Welllllll that's the bike tucked away for winter (I'm offshore tomorrow so won't get out in any case). Anything specific I should do to it other than a polish and disconnect the battery?
It'll be out again in the new year so didn't think much point in putting a drop of oil in the petrol/plugs & all that mallarky for 4 months storage.
I'd give it a liberal spray with Scotoiler F365 protector. A water soluble corrosion inhibitor, that simply washes off. Many people swear by WD40, but it's a b@stard if you get it on your brake discs. Being water soluble, this stuff can be sprayed all over and it does a better job of corrsion inhibition too.
I bought some of the Scotoiler F365 protector Gazza mentioned and spray my bike after every wash just to give it as much chance of surviving the Aberdeen weather as possible. If you are away tomorrow M&P won't deliver in time but I know that Ecosse motorcycles in Great Northern road stock the stuff as this is where I bought mine. If it's sitting for a while probably best to do an oil change whenb you get back before using it and depending on how long it's sitting wouldn't hurt to flush the petrol and refill before first use.
Or you could trade it in now and buy a shiny new bike when you get back.
Full,
We always leave the tugs at Aboyne full of fuel to reduce condensation.
Running cars / bikes with partially full tanks encourages water to condense, leading to rusty tanks / corrosion in the fuel system
The best solution to all the winter storage sproblems is just to keep riding it and mainting it as you would normaly do!
I use the Scottoiler spray all year long on my bike as you'll be amazed how long the road and crap stays on the road for long after winter is over and folk also seem to forget that metal corodes quicker the higher the temperature so your bike is just as likely to rust up in the summer as it is in winter!
Big Kneed Al (master of the emergency stop & "stand up" comedian).
Big Kneed Al (master of the emergency stop & "stand up" comedian) ( Super Nanny ) wrote:
I use the Scottoiler spray all year long on my bike as you'll be amazed how long the road and crap stays on the road for long after winter is over and folk also seem to forget that metal corodes quicker the higher the temperature so your bike is just as likely to rust up in the summer as it is in winter!
Big Kneed Al (master of the emergency stop & "stand up" comedian) ( Super Nanny ).
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A hot humid garage can easily be worse than leaving it outside.
I would use fairy liquid but I don't fancy having to completely rewax the bike every time I wash it to replace the protective coating the fairy liquid removes .
Don't listen to them dude!! Fairy liquid and other domestic cleaning products contain large ammounts of SALT!!! That combined with warm water will have your bike looking like a Ducati in no time!
I generally use a pre-was spary such as Motorex then was the bike with a good car or bike shampoo from Halfords. Rinse thoroughly with a medium spray from a hose ( NOT a jet washer!!), run the engine for a while afterwards to help burn off any excess water that may have collected round the engine etc. then spray on the F365 stuff!
I ran my Bandit all year round and I'm sure folk will be able to tell you how good nick that was in!
Big Kneed Al (master of the emergency stop & "stand up" comedian)
Just to add my two pence. The spray on wash "Muc Off" AND "Fuchs Off" ruins the finish of Magnesium Parts. One of the bike dealers in Aberdeen decided to be really nice to a customer and wash their bike after servicing it using one of these products and now have a rather hefty repair bill.
I use the F365 Protector as well and recommend it.
Last edited by The Rossi Kid on Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The Rossi Kid wrote:Just to add my two pence. The spray on wash "Muc Off" AND "Fuchs Off" ruins the finish of Magnesium Parts. One of the bike dealers in Aberdeen decided to be really nice to a customer and wash their bike after servicing it using one of these products and now have a rather hefty repair bill.
thats what i use !!
But then i probably dont use it enough to cause any damage
(I'm offshore tomorrow so won't get out in any case). Anything specific I should do to it other than a polish and disconnect the battery? 
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thats what i use !!
