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Just curious what you guys do for a winter bike prep when your not going to be riding for a few months. I live in NW Indiana where the temp can go from 38F to -2F in one day. Any special tips or tricks that you guys have used? I've heard and read everything from draining all the fluids to not doing anything and leaving bike alone. Thanks,

Adam

On a carb bike, I like to minimize the chance of fuel gumming up the carb passages and pilot jet.

I drain all fuel, shut off petcock, then pull the 17 mm plug off of the bottom of the float bowl, and shoot a good blast of carb cleaner into the pilot and main. It makes me feel like I got rid of the sticky gas that turns into pudding over the winter.

Forgot to mention is it a 2016 CRF250R. So luckily I don't have to mess with a carb.

The higher fuel pressure of an injected bike can help a lot with blasting nasty fuel out of a plugged system. I would drain the gas, and that's about it. Verify that you have a good antifreeze mix in the radiators.

I am a big fan of starting a bike, boat, ATV, lawn mower, whatever, once or twice during a winter season on a warm day. It just seems to keep the gremlins away.

As Leardriver mentioned , at the very least , drain the gas , especially if its not Race Gas , as any gas with Ethanol will gum the system up if left sitting for a few months

Where i live it drops to -10F pretty much every winter, on top of having the snow on the ground to put a damper on riding ,, so i usually have my bikes sit from Nov-Feb

If you don't drain the gas (i mix mine 60/40 Premium pump gas/110 Octane Sunoco Race Gas , and if i don't drain it , i am cleaning things out to be able to start it in spring) even with EFI , you can still risk a blockage with the green slime that comes from Ethanol evaporating in the system and leaving only the