Don’t just park it
Prepare your bike for hibernation and it’ll be all good come Spring
1 A bath before bed
Your bike must be clean and dry in order to prevent corrosion. Wash with a dedicated motorcycle cleaner, using a brush to get behind exhaust downpipes and into awkward places, then rinse. With the bike cleaned and rinsed off, it needs thoroughly drying. An airline or bike drier is ideal, especially when combined with a soft drying towel or cloth.
3 Give it an extra coating
With your bike clean and raised up, take the opportunity to give it an extra once-over with anti-corrosion spray. Apply all over the bike (except for braking surfaces and tyres) using an absorbent cloth to give an even coating. Pay particular attention to exposed spindle ends and bolts, as well as chain adjusters. It can also be applied to plastics in the same way.
2 Find a safe spot and get off the ground
Choose a spot in your chosen storage area that’s away from foot traffic, leaks and draughts. Then put the bike on stands so the wheels are raised off the ground – this takes the weight off the tyres and reduces the risk of damage. If you don’t have stands, placing mats or carpet off-cuts under both tyres will help insulate them from the cold temperatures.
4 It’s battery life support
Locate your bike’s battery and connect it up to a charger. This will keep the battery at peak condition and is doubly important for bikes fitted with an alarm or tracker, due to the drain caused by the device monitoring 24/7. If your battery is the old lead-acid type, check the levels and top-up with distilled water before connecting the charger.
5 Give the links some love
Make sure the chain is clean and dry; you should treat it as an individual component with its own cleaning routine, using dedicated chain cleaning products. Lubricate the chain carefully all over, giving each segment the same amount of lube and being sure not to miss any.
7 Don’t be fuellish
If your bike’s in storage for six months or more, don’t leave it with fuel inside – especially E10. But if you want to be able to start it up every now and then, consider a storage fuel that doesn’t degrade. Fuels such as Aspen 4 are available from power product retailers.
9 Ward off rodents
If you have ever encountered damage caused by rodents then you will know that this can be really expensive to sort out – it’s rare a winter goes by without a reader sending us pics of mice in an airbox. So if your storage area is likely to be affected by pesky fur balls, take precautions and block off your bike’s air intakes, exhausts and gaps in fairing panels.
6 Add extra pressure
Pump the tyres up harder than the stock pressures to ensure they don’t deflate over time and damage the carcass. This is even more important if you are storing your bike without paddock stands. Go up 20psi over the stock pressures and recheck every two months.
8 Make it like Fort Knox
Out of sight is out of mind, but that doesn’t mean you should forget security and now is a good time to up the defences. This could be a ground anchor in conjunction with a meaty Diamond-standard lock and chain, or even an extra defender on the garage door.
10 That’s a wrap…
The final step is to place a protective cover over your bike. Your best bet is a dedicated bike cover, as they are shaped correctly and will cover the whole bike perfectly. If not, for indoor use an old blanket or sheet will suffice. Whatever you choose, make sure you don’t hide the battery charger inside, as you’ll need to see the status monitor to keep an eye on the battery’s health.