Long story short, I am a new biker. Direct access passed in June of this year and bought myself a nice shiny bike. I’ve got a bit precious about it and as a result Id like to take it off the road for the winter, I’m in Scotland we seem to have alot of salt on the roads in the winter.

So;

1) Besides wrapping it in cotton wool and looking at it what precautions would you take whilst its shored up? Trickle charge etc.

2) I am enjoying the biking so I have a notion to get a trail bike for the winter which I can relax about salt/grime etc. Small engine and small budget. I had my heart set on a DT125 until I looked at the prices they still command!

What would you get?

Honda 4 stroke for reliability, depends on budget, if only a 125 you are after try a XR125 trailie and one that’s not been abused by yoof, cheers

1 – none
2 – a car and a ktm exc, probably the 300

Cover it in acf50

Get an old bandit 600

His website is currently down, but Craig at AllYearBiker is money well spent.

https://www.facebook.com/All-Year-Biker-Scotland-122062327913461/

Get ours done every year

I am set on a trail bike of sorts, love that sit up style. Knobblies for offroad japery too.

If it’s a modern Japanese bike.

1) wash it
2) sling it in the garage
3) wheel it out in the spring and hit the starter.

This has worked for me for the past 20 years.

So what is it?

weeksy – Member

Cover it in acf50

Yup. Main thing with motorbikes is, even the best made/finished bikes are on a par with a badly made/finished car so even atmospheric moisture is going to take a toll in the long term. You probably won’t be able to see it after a winter’s storage but it all adds up, ACF50 is the best way to prevent it. (if you don’t want to spend that much, any oil spray will do a similiar job but less well- when i parked mine up, I washed it and then blew used engine oil all over it from a paraffin gun, because I’m classy)

Trickle charge is good. If you google, you’ll see a lot of people talking about fuel stabiliser, letting tyres down- don’t do any of that, if you were going to store it for your kids then yes.

(I was never sure on this point though, lots of people say brimming the tank prevents internal corrosion… I thought that sounded like bobbins, then my tank developed a rust hole from the inside so, maybe I should have kept the tank full!)

ACF50 is your friend. If your not going to be using it fun a while then try and run it dry to stop the petrol causing problems

Mmmnn petrol brimmed/petrol empty. Judean peoples front?

Id deeply like a;

However I accept I am about 2.5k short 🙁 I need a trail bike, likely a 4 stroke.

Didn’t even trickle charge mine over winter. Still started first time! Just park it up. Maybe in a wheel chock to save the stand?

Trail bike for off road Kawasaki KLX, KMX, KDX. Suzuki DR350.
Trail bike for general winter stuff old 600 transalp, KLE500, Honda Dominator

Smother then shiny one in ACF 50 – all panels off to do it.
Dopn’t bother with All year biker unless you have money to burn – they use a super powerful cleaner to strip right back and then reapply ACF50 its nothing you can’t do yourself just warm the can of ACF gently in warm water before spraying

Cheers Duc.

Merak – Member

Mmmnn petrol brimmed/petrol empty. Judean peoples front?

If you’re leaving it long term then petrol flashes off over time and goes manky, and leaves a varnish-like deposit over everything- so either draining the tank and running it til it’s completely dry, or adding a stabiliser prevents that. But over a winter, with UK fuel it’s very unlikely to matter. (super unleaded lasts a little better, for whatever it’s worth)

I parked mine 6 years ago- it still runs perfectly on the tank of optimax I put in it then. Really I should have drained it but I didn’t think it was going to be parked for 6 years!

I fill my tank right to the top, put the Optimate on and leave it well alone till summer (actually it lives on the optimate 24/7 anyhow – both my bikes do).

If you have any sort of alarm or immobiliser it will be dead in three weeks. Trickle charge via optimate or similar, lube the **** out the chain and ideally get it on paddock stands or centre stand with a jack to get the front up. If that’s not possible no worries, but check tyre pressures every couple of weeks and move the wheels do it’s not in the same spot.

I’ve run three bikes through winter and doesn’t matter what you do, after three winters they’re tatty as hell – make your choice and work out if winter biking is enjoyable and worth saving the time for the hassle – annual chain, brakes strip down and manky bolts are inevitable.

I used to stick mine on a paddock stand, partly because upright they take up a bit less room and partly because I had one.

Didn’t bother with the trickle charger, the thing was as reliable as a lump hammer and didn’t need one.

I used to start it up at the end of the drive, let it warm up and rev it a bit, maybe take it around block if the weather wasn’t too grim – none of this was maintenance, I just missed it.

For the first time in 5-6 year I actually miss having a bike now…

Run some Aspen petrol through it then store (fancy petrol apparently). Works for the lawnmower too 🙂