Re: Who's still riding? (Fall & Winter 2018 Edition)
Those fancy lightweight batteries are lithium, they're maintenance free and you can leave them in the bike over the winter. It will start up come spring with no issues.
Not if you have enough parasitic draw that it kills it, it won't.
Yes, lithium batteries have a dramatically lower self discharge rate, and tolerate dropping to low SOC's much better than traditional SLA or even AGM batteries, but a battery is still a battery - if it's dead for one reason or the other, it ain't gonna start your bike.
Random question....but does anyone here pump the front forks on their bike every 2 weeks or so and move the bike a couple inches (if its no on stands) during winter storage? I have read that if you let the bike sit for too long in a cold garage the seals can go (or forks get seized), and if not on stands, the rubber can develop flat spots from sitting on cold pavement.
Every winter these stories come up of people going to all sorts of weird lengths when it comes to storage. I've read of people jacking their bikes up in the air to get the wheels off the ground and the pressure off the forks completely, etc etc. In all the bikes I've ever owned I've done exactly nothing of the sort. My bike sits exactly where it stopped when I last rode it, and it will sit there until I ride it again...even if that's not until the spring. I've done the same every single winter. No fork seal issues, no flat spot issues, nada. It's all junk made up by people who have believed crap they've read online and decided it's true.
Don't overthink storage. Fill your tank, add stabilizer, ride the bike to bring everything up to temp and distribute the stabilized gas. Park bike, plug in tender. The end.
Ya not looking good. I was hopping Friday might be ok but doesn't look like it now. I have not been out on the bike for a week now
5-10cm snow in the forecast for tomorrow. Crazy for November.
Who feels this thread was still too early this year? LOL.
Yeah, I was hoping to get out for a bit Saturday as well (I still need to stabilize the fuel in my wifes bike) but it sounds like we are getting our first real taste of winter starting tomorrow afternoon and into Friday morning. I'm guessing we will be into full on salt then. :/