How to dewinterize a motorcycle

With riding season upon us, it’s only fitting to know how to prepare you motorcycle for it. A large part of that is how to dewinterize a motorcycle. This is a quick rundown of some basic care for your beautiful motorcycle. This is no way replacing any motorcycle maintenance you will have to do on your bike.

If you’re also in an environment where you can only ride for certain months of the year, you’ll probably have to know how to store it. So, before dewinterizing the bike, I will share here, what I do to prepare to put the bike away for the season. It’s it’s really really straight forward. There are many ways of doing it, but this one is a quick, easy and sure-fire way to get your bike up and running after a couples of months sitting in the garage. Do note, that some would choose to start their bikes once a month over winter to keep it going. Which is still totally fine. I’m too lazy for that, though. I prefer to spend a touch more time after and before the season to make sure the bike is stored and started properly.

Winterize Your Bike

Winterizing your bike properly will be key to getting it up and running well in the next season. These are the steps I take before storage and I haven’t had a problem starting my bikes up in spring.

Fuel stabilizer – pour it in your tank and let it run for 5 to 10 minutes to ensure that it is actually in your engine block. Gas can go stale and lose octane, or not burn at all if left for a while. To make sure it’s OK, having fuel stabilizer in the tank will help. You can find fuel stabilizer at any auto shop or gas station. You’ll know the stabilizer made it into the engine as the exhaust fumes will smell different… (for better or for worse).
Resting your tires off the ground – I do this with my bike’s center stand and then a block of wood for the front tire. If you don’t have a center stand, a block of wood on the rear tire will help too. This will help create a barrier so that your tires are not contacting freezing temperatures. It may help with tire rot, but only a little bit.
Taking your battery out of the bike – AND put it on a trickle charge. This is done with a car battery charger. You should be able to find this at an auto shop or even a home improvement store. The feature you want to ensure it has is the “winter” mode, where it will trickle charge the battery and keep it from over charging or depleting completely. This will keep the battery in tip top shape.

Dewinterize a Motorcycle

Now that you have it winterized and you braved the season, time to get’er undone! Watch the video, below, but a few things to mention in hindsight:

Prime the fuel tank – one thing I keep forgetting to do and may be helpful to starting the bike, is to prime the fuel tank. After the fuel evaporates from the fuel lines, it requires some suction, especially as a carburated engine, to get it going again.
Seafoam – A general cleaning agent for your engine components and keep fouling at bay is to run Seafom through the engine. I do do this, but totally forget to mention it in the video.
Considerations – warming up before exercise is necessary, much like my old muscles, give the bike time to warm up before rip roaring a few minutes later.