Caring for the bike that will rarely be ridden

[Big T]

For starters Simon, come and ride with us!

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=114969

Batteries and clogged carbs are the hallmark of storage. Get the battery tender and keep it hooked up. I start mine every other week or so and take it for a spin, just to move gas thru the carbs. There's always one nice day when you can get out for 15 minutes..

[snark]

Start with a clean bike, a full tank of fuel, and a battery tender. Get both wheels off the ground and keep it covered. Indoor storage is best. Put fuel stabilizer in the tank with a FULL tank of gas. You're biggest problem will most likely be old gas gumming up the carbs. IF you can get out and ride her every few weeks, you shouldn't have much too worry about.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Basics would be to keep it in as dry a place as possible and toss a couple of blankets completely over it to help against moisture/corrosion.
Use a fuel stabilizer for sure. Get a battery tender if you don't have one. It will soon pay for itself.
I'd keep it on the centerstand. Between actual rides, I'd at least warm it up approx' 10 minutes every week to keep the juices flowing. 10 minutes should be enough to burn off any condensation and the bike won't get too hot either. This should keep enough oil film on the cylinders, etc, between rides.
While warming up, I'd take the time to check the air. Bike tires lose pressure fairly quickly. I would also use the warm up time to exercise the clutch lever a few times, the brakes front and rear, etc. Things need to be "used" at least a little. Fork seals will go bad pre-maturely but it will help them if you move the bike off the stand and pump them at least a few times. Same for the shocks. Seals benefit from some movement.
You can easily do all this, including needing air, in just the warm up period. Easy to do and it will be much better for the bike.
Keep in mind that oil can break down from just time. Don't let it go too long just because the miles are low.
Also, if you happen to be someone who has any problem using the centerstand easily, there's several tips at this site to make it easier.

[renobruce]

This is my third bike now, and the first one that I haven't needed as practical daily transportation. I live in rainy Portland, Oregon and my daily commute is 35Miles (one way) straight up I-5 into downtown. Rush hour, stop and go traffic, in the pouring rain, on a 4-6 Lane interstate is miserable. It was riding daily in the rain that discouraged me from motorcycles the last time around. It was 7 years later that I got interested enough by helping a friend work on this 850 that I decided to just by it from him.

The way I see it is with 10500 original miles on it, it may be the last motorcycle I ever want or need. That's my goal here. Owning this machine for the rest of my life, and enjoying it on occasion, as I feel the urge.

Steve gives some great advice. I would add and stress that humidity and salt are things you need to deal with, especially considering where you live. Keep it clean. I would cover your bike with cotton blankets draped all the way to the floor. Take the time to wash the bike if you drive in anything other than dry roads. I assume it will be garaged?

I can understand how you might not get to ride it much. I am a bit of a self-employed workaholic, and am busy and out of town alot. With that and a wife and two active kids, I often have zero time to ride. And with two bikes and another being built, it doesn't add up to very many miles on any one of them. But I don't think just because I can't ride every day that I need to sell them! :shock: My bikes are toys, or as one member put it "trophy bikes". I ride them when I can and am also enjoying building another one. I wish I COULD ride every day though! But I can't (I guess that's the real crime). But it's a motorcycle... not a horse. It can stand being put away for awhile if you treat it right.

[twistedwankel]

This is my third bike now, and the first one that I haven't needed as practical daily transportation. I live in rainy Portland, Oregon and my daily commute is 35Miles (one way) straight up I-5 into downtown. Rush hour, stop and go traffic, in the pouring rain, on a 4-6 Lane interstate is miserable. It was riding daily in the rain that discouraged me from motorcycles the last time around. It was 7 years later that I got interested enough by helping a friend work on this 850 that I decided to just by it from him.

The way I see it is with 10500 original miles on it, it may be the last motorcycle I ever want or need. That's my goal here. Owning this machine for the rest of my life, and enjoying it on occasion, as I feel the urge.

