Hi everyone!  Just bought a 05 M1000s but don't have a warm indoor place to store it.  Right now I have it covered up under my porch.  I plan on riding it as soon as the thermometer hits 40+.  In the meantime I'm starting it and letting it idle for about 5 minutes everyday to keep the battery from running out.  BTY, I'm in NYC so right now we have about 6" of snow on the ground waiting to melt...   Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations would be appreciated it!!!  

Thanks,

Anderson

Do not start it everyday for five minutes unless you are going to ride it and let it get up to operating temp. Best thing to do is pull the battery and let it sit. If you have the resources, drain the gas, or put some stabil in the tank, and put the bike on stands as well.

You definitely do not want to do that.  What you should do ideally is take it out for at least 15 minutes and let it warm up.   You never want to turn your bike on unless you will leave it on for at least 15 minutes because any less and the condensation build up doesn't fully evaporate so that encourages rust.  If its really bad you'll see a milky looking like white residue (water) on the inside of your oil window when you start up the bike.  Take your battery out and make sure to put it in a place its not cold and or hook it up to a battery tender.  Not a bad idea to spray the metal rust prone parts of the bike w/ good old WD-40....CONGRATS and don't forget to ride safe!

42^o tomorrow!  If you start it, ride it!  You need to bring the bike up to temperature.  Most roads are clear of snow.  Pot holes, heaves, salt and debris?  Plenty of that

i would deff. ride it.as long as i can..

I would also add that if the bike is going to sit for a month or more I would fog the motor. go to the autoparts store or marina and buy a can.
with the bike running spray the fogging oil down the velocity stacks until the bike starts to smoke and then shut it down.

do NOT restart it in your house it will smoke as it burns off the oil.

I would pull the battery , fog the motor and add stabil and then park it until riding season starts.  charge the battery once or twice a month to keep it fresh.

I never understood why people (and the manual) say that you should put a couple drops of oil in the spark plug cavity and hand crank...why is that part of the engine so prone to rust?  I never did that when I stored my bike but I live in Ca.

Fogging is done to keep the valve seats from rusting and causing a loss of performance (valve seal).

I also have a 900 motor at the shop right now with the rings corroded to the ring grooves.

Every time you shut the motor down there is probably one valve open, having a coating of oil on the metal surfaces keeps corrosion to a minimum.

Racers need to do this after every race event due to the fuel being so clean burning the surfaces will rust or corrode quickly. pump fuels do not burn as clean and leave some unburned deposits .

I have restored a couple of bikes that had stood for years, there was significant corrosion on both the cylinders and valves.
This led me to position the piston at TDC on the compression stroke when storing. (they were both single cylinders)

for those that have not had one apart this was the race motor less than 1 month after its last race. it was fresh at the beginning of the season.

As already said some oil into the engine, fog or a few drops through the spark plug hole, and a few cranks coat the cylinder and valves to limit corrosion.  Also a good idea to remove the battery and store it on a shelf, plug the intake and exhaust to keep critters from nesting in there, and get the tires off the ground to prevent getting flat spots in the tires.  A full tank of gas and some fuel stabilizer can also help.

Quote from: uclabiker06 on January 23, 2009, 05:24:38 PM
I never did that when I stored my bike but I live in Ca.

Living in CA can really help cover you if you don't do these things.  Shorter storage times and warm, dry weather really help minimize storage problems.

Scott

Glad to be in the bayarea..I dont have to worry about winter care a lot

Thanks everyone for all of the great responses.  I've taken the necessary measures for what I hope will be a short winter storage, since I plan on start riding again in March!

Thanks again and let's all keep warm!