Hello everyone. New to the forum. I've got a couple of questions.
Is it necessary to winterize?
Is it worth it to buy a tender?
Is it alright to start it weekly?
Am I doing damage putting it in gear and letting it run on a center stand?

depends on where you live
yep a tender is great to have
gotta let it run til the fans come on and then a little more (depends on where you store it and temp over winter)
no but why would you do that?

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I'm up in ohio, it's stored I'm my garage and stays around 40 degrees?
Iv been starting it every so often and letting it through several fan cycles.
I feel bad just having it sit there so i figure letting the wheel spin and running it through the gears would be
better than nothing

Is it necessary to winterize?

Yes.

Is it worth it to buy a tender?

Yes. Buy the time you pulled current out of the battery to start, who knows how fast the rate of charge back would letting the idle run for 10 minutes. A batt will lose 1% a day so 30 days is 30% down.

Is it alright to start it weekly?

Yes, but how much condensation will occur on cool down? The oil will become chocolatey. There is not enough heat to really cook the engine hot like a 30 mile loop would be better.

Am I doing damage putting it in gear and letting it run on a center stand?

No. As long as you are not bucking the chain to wheel to engine.

Lets say the weeks turn into months since you started it. Might as well pour a stabilizer in the tank. This way, you ran the stabilizer thru the injectors just in case that week turns into a month. So the tender covers your ass. The gas additive saves your weeks not firing it up. You monitor the oil window and look for ovaltine in color. If so, drain the oil and replace with fresh.

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Hub, I think that is the clearest explanation I've ever read from you. lol no offense, gotta love hubbish

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Also, when you hook up the tender....make sure it isn't long enough to reach the chain so it doesn't get cut off while riding and then you need a new tender lol a stupid young mistake I made on my first bike.

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USMCFozz,

too the Fam.!

I don't know if you know but the Black1's are the Fastest ones!!!

As for me I just never winterized the bike I just start her up an let her run for a few I also have a heated garage which helps out big time!

Again there's a lot of good people an good info here best of luck to yah!

Thanks for the insight guys. Many more questions to come I'm sure

winter storage

Dry air and 60F or warmer, between 12pm and 3pm otherwise might as well drain oil on cold engine. Condensation can form in 50F weather on a dry day. Perhaps not if the bike is given a good run to get the whole bike hot. Cover with a blanket to hold heat in may help somewhat.

Both bikes had oil changed in 50F weather. The 14 did not condensate. It was run hard for about 30 minutes on the road and it was HOT.

Check anti-freeze protection.
Long ride to warm up drive chain, clean chain with kerosene.
Long ride to fling kerosene from chain and stir up motor oil.
Fill fuel tank to neck with regular gasoline.
Add 1 oz Sea Foam/gallon of fuel to fuel tank.
Lift the bike on stands.
Reduce tire pressure.
Top off fuel tank if necessary.
Change oil and filter
Run motor for 1 minute to circulate the fresh oil and treated gasoline
Shut bike down in 6th gear.
Stuff muffler with cloth.
Squirt oil into each cylinder through spark plug holes and turn the engine by rotating the wheel.
Connect battery to maintainer.
Grease the drive chain heavily and any other corrosion prone parts.
Remove fairings, wash, buff and wax.
Check all bolts for tightness.

Is it necessary to winterize?

I would definitely test the anti freeze strength and hook the battery to a maintainer or remove it from the bike, at least. Other than that, I think the rest is of benefit but I doubt you will hurt the bike if you do these jobs as they are scheduled during use do nothing except battery and anti freeze for storage(i.e., change your oil @ least every 3000 miles, grease chain every 300-500...).

Is it worth it to buy a tender?

Yep. you don't want it to freeze and crack. That can happen not to mention reduce the service life of the battery from being discharged completely. You might need to get the battery on a charger in Spring to start it so why not get a $40 Battery Tender Junior?

Is it alright to start it weekly?

Ehhhh---I know some people can't help but to start the bike to listen to it run. We miss our bikes so bad. But, you really cannot run the bike up to a high enough temperature that you will avoid condensation in the engine. I've tried running the bike 15-29 minutes in the dead of winter and still there was a stream of steam that rose from the exhaust. Condensation on the oil level glass, too. Heck, you can't avoid that completely even when you ride in the cooler weather. I don't like to let my bike sit with condensation in it. It's differnt if you can ride and burn some or all of the water out. I'm sure it is fine if you started it a few times but IMO, that is something to avoid unless you really need to do it for working on the bike or something like that.

sucks living where it's cold , don't it?

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OH ..I shut the bike down in 6th so that I can turn the wheel periodically(forward only....never backward) so that the engine does not rest in the same position all winter. IDK if that could cause any harm...I doubt it. I have turned the motor via the crankshaft timing rotor nut. Turnoing the wheel should not be much different. That would be one for Hub to explain...I bet he would say turn away on the rear wheel in gear as long as it is FORWARD and not backward you are ok.

* Last updated by: Rook on 1/23/2014 @ 12:58 PM *

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My climate is not as cold as you guys but for a short while so i never really had to do a full winterization i can usually pull off a short run.

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I can handle any temp on the 14 but I can't stand the idea that I am getting the bike all salted up. The pavement is literally white with salt this time of year.

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Welcome.
Most of the guys have given you an option for storage,
We don't winterise in Australia so I'm no help..

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+1

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Damn you guys suck, lol!!!!

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