Use some Stabil or Lucas Ethanol Gasoline storage treatment and run it thru the fuel system. No oil change needed if your using synthetic motor oil.

 

Excellent. That's what I hoped!

Thanks.

 

relax..............it isn't a piece of fish that goes bad quick.........

oil changes realistically should be 5k +miles.

The chain is good till it goes...10k ++

The maintenance is more than some but it won't shit the bed............

 

In addition to what you're planning to do, I would also suggest lubing the chain to prevent rust.

I never winterize since the climate here on LI isn't as severe as further north. If however it looks like the bike is going to be off the road for longer than a few weeks I like to fill the gas tank all the way and add some Marine Stabil, lube the chain, hook up the battery tender, and throw a cover over it. Most importantly, resist the urge to start it up just to hear it, unless you plan on riding it for at least 10 miles, or you could end up with moisture in the cylinders.

BTW, good luck with the new bike!

 

Lubing the chain is good and hooking up the charger.

 

Thanks all. Already plan to do all.

Just was curious about the oil and if it such minimal riding had "poisoned" the oil.

Thanks again!

 

You're making me cold with your username.

 

Hahahha!

Not intended as a bike in cold reference. From Firefly.

 

Which episode don't remember? That's ok I remember; it was the two guys who used the sonic devices.

 

How long is winter?

I have just started up my machines on favorable days in the past.
Ran 'em til there was no more steam then some.
Did it for years with cars, bikes and ATVS.

still do.......

 

I agree. As long as a good ethonol stabilizer is run through the engine and a battery tender on the battery your good. My gas tank is almost empty after adding stabilizer in the last fill but intentional as I need to remove the fuel cell for maintenance and mods to get done through the Winter. Starting it once a month and letting it run to full operating temperature isnt necessary but doesnt hurt anything and actually will assist keeping all gaskets and timing belts in optimal condition.

 

One thing to do is get on the bike once a week (or every other week) and bounce it up and down several times. Helps keep the suspension seals from drying out. It's not good for any vehicle to just sit, they really need use to keep things in good condition. Idling the engine does nothing except unnecessarily wear the engine.

 

whilst doing this you must say loudly "bruumm bruuummm"

 

An excerpt from the (mostly) excellent Cal Sci site [http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Oils1.html], where Mark Lawrence expounds on all things motorcyclic:

Why do we change our oil?

We're now in a position to discuss this. Your oil is a combination of one or more base oils and a complicated additive package. The base oils will actually last as long as your motorcycle - many hundreds of thousands of miles, several years. The reason we change our oil is the additive package wears out. The buffers get used up neutralizing acids. The detergents and dispersants get used up clinging to gunk that's too small for your oil filter to pick out. The VII package gets shredded by your transmission. You could imagine a device that pulled out your oil, gave it a very thorough cleaning, replaced the buffers, detergents, and VII molecules, and put it back into your engine. Sort of a motor oil dialysis machine. However, in a country that has Texas and Alaska, in a world where oil is $60 / barrel, this makes no sense. So, we dump out our entire four quarts of oil because 3% of the oil is used up. It's really just a cheap way of getting a bunch of contaminants out of our engine. This is why it does make sense to recycle oil: if you can process the oil hundreds of gallons at a time, you can separate out the base stocks economically. If you use synthetic oils and bring your used oil to a recycling collection point, you can feel especially good: a bunch of school buses and city buses are going to get an extra little kick in their base oil because of you. In fact, you can tell your wife that's why you need this exotic, expensive synthetic oil: it's solely out of your concern for the children. If everybody used Spiffo-Magic SuperLube the recycled oil would be junk, and in no time flat the school buses would all break down and the kids would have to walk to school, 23 miles, in the snow, uphill both ways. Why, in no time flat the kids would lose weight, improve their cardiovascular conditioning, and just generally be more healthy and have more energy. What a nightmare!





And this classic:
[http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Trailers.html#Storage]


HOW TO STORE YOUR BIKE FOR WINTER **This protocol is for seriously OCD fanatics and worryworts... not that there is anything wrong with this! Personally, I enjoy the rituals of putting the bikes to "sleep" for the winter, and it really is the "right" thing to do. --profK

The best solution is to move someplace where you never get snowed in more than 3 days at a time. A man has to have his priorities. If for some inexplicable reason this is not an option for you, here's an alternative. Here is a printable checklist.

