Should I winterize my motorcycle, and what is winterization?

When you are not going to ride your motorcycle for more than a month, what should you do if you are willing to start the bike effortlessly once that period is over? Should you just leave the bike in the garage and maybe start it once a week? Apparently this is not enough and a bunch of things need to be done on the motorcycle to appropriately prepare it for the winter storage period.

If you leave your bike even in the summer for a month you will notice you have some difficulties restarting it once you are back. And if you think starting up the bike once in a while to warm it up during winter helps, think again. You have to use (ride) the motorcycle for at least 20-30 minutes, if not more, for it to warm up properly. If you cannot afford to do that once or twice a week, you better follow at least the most important steps in this list in order to store your bike for the winter. The list is provided by École de Conduite TECNIC.

• Raise the wheels with the centre stand or with a support designed for the task so as to prevent tires from being in contact with the floor. (Now, this is important because if tires stay in the same position over a long period of time, they will form a flat spot on one side. If you don't have a stand, at least move the bike once a week so that it sits on a different spot of the tires.)
• Lubricate all moving parts; springs, linkages.
• Check the tire pressure and inspect the suspension components. Adjust accordingly.
• Clean and lubricate the drive chain.
• Drain the oil, fill with fresh oil and change the oil filter.
• Clean or replace the air filter.

With the fuel petcock turned off.

• Drain the carburetors while letting the engine idle until it runs out of fuel and stalls by itself; or drain the float bowl(s) by opening the small drainage screw.
• The fuel tank must be topped off if the storage area is not heated and humid. Add fuel stabilizer.
• Remove the spark plugs, introduce oil (engine or two-stroke injection) in each cylinder (approx. one table spoon).
• Screw back the spark plugs and let the starter run two or three seconds at the most (don't start the engine) to let oil coat the cylinder walls.
• Remove the battery, charge it and store it in a dry and warm area. Ideally, it must be recharged once a month during the storage period.
• Wash, dry,wax painted surgaces and use an appropriate polish on metallic ones. Cover the motorcycle.

This is the full pre-winter maintenance list and I will leave it to you to decide if you can skip some of these steps. This procedure will insure that your bike starts flawlessly in spring and is ready to ride with no maintenance necessary when the sunny days are back.

Ride safe!