If when you ride it rarely...you ride it enough to burn up most all the gas in the tank...and you change the oil at least every 6 months...and either disconnect the battery or put it on a tender...and throw away the tires every few years to avoid dryrot...and wax it yearly....and smile while you are doing all this it will last as long as you can steer it. I agree with you on the rain thing...not my cup of tea either. That's why I moved to FL so I can ride year round in retirement and not make any payments on a new toy. Once every 7-10 days is about how often my fanny/back can take off on a real ride and my 81 is running like new just at 29k now. Trips to the grocery don't hurt it either because that always seems to take an hour on a bike - 15 minutes in a truck

Keep the tank full of new or stabilized gas to avoid rust in the system.

[Pete Logan]

Trips to the grocery don't hurt it either because that always seems to take an hour on a bike - 15 minutes in a truck

Hear you on that. My local market is 3 kilometres there.

Usually about 83 back :-D:-D:-D

[Steve]

Oh man, I'm getting old.

Can't argue that, I have never met you. 8-[

I have no idea why anyone would want to drain the carbs. Petrol evaporates. The carbs will be empty soon enough if you just leave them alone. That's why the damn bike don't start after a couple weeks FFS.

That is exactly why people drain them. When the petrol evaporates it leaves a gummy residue. When the carbs are intentionally drained, the potential for gummy residue formation is greatly minimized. However, there are other issues caused by dry o-rings and gaskets.

Flat spots on the tires happened on the old stuff - cross plys - doesn't happen with radials, but whatever floats your boat.

Flat spots can happen with bias-ply tires or radials, but stock GSs don't wear radials, and that's not the purpose of lifting the bike. The purpose is to isolate the tires from constant contact with the concrete, which can leech chemicals into the rubber.


And yeah, I'm getting old, too.


.

[themess]

That is exactly why people drain them. When the petrol evaporates it leaves a gummy residue. When the carbs are intentionally drained, the potential for gummy residue formation is greatly minimized. However, there are other issues caused by dry o-rings and gaskets.

Flat spots can happen with bias-ply tires or radials, but stock GSs don't wear radials, and that's not the purpose of lifting the bike. The purpose is to isolate the tires from constant contact with the concrete, which can leech chemicals into the rubber.

Flat spots have nothing to do with radial vs. bias ply. Flat spotting comes with nylon body ply cord. Nylon used to be the common body ply cord because it was one of the first plastics that could be woven into fine threads. Nowdays, almost all tires use polyester body ply cord, which doesn't flat spot. There's nothing in cured concrete that can leach into cured rubber. I was a tire chemist for a long time, and I'm not guessing about this stuff.

You can probably get by fine if you only ride once every two or three weeks, as long as you use a battery tender. 99% (a guess) of gasoline evaporates with time. That means that 1% doesn't evaporate. When the 99% evaporates, the 1% is left and eventually dries into a resin. Carbs have tiny passages, and the resin will eventually plug those passages. Gas stabiliizers can do some good, but they won't prevent this residue from gumming up carbs.

Simply put, you shoud burn up a tank of gas at least every couple of months. The longer it takes, the faster resins will crud up carburetor passages. Then you get poor performance, and have to remove the carbs, disassemble, clean, reassemble, adjust and synchronize.

I had my GS650G for 11 midwestern winters. During those winters, I wouldn't ride for about 4 months in a row. Snow and ice on roads don't mix well with motorcycles. I'd usually start it about once a month, on a warmer day, and usually I didn't need to recharge the battery. But if I went much longer, the battery would need to be charged. If it didn't fire within a few seconds, I'd turn the petcock to 'prime' and come back five or ten minutes later. The bike would usually start in about 15 seconds. I'd run it until the choke wasn't needed, and then about 15 minutes more. Then I'd shut if off. When a crash took the bike from me, it still ran hard, and the carbs had never been touched.

Keeping a gas tank full reduces the amount of air in it. When the temperature drops at night, sometimes it goes below the dew point. Water in air settles out. In a gas tank, that means that water condenses and goes to the lowest point. You know the consequences of water in gas.

[Pete Logan]

See - that's the nice thing about this forum.

If the rest of us talk rubbish for long enough, sooner or later, someone who actually knows what they are talking about chips in :-D:-D:-D