How to get your bike ready for the riding season

[WingAdmin]

Spring is just around the corner, on the odd warm day you see bikes on the road - it's time to think about getting your bike out of its Winter hibernation.

With any luck, you did a proper winter preparation on your bike, and it is in good shape, almost ready to ride.

The first thing I like to do each spring has nothing to do with the state of the motorcycle at all, and more to do with the state of its rider: I pull out my bike's owner's manual, and read through it. Honestly! After 30+ years of riding, I have found that every single year, I manage to forget at least one thing about my bike, that reading the manual in the spring reminds me of. Whether I forgot it over the winter, or it just slipped my mind sometime in the past year, it never fails - and as I get older, I'm quite sure the number of things I forget will increase. Give it a try!

Other things to check: registration and insurance. Has it lapsed over the winter? Get it in order before riding season begins!

Fuel: My bike typically sits for between 3-4 months in the winter. I use fuel stabilizer in a fresh tank of fuel when it goes away for its winter nap, and when Spring arrives, that fuel is typically still in good shape. I will however make a point of burning through that first tank relatively quickly, so that it doesn't sit around longer than it needs to. If you live in Alaska and your bike is put away for 6 months, you might want to first drain the fuel before starting.

Battery: My bike sits connected to a Battery Tender Jr. all Winter long - as well as pretty much anytime it's parked in my garage. Doing so keeps the battery running for many years. If yours has not been connected all winter, or if you removed the battery, get it charged back up to top condition and reinstall it. If you have a wet cell, make sure all the cells are topped up, and top up with distilled water if they are not.

Tires: Air up the tires to the correct pressure (you did read your manual, right?) and give them a good inspection for cuts, worn areas or other damage.

Oil: You don't need to change your oil and filter, because you did it when you put the bike away for the season, RIGHT??? If it slipped your mind, do it now before riding.

Other Fluids: Now's a good time to go over all the other fluids, just one more time. Check your brake, clutch and coolant levels. Check the oil level, just one more time. Check for leaks - oil leaks, brake or clutch fluid leaks, coolant leaks. Look at the bottom of the water pump, there is a small hole there that might be leaking oil or coolant. If you see a few drops of coolant there, don't panic - Goldwings commonly leak a bit of fluid over the winter with cold temperatures. If the leak disappears once you start riding again, you have nothing to worry about.

Cleaning: If your bike collected dust all winter, now's the time to clean it up, to start the year fresh.

Lights: Click the ignition on and check that all of your lights are functioning - headlight (including high beam), running lights, turn signals, brake lights, dashboard lights.

Horn: Something you might not use all that often, don't wait to find out it's not working when you need it most. Make sure it's functioning!

Rider: You have not ridden for a few months, so keep in mind your riding skill and instincts are not going to be what they were a few months ago. Riding well is a perishable skill! Take it easy for the first few rides. Go without a passenger. Check your brakes. Ride out to an open parking lot and practice some slow speed riding and turns. Get your confidence level up to where it was at the end of the previous riding season, and then hit the open road! I like to keep my first couple of rides relatively close to home, to deal with any problems that might have cropped up mysteriously over the winter months.

Roads: The roads are not going to be in the same condition as they were last fall. Winter cold, water intrusion and copious salt use cause potholes and cracks in the pavement - some large enough to cause a crash if you were to hit one. In remote areas without curbs, the edges of the asphalt can crumble due to water undermining the substrate underneath them, so stay away from those edges. Salt, sand and gravel put down on roads over the winter is still there, making roads hazardous and slippery. Especially watch the insides of corners, where it tends to collect - and where you can least tolerate a loss of traction!

Cars: Drivers are not used to seeing motorcycles on the road, and they are definitely NOT looking for you! Keep a sharp eye out, make yourself visible, stay out of their way, leave yourself an out, and assume that the driver is going to do the worst, most stupid thing possible.

Ride safe!

[RFW&LMW]

It all sounds like good advice.

[WingAdmin]

I just added one more: horn. I thought of this one because while pulling my air horns off to get to the spark plugs yesterday, the rubber hose connecting them to the compressor crumbled in my hands. Years of exposure to heat and UV had turned the rubber hard and brittle. I'm pretty sure that horn would not have been making much noise.

$2 of vacuum hose at the local auto parts store, and I'm back in business.

