I changed my oil at 13000 km at Sept 15 and put Amsoil 10w 40 in. I will probably put 1500 to 2000 km on the engine before storing it for the winter in late October. The bike will be stored in above freezing at about 5 to 10 degrees Celsius. Should I drain the oil and put fresh oil in for storing it for the winter or just run the oil till I hit the 19000 km mark and do the oil change at the regular interval.
Change oil for winter storage.
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DEPENDS ON HOW LONG YOUR BIKE WILL BE IN STORAGE. Over here my bike goes in storage during October and gets out, if we're lucky, late March or April. I always put fresh oil in during storage, because the acids that develope in old oil can cause damage. I put in the cheap stuff and then drain in the spring and put in the good stuff. Sit the bike on a old carpet, gas stabilizer, clean, waxed bike, cover and trickle charge battery.
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It is best to get your bike up off the ground while in storage for longer than a month. The weight on the tires can cause flat spots to develop. Another option is to just roll the bike a bit every month or so to get a new contact postion on the tire.
Regarding the oil specifically...........it will be fine to store the bike with the old oil, but I'd probably change it before riding in the spring. My reasoning is that in my garage, the temperature differential throughout the day can swing (I'm in MN). It depends on how long garage doors are open, how the hot the car was when it was parked in the garage, was it sunny during the day.......... Anyway, that differential can mean a very slow build up of condensation in the oil sump (realize that the motor is "sealed" not sealed...nothing is). That is why the oil you drain in the spring time can sometimes look a little milky........really milky means you have bigger issues probably.
Regarding the oil specifically...........it will be fine to store the bike with the old oil, but I'd probably change it before riding in the spring. My reasoning is that in my garage, the temperature differential throughout the day can swing (I'm in MN). It depends on how long garage doors are open, how the hot the car was when it was parked in the garage, was it sunny during the day.......... Anyway, that differential can mean a very slow build up of condensation in the oil sump (realize that the motor is "sealed" not sealed...nothing is). That is why the oil you drain in the spring time can sometimes look a little milky........really milky means you have bigger issues probably.
had this talk with my mother in laws fiance the other day.. he has had a bike his whole life and is a gear head who owns and oil and gas service co, so he knows about oil and gas lol.. anyway he uses full synthetic and leaves the old oil in the bike, puts a trickle charger on it, washes it up with bike bright, and throws a cover on it. his garage isnt heated and he lives in upstate ny so we get pretty nasty weather.. his current bike is a HD and the manuel says use their oil (synthetic) and change every 5 yrs or 15000 miles. he says that the syntheic doesnt break down like conventional oil so he doesnt worry about it... hope this helps
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What he said. ^^^ROADKILL said:
Done.
Change the oil when it's due, and/or for the conditions you're riding in.
Don't bother lifting it. Modern tires don't develop flat spots. You think all the shops that offer storage are lifting those bikes? Nope. If you're paranoid, wheel it around your driveway half way thru the winter to change the resting spot.
You'll be fine for 3-4 months.
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