Really? Is it "unhealthy" for the battery to be stored in a warm place and periodically (once monthly) charged for an hour or so?

(Yet ANOTHER reason for me to get my butt in gear and build some on-site/at home storage for my bike instead of keeping it miles away in a friend's garage/barn)

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2013 Northeast V-Strom Rally!

2011 pearl white DL650A
58 y.o.
6'2", 270 pounds

Self-discharge rate is proportionnal to temperature storage. It is negligable at low temperature for 3 or 4 months.

run it, or ride it ?

simply starting and letting it idle isn't enuf, if your not going to ride it don't bother starting it,

1. idle doesn't charge like riding speeds
2. just cause water temp is warm doesn't mean the oil isup to temp and contaminates evaporated

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RandyO
IBA# 9560
07 Strom 1k (7x,xxx miles)
99 SV650 (135,006 miles)
82 XV920R
A man with a gun is a citizen
A man without a gun is a subject
www.gbhsurvey.com
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/p...dStatesMap.jpg

Thanks for the input guys..

So, this thread is relavent to my interests! I too am missing many days as the weather gets oogy. I recently acquired a battery tender, and I'm curious the proper storage methodology.

What I'm hearing is:
1) Don't bother with the tender. The cold weather won't drain the battery. Question to this - should I undo one terminal? Or should I hook up the tender? If I do hook up the tender, should I disconnect the bike electricals?

2) Fill up the tank, put some gas stabilizer in it. Question on this one - what if I want to go for a quicky ride during a warm spell. Is the stabilizer going to be an issue? (I'm guessing not. I'm going to burn it soon anyway.

3) Do an oil change now - My hindbrain says 'yes, if the parts are going ot be sitting still all winter, have them sit in CLEAN oil.'

I also like the "Don't bother starting it if you're not going to ride it. It won't benefit anything".

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Dave Shevett - KB1FWR - Berlin, MA
'04 DL650 "The Wee"
'78 GS850 "The Beast!"

My mechanic changed my oil before I rode up to the place I'm storing it. His recommendations were pretty simple:

Throw in stabilizer and then fill the tank up and ride home. He suggested filling with a premium fuel without ethanol, but then admitted it probably didn't matter. For the battery, he told me just to leave it in but unhook the negative terminal, though I have a tender. If you take the battery out, leave it in the garage because colder temperatures are better for them.

For tires he suggested significantly overinflating them (like 80+ psi) to keep them from flattening, just drop the pressure in the spring. I thought this was nuts, but he stakes his reputation on it. In the end, I put the bike on jack stands anyhow, so I could clean the chain, and I hit it with Chain Wax.

Otherwise, simple stuff - I washed it thoroughly, waxed the paint, and treated the rest of it with Fluid Film. I'll wash that off in the spring.

The biggest pain in the ass was the jack stands, because they're not quite a perfect fit and I was slightly concerned about stability, but they seem to be doing fine.

Finally someone agrees with me... A Battery stored between 5C - 10C will hold it's charge longer than if stored at room temp...

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'12 DL650 Glee in White

Never argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.

Why not use a center stand? That'll lift the rear tire and carry a ton of the weight. I'd guess with that you'd end up not needing to overinflate the tires (very little weight on the front tire).

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Dave Shevett - KB1FWR - Berlin, MA
'04 DL650 "The Wee"
'78 GS850 "The Beast!"

It's easy to winterize if you have a warm garage. Since I have one I usually don't do much. Clean the whole bike and just add Sea Foam or Sta bil in the fuel. Then I start them a few times over the winter.

If you had to leave them outside I'd buy a cover for them and remove the battery. UV rays seems to age the plastic. Batteries like cool weather, like in the 40's F. So it depends if your bike has a current leak that can kill it in no time. Filling the fuel tank sounds like a good idea too. A flat tire may make it do strage things.

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2005 Suzuki SV1000R
1985 Yamaha XT608N
2012 Suzuki DL650AL2, over 13,000 miles already!

Because some idiot at Suzuki decided that VStroms didn't need them, and some idiot who bought a VStrom didn't get around to ordering one from Twisted Throttle for it. I'm getting one put on in the spring. Along with a proper bash plate.