[dhg]

Speaking of other fluids, when I started to get my bike started Saturday, I noticed a puddle of fluid under my front tire. It turns out over the winter my left fork seal decided to start leaking. I'm not a happy camper. I don't suppose that this is one of the seals that might stop once I start riding is it?

I'm not looking forward to taking the front end off and having them rebuilt!

Everything else checked out ok. It took a while to get it started as I believe my battery is going bad. I'll have to check the voltage on it.

[urbanmadness]

Mine doesn't go down for a winter nap (we can ride a few times a month, year round)... So for those of us that can ride year round, it's just a good time to go over everything. Mine's getting timing belts, plugs, oil change and general going over this week.

[Northwings]

Trailer it to Florida in February to give it a few hundred miles of winter exercise!

[KsCruiser]

What about greasing the final drive? How do you know it's full?

[WingAdmin]

What about greasing the final drive? How do you know it's full?

The final drive uses gear oil, not grease. When filling it, with the bike on the center stand, you squirt the gear oil into the fill hole until it starts to run out of the hole. That indicates that it is full.

[KsCruiser]

Thanks for the quick answer. I was wondering about the grease zert on the drive shaft. Perhaps I used the wrong name. I've added grease, but I don't know if I added enough.

[cyberlon]

Did you put in more than a couple of pumps from the grease gun? If so, you probably did all right. I, too have called them zerts for years... but recently I found that the "official" name for a grease nipple is actually zerk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_fitting

[Deaf4Jesus]

My 83 Goldwing sits mostly during the winter. My garage doesn't have electricity so I go out several times a month and start up the engine. In severe cold my Goldwing is cold nature. I have to pump and pump gas before it starts. After 18 years of riding the same bike I'm used to all the ills it gives me.

When Spring arrives, I check tires, oil. If anything is abnormal I have a certified Goldwing retired mechanic that lives about two miles away. When I was ready to give my bike away he repairs it and the bike runs like new. I'd wish I met him 18 years ago.

I clean the bike, shine and wax it. I take short trips around the city. I always join CMA for the 'Ride for the Son'. My grandson joins me. It's a highlight of his year to see all the other bikes he wishes someone to give him a ride. Guess he's tired of grandpa's old bike. LOL.

One time we rode with relatives on a 200 mile ride. We were about 75 miles from home when I experienced my first flat tire. We drove through some road construction and something made a large hole in my rear tire. Two and half hours later we were towed back home safely. My mechanic replaced my tire which was only a year old. He tells me how good shape my bike is but because of the age trading it in won't land me a good deal. So, I'll keep it for now.

Keith

[WingAdmin]

My 83 Goldwing sits mostly during the winter. My garage doesn't have electricity so I go out several times a month and start up the engine.

From How to Winterize Your Bike:

Now, what do you do now that the bike is away for its winter slumber? Please, please, PLEASE resist the temptation to "start it up to keep the oil fresh" or whatever other reason you feel you need to regularly run the engine. Your engine does not benefit in any way from being started from dead cold for a short "warm-up." In fact, it's quite the opposite. Starting the engine puts lots of moisture into both the crankcase and the exhaust. If you are not going to go out for a good, hard half hour ride, neither the engine nor the exhaust are going to get up to full normal operating temperature - which means this moisture is not going to evaporate. Instead, it's going to sit in the bike and start corroding the insides of your engine, cylinders and exhaust system. Every time you start it, it is making it worse. The fact that it is cold outside makes it even worse - this means the moisture easily condenses on the cold surfaces, starting the rusting process.

"But I need to start it regularly to charge the battery." No you don't, hook up a $25 Battery Tender instead of ruining your $500 exhaust.

"It helps keep the seals lubricated and stops leaks." No, it doesn't. The seals do not magically lose their ability to seal because oil isn't regularly flowing over them. In fact, the continuous change of a very cold-soaked engine to warm engine and back can actually CAUSE leaks.

"It keeps the engine parts covered in oil to prevent wear." Actually, it does the exact opposite. The absolute hardest time on an engine, the time when it wears the most, is at start-up, before the engine-driven oil pumps get a chance to start pumping oil around. This is why some expensive aircraft and racing engines have special pumps to circulate oil before the engines are started. When the bike hasn't been started for a while, the lubricating film of oil is at its very minimum - which means massive amount of wear during start up. And this is what you are doing, over and over again all winter every time you start it up - causing wear to your engine when it is at its most vulnerable.

