It was warm this past weekend, so I hauled my motorcycles out of the garage to start the winterizing ritual. I normally wait until well after Thanksgiving, but it has already been in the single digits multiple times this year. I don’t think I’ll get anymore two-wheeled riding in for a while. The warm weather created a lot of cool fog.

My process is pretty simple. I fill up the gas tanks and then put in some marine-grade fuel stabilizer. I like the sta-bil brand. I let the motorcycles run for a while to get the stabilizer into the carbs and fuel injectors on the different bikes.

While they are running, I like to sweep the garage and make a space in the back for them. When I’m done cleaning, I bring them back in the garage and put them on the battery tender. The SV and the WR get to rest on stands which keep the tires off the ground. The Super9 has a center stand. The GZ250? It’s for sale. Buy it!

Here is a shot of all the bikes together. I don’t have many with all five motorcycles together.

I want to clean up my workspace in the garage this winter, so I can get some maintenance done. The WR250R could use some new tires, and I bought a three gallon gas tank to replace the stock two gallon at a swap meet in the spring. Please don’t remind me about the heated grips I have had sitting on the bench for over a year now. This winter might be the one! haha!

What winter motorcycle maintenance do you have planned?

Ghost Rider

I was cleaning off my camera today, and I found this gem from this past Halloween of a ghost riding an inflatable motorcycle. Awesome.

Motorcycle First Thursday–November 2014

Last week was motorcycle first thursday in Minneapolis. In October, there were only six bikes because it had rained earlier. November had over twenty bikes. A far cry from the thousand plus in the summer, but a decent number considering it was only in the mid forties.

As usual, I had a nice time catching up with my moto friends inside. We talked about motorcycles and travel, you know, all the important stuff. The ride home was chilly, but my heated gear kept me warm and toasty.