I got it running!!!!

[Steve]

Quoting from Kcwiro:
Then responding:

I stand corrected I just use a 'barrtery tender' Green box do not think it is a maintainer. Ofcourse I only park the bike for at most 4 months, ...
Using an improper charger can ruin a battery in less than a week. In 4 months it would only be an anchor for a small canoe.

... oil change at the end and fire er up. ...
Your bike will last longer if you change the oil before you store it.
Think of all the contaminants that are sitting in the bearings, eating away at the metal while it's in storage.


... I do cycle some fuel through carbs myself as I want to keep my t-fitting sealed...
not sure what you mean by "cycle some fuel through carbs", hopefully you are not starting the engine without going for a ride.
That just builds condensation in the crankcase and mufflers, letting them rust from the inside out.

... otherwise I waiting for a few days for it to swell backup when I should be ridding. ...
Just add Stabil or Seafoam to the gas, ride the bike around the block to make sure it gets through all the passages in the carbs, change the oil, park the bike. I have never had problems with waiting for o-rings to "swell backup". If you have problems with your o-rings, replace the o-rings.

...I know it might leave a mess in the carb bowls but I clean it up once a year, has not let me down yet. ...
Using Stabil or Seafoam, you won't even have that "once a year" clean-up. I have not seen the inside of the carbs on my wife's 850 since I refurbished them five years ago. We live in oHIo and she does not ride as much as I do, so her bike will easily go unused for 4 or 5 months over the winter.

... Minus the throttle cable which snapped when I was coming back from teh GS Rally this year... lucky me I had a fellow GSr with me with the tools to get it off and ride to town to get a new end soddered on it...just cost me a hotel stay as I was planning to go the entire way home from california but I got stuck in bend...

[Skateguy50]

I figure a few more winters and I will have a system down like Steve. Each year I try to do 1 more thing right. Last season I emptied the tank and carbs over the winter, this year I put in the stabil.

I pulled the batteries and have them stored inside the house on a cardboard tray and try to charge them to full about once a month... behind already.

As far as oil goes... one of the studs on my oil filter cap for the gs is stripped and didnt want to get into fixing it, so yea I got the old oil in and will change it in the spring, next year I might get that one right.

[Steve]

I figure a few more winters and I will have a system down like Steve.

The "system" for my bike is actually just a little different.

I don't "winterize" it at all. I can usually get in a ride or two every month, meaning I don't really need to stabilize the gas or put it on a charger.

This winter I am going to cheat even more.
I am going to be in Florida for virtually the entire month of January, so I am going to suffer the embarassment of putting my Wing on a trailer instead of in front of one, and taking it with me.

Now, if I can only find a road with a bend or two ...
(I know better than to ask for twisties. )

.

[Kcwiro]

Tender stuff:

leaving the battery out of the bike I have yet to have a problem in two years after bringing the bike out of hibernation. When battery gets to 4 years old I am replacing it anyway that leaves 1 more season for this one after that I am switching it. Obsessive maybe but battery's do not last forever and I would rather have a running good one than stress my charging system with one that is giving into the ghost mid season.

Oil Change:

Fresh oil is done before stopping for the winter, did not mention it (just the oil change after winter *bad*


Carb bowls:

I do dump the stabilizer in the tank and let it pull it in to the carbs. The leak I get at the end is that silly T-Fitting. It is not torn but if it does not keep gas on it it leaks like a sive until it gets wet with fuel again. Honestly to me it saves me the annoyance of having it leaking like that if I just make sure the bowls on the carbs keep gas in it throughout the winter.

My carbs were a wreck when I first got the bike in addition to other things a friend helped me clean them out and they have been tip top ever since. Still I do not want them to get nasty if I get varnish in them again so I clean the bowls at least once a year. It is not a hard thing taking them off and putting them back on afterwards so I just do it.

[jhelbig]

Update

Been awhile since I've been able to post. Sorry!
The plant I work at was in an outage starting Feb. so that means alot of hours working for me, which means not any to put into the bike. SO......I know some won't like this, but I took it to a shop.....
I just wanted to ride this summer!!! So anyway, I told them I wanted it ready to ride when the outage what over, which is now. So I picked it up last week, not ready to ride, that's another story, and I was going to finish it myself. The shop cleaned and rebuilt the carbs, benched tuned and sync'd them, went over the head, fixed electrical, put new tires on it, fixed the front brakes, painted it and road tested it. What they didn't do was fine tune the carbs, repair the back brakes, and work out the bugs. It stalls when its warm and idling. So that is where I'm at.
I've ridden the bike 3 times so far, each time finding a new oil leak!! The valve cover was in pretty bad shape, two cracks and a crumbled bolt shoulder, so I replaced it with one from ebay, sans cracks, and it works good so far. I'm going to retorque the bolts again tonight. I need to put the new gas tank cap on, mirrors on, and figure out what to do with the #2 carb running lean (blueing). I'll road test it again tonight and hopefully be ready for the ride to Myrtle Beach on Friday!