1. Find a nice place for your bike to spend the winter. You want to avoid water condensation. Water condensing in the engine or exhaust pipes can cause rust. You can guard against water condensation by keeping your bike somewhere where the temperature doesn't change so very much, like never below 50f. Your living room is a great place, although if you're married I concede that your wife will likely have a different view on this point. A heated and secure garage would be good. An unheated garage is next best. Outdoors under a waterproof tarp where the bike is sometimes in the sun is the worst possible location. The daily heating and cooling under a waterproof tarp is guaranteed to cause water condensation. Avoid wind, dripping water, damp and musty places, and vermin. Another thing to avoid is a garage holding a dryer which is not vented to the outside. Make certain your dryer is vented, or you'll pay an extraordinarily high price. Unvented dryers have been known to lead to completely seized up motors.
2. Completely wash the bike and dry the bike. Wax the bike and polish all the shiny bits.
3. Clean and lube the chain.
4. Fill the tires with air to their max load spec - see the sidewalls. This helps prevent flat spots. **I personally get both tires off the garage floor, then reduce pressure by 10 or 15 PSI. --profK
5. Gasoline oxidizes as it ages. This produces varnish as a byproduct, which is bad for carburetor jets and fuel injector outlets. To avoid this use a fuel stabilizer. **I personally use the StarTron stabilizer product... "better" than SeaFoam (no alcohols) and seems superior to Stabil, but YMMV --profK Add the amount recommended on the bottle in the tank and fill the tank completely with gasoline - a full gas tank won't rust internally. Run the engine for a couple minutes to warm up the engine oil and to get the stabilizer into your carbs/fuel injectors.
6. Now that the engine is warm, change the oil and filter. Storing a bike with used oil is not a good idea. Water vapor and condensation in your crankcase oil will combine at room temperature with sulphur to form sulphuric acid. This is a bad thing. The sulphur mostly gets into the oil as combustion by-products, so if the oil is new, this is not a problem.
7. Synthetic oils have a big advantage for winter storage. The increased film strength of synthetic oils means it takes considerably longer for the oil to all drain down to the oil pan, so when you finally do start your engine there's still a little oil on all the bearings. Also, synthetics offer superior protection for cold weather starts. If you drained out normal oil and replaced it with synthetic, you have to start the motor and run it for a minute to get the synthetic oil pumped all throughout the motor. **a big +1 for synthetic "oils" in high-performance engines --profK
8. Remove the air filter, then...
9. Start the engine and spray the specified amount of Engine Fogging Oil into the airbox. This will coat the inside of the engine to prevent condensation and rust. **I don't do this... life's too short! But i would if I was prepping for long-term storage in a very humid or coastal location --profK
10. If you have carburetors, turn off your fuel and drain your float bowls. If you have fuel injection, start the bike and run it for a minute to get the fuel lines filled with stabilized gas.
11. Spray Pledge furniture wax on any chrome, or polished or raw aluminum. **I personally do not like Pledge or silicone-based aerosols... Pledge seems to attract dust and gets "gummy" over time. --profK
12. Clean and treat all leather with saddle soap and a good leather oil.
13. Treat plastics and vinyl with Armor all. If you really want to go nuts, you can Armor all your tires and hydraulic hoses too. Alternatively, use a silicon spray like Tire Black. **I personally do not like Armor-All... there are much better products for plastic and rubber maintenance from shops like Griot's Garage, among others. --profK
14. Put some motor oil all over the front fork tubes. Get on the bike, hold the front brake and bounce the bike up and down to work the front suspension. This will keep the rubber seals from drying out and protect the exposed fork tube.
15. Check your battery, make sure it is full. If not, add distilled water. Use a trickle charger every four weeks or even better, get a "Battery Tender" and leave it on 24/7.
16. Check your radiator level, add aluminum safe antifreeze as necessary.
17. Put the bike on its center stand to take as much weight off the wheels as possible. The tires don't like to sit in one place with weight on them for a long time. This is a bigger problem if you live in a city with smog, as the ozone makes this problem a lot worse. On the center stand the bike is almost balanced, so the rear tire is in the air and the front tire has only maybe 50 pounds on it.
18. Use plastic wrap and rubber bands to seal the outlets of the mufflers. Also seal the engine air intake, if you can get to it.
19. Use a good breathable motorcycle cover to keep the dust off.† Don't use plastic covers, they trap moisture. An old sheet works great.
20. Before you start the bike again, remember to remove the plastic wrap from the exhaust pipes and airbox inlets, and wipe the Pledge wax off the exhaust pipes. If your memory is as bad as mine, you might tape a note to yourself over the ignition keyhole. You don't have to worry about the fuel stabilizer, it will just burn away.
21. You can just leave the bike in this condition for many months. You don't have to worry about valve springs - modern valve springs that are made to allow the engine to rev to 8000+ rpm won't sag. If you're so desperate for a motorcycle fix that you simply have to start it, make certain to run it for at least 5 minutes or so. Starting your engine for, say, 30 seconds is a bad idea - you pay the extra wear and tear price of starting an engine where the oil is cold and has all sunk to the sump, and you don't heat the oil and exhaust up enough to boil off sulphurics and water vapor. Remember to open the garage door while the engine is running.