[PAPete]

Tires: Air up the tires to the correct pressure (you did read your manual, right?) and give them a good inspection for cuts, worn areas or other damage.

For those of us with older bikes, do you think the manual might provide misleading information regarding tire pressure specs? Would it make sense to check the specs for your current tires?

[WingAdmin]

Tires: Air up the tires to the correct pressure (you did read your manual, right?) and give them a good inspection for cuts, worn areas or other damage.

For those of us with older bikes, do you think the manual might provide misleading information regarding tire pressure specs? Would it make sense to check the specs for your current tires?

Probably. The manuals state the air pressure required for the OEM tires, which for most of the older (and not so older) bikes, haven't been available for many years.

It's safer to go with the tire manufacturer's recommendations. If it's a common tire, then people here can help as well - for instance, I know that the sweet spot for Avon tires on my GL1500 is 41psi front and 47 psi rear - it gives the best balance between handling, mileage, and tire wear.

[Ed Brock]

Great information, getting your self ready is important. A few exercises during the winter also helps keep the muscles toned.

The only thing I thought about adding to the list of putting your bike back on the road is to change the brake/clutch fluid. I use a turkey baster. (best to ask the wife if she has one she does not want) and simply suck the old fluid out, clean the reservoir then refill. Good bye water. Every time you pull the lever new fluid goes to the calipers and the old fluid ends up in the reservoir. Change the fluid every time you service the bike and you keep the crud out of you brake system. Better braking, better seal life, and it's cheep.

In Oregon, I can ride almost year round, (not allowed to ride in the snow anymore.) Don't ask. I do my maintenance during January or February. It is best to change the brake/clutch fluid before putting the bike up for storage. And after a 3-4 month storage change it again. It's cheep insurance.

[patbrandon1]

The first thing I like to do each spring has nothing to do with the state of the motorcycle at all, and more to do with the state of its rider: I pull out my bike's owner's manual, and read through it. Honestly! After 30+ years of riding, I have found that every single year, I manage to forget at least one thing about my bike, that reading the manual in the spring reminds me of. Whether I forgot it over the winter, or it just slipped my mind sometime in the past year, it never fails - and as I get older, I'm quite sure the number of things I forget will increase. Give it a try!

Rider: You have not ridden for a few months, so keep in mind your riding skill and instincts are not going to be what they were a few months ago. Riding well is a perishable skill! Take it easy for the first few rides. Go without a passenger. Check your brakes. Ride out to an open parking lot and practice some slow speed riding and turns. Get your confidence level up to where it was at the end of the previous riding season, and then hit the open road! I like to keep my first couple of rides relatively close to home, to deal with any problems that might have cropped up mysteriously over the winter months.

Cars: Drivers are not used to seeing motorcycles on the road, and they are definitely NOT looking for you! Keep a sharp eye out, make yourself visible, stay out of their way, leave yourself an out, and assume that the driver is going to do the worst, most stupid thing possible.

Ride safe!

EXCELLENT suggestions WingAdmin! The info you posted can save lives. It reminded me to be vigilant about what can sometimes be overlooked because of the excitement of the beginning of riding season.

In my area there is a community college that has a course available for experience motorcycle riders. There are several options for scheduling and the cost is still only $25. I take it every two years to stay reminded of simple things, and I always catch something new or something I may have missed. Every year I do review the notes and manual they had provided.

I don't want to make the mistake of thinking I know/remember everything I need to in order to increase my chances for safe riding.

Being involve with youth sports in my area as a coach and umpire/official, I have always found it useful to refresh every season with re-reading as much as I can from past notes and manuals. No matter what a person's age I think it proves beneficial to re-refresh. The older I get I think it is even more important to review, and equally important that I realize I don't know everything just because I've been riding for 40 plus years.

There are two YouTube creators that provide excellent training videos that I follow. I'm sure there are many more good ones on YouTube, but I like these guys a bunch. MCrider and MotoJitsu

I hope this info proves useful in helping other riders to stay informed of ways to ride that will bring them home to their loved ones safely.

Look into courses that you local community college may offer. The name of the one in my area is Motorcycle Safety. Here is the link if you are around the Saginaw Valley. http://www.delta.edu/community/continui ... cycle.html