5 Essential Tips to Winter Proof Your Motorbike
Riding through the winter can be bad for your bike. All the rain, snow, and mud can spell a death knell for your bike. It’s better that you hang your helmet and park your bike at home during the winter months. But before you park your bike for hibernation, there are certain precautions that you should take to protect your bike from the harmful effects of winter.
Here we will provide you 5 essential tips on winter proofing your bike so that it survives and outlasts the dreary winter months without any harm.
1. Replace Old Engine Oil
At the onset of winter, you should replace your old engine oil. Make sure that you warm the engine before changing the oil. This ensures that the contaminants and moisture flush out with the old oil and do not damage the bike during the winter.
2. Apply Lubrication to Cylinders and Rings
Another advice to protect your bike during the winter months is to apply lubrication to the cylinders and rings. Take out the spark plugs and squirt some oil into the cylinder walls and the rings. Lubricating the rings and the cylinder walls makes sure that you do not have any trouble when you crank up the engine after months.
3. Wash and Wax your Bike
You should wash, wax, and detail your bike to protect your bike from snow and rain. After washing your bike, you should spray a thin coating of WD-40 on the mufflers and other shiny parts of the bike. You can also treat your bike with vinyl and plastic using a protectant. ACF-50 is another material that you can apply to your bike to protect it from corrosion and rust.
4. Properly Cover Your Bike
During winter months, you should place a cover over your bike. Placing a cover made of breathable fabric will protect it from moisture that may trap next to the paint and chrome thus causing rust and corrosion. You should also stuff a clean rag in the airbox inlet to keep out moisture.
5. Connect the Battery to a Charger
Finally, you should connect the motorbike battery to a charger. The charger will sense when the battery charge status is low and bring it back up. In addition, if the motorcycle has a wet lead acid battery, you should keep an eye on the electrolyte level and top it off to maintain proper level.
Keep in mind that starting your battery during winter may harm it. Please refer to this blog post for more info. For tips on how to take care of your motorcycle battery, please read this.