AND-- depending on where you live, or where your cats live, get a bunch of the mint rodent-repellent bags and use them! This works, unlike the sonic repellants, and you will thank me later. I learned this lesson the hard way when we discovered, the "hard" way, that mice + chipmunks + whatever had eaten up the wiring harness in my emergency generator. They'll do the same to a motorcycle as many can attest. --profK

 

Thanks to all for the help!

My usual process for storing all my engines is:

Put stabilizer in gas tank if not already there and run engine to circulate
Warm engine
Change oil and filter
Clean air filter
Fog cylinders (or add oil and crank to coat everything)
Clean
Store

For bikes:

Also clean and lube chain
Clean, wax, vinyl protect
Cover
Battery Tender

My real question was if the bike is so new (only under 400 miles, got her in mid-Nov), do I need to change the oil? When is is considered old?

It does still look amber in the site glass.

Thanks again!

 

Why would you fog cylinders? You only need to do that for long term storage. Your over killing it. I would change the oil because I am a maintenance nut for new engine. You put enough miles to get rid of micro metal parts from normal engine wear. Best to do that now. Depending on if you plan on having dealer service because of warranty and records sake , you can always have them do that early.

 

Mate i changed my oil after 100km and the amount of shit that came out of it was incredible ..the oil was black and looked like glitter
there is not a chance in hell that i would ever ever again leave a new bike for 1000k service to drop the first lot of oil
so really whats it going to hurt to drop it ..it might cost you a couple of $$ but you will have piece of mind knowing your looking after it the best you can be

 

Mate i changed my oil after 100km and the amount of shit that came out of it was incredible ..the oil was black and looked like glitter
there is not a chance in hell that i would ever ever again leave a new bike for 1000k service to drop the first lot of oil
so really whats it going to hurt to drop it ..it might cost you a couple of $$ but you will have piece of mind knowing your looking after it the best you can be

Yeah, understood. I'm on the fence though, just because the oil I can see in the site glass is not black, but still a nice amber. Based on that, I believe the oil does not contain too many contaminants to leave it. I have the oil, filter and 3-bond to change it if necessary. But think I'll hold off. Do all the other things to store it.

 

While "best practice" is to change the oil before winter storage, I think that you have so few miles you can leave it unchanged without worry. Your additive package still has plenty of antacids remaining. Just don't start the bike during the winter unless you are going to actually ride it for 20 minutes or so. Otherwise, you'll only be adding acids to the crankcase that the oil will have to neutralize.

One other thing, changing the oil so far in advance of the scheduled 600-mile service probably would not be "counted" as having done that service should you suffer an oil-related problem during the warranty period (extremely unlikely).

 

I agree if he isnt at all going to run the bike. If the OP is at all, IMO he should change. Bike broke in and ran enough to get rid of the micro metal particles sitting in the engine casing. Im old school. I DONT buy in at all to what any of these manufacturers advise in their maintenance schedule. They think synthetic oil lasts forever and dont break down. My bikes 1st service was at 450 miles by dealer. I did myself again at 900 since it was nearly 3.5 years old but age shouldnt matter on oil. I did for peace of mind. Ill change the oil on my bike every 3000 miles.

My wife has a new Volkswagon Passatt. Company car. First oil change was at 10000 miles!! You kidding me??! These manufacturers are nuts. I cant imagine the beating this engine got already.

 

The recommended oil change on my Honda ST1300 is 8k miles with synthetic.

I've gone through many cars, trucks and motorcycles.
I picked up an '86 Pontiac that sat for years.
I charged the battery and it started right up.

My ATVs sit sometimes a long time.

Winterizing is what you want to make of it.
It won't crap out in three months.

Take the battery out if you have to and put it on a board in the basement if you don't have a trickle charger.

That's really about all that needs to be done if you use good gas.
You don't even HAVE to use stabilizer (tho' i do).

I have a 42 cylinder family.

and i do most repairs myself and fire things up on favorable days and let them run.
Been doing it for years.

 

Take the battery out if you have to and put it on a board in the basement....

FWIW, this old-timer's tip is no longer applicable. Modern plastic battery cases don't have the cracks that the old rubber cases did, so they won't discharge if sat on the floor/ground.

 

Two dealerships and two different answers.

Dealership 1: Cover bike, fill gas tank with gas and stabil, get wheels off the ground if you can but not a big deal, and start every six weeks to save battery if you don't have a battery tender. I asked about moisture etc and they said don't worry about it. These aren't the old Ducati's.

Dealership 2: held my bike last year and put some stabil in and hooked up to battery tender. the bike's wheels were not off the ground and no oil change was done. I asked in the fall (this year) what I need to do to store her and it was change oil before storage optimally, stabil. Interesting to me as the Ducati manual doesn't say that or at least I haven't read that about the oil change.

It was interesting to hear two different responses from Service at both dealerships. That's my 2 cents.

 

Dealer #1 is stupid. Starting every 6 weeks is a bad practice. "Old Ducatis" has nothing to do with it.

That said, it won't ruin your bike.

To me, it is most irritating that dealer personnel so often just make stuff up. I mean, they have plenty of time on their hands that they could use to read a damn manual once in a while.

 

If you don't have a battery tender or a charger, I say starting them up periodically and running them til hot won't hurt them.
I fire my machines up if they are in accessible spots.
As I have mentioned before, it won't hurt them.
They say there is acid build up but I have never seen it nor its effects.

Stabil is good (i do use it) but if you fire 'em up and add gas at some point......
If they need an oil change, I change them but if it is in the middle of their schedule , I wait.

My tractor is 20 years old and many time i do nothing to it..except charge the battery.
one of my ATV's is 15 y.o. I change the oil about every two years.I put Stabil in the gas, turn off the petcock and run it til the bowl runs out of gas. It is still running strong.
The same with my '99 F650.
Heck, if farmers did what some recommend they'd go broke.

It's not like winter is a real long time.
3-4 months maybe and there are some rideable days.

I'm a firm believer that firing them up occasionally and run 'em til there is no steam won't hurt them because it is a practice that I have been using for 35 years.

Get on a maintenance schedule and stick with it.
If your oil isn't close due for changing leave it.

but this is just me.
If it makes you feel better:
add Stabil and fill the tank with hi-test non-ethanol gas and run it til the fuel is throughout the system.
change your oil
wash 'n wax the bike
adjust and lube the chain.
connect a battery tender. If no tender take the battery out and store in a warm environ.
put the bike on stands
cover the bike

only fog an engine if it will be in storage a long time.

You'll be all ready to go come Spring but remember to check your tire pressure.

 

Here ya go:
https://rideapart.com/articles/winterize-your-motorcycle-5-steps

but I've never gotten a flat spot either.........

but if it makes you happy:

 

Here's a pretty simple (and sensible/correct) guide:

https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/how-not-to-winterize-your-bike-9-mistakes-riders-make

 

I just ride my bikes 3-4 times week throughout the winter months - keeps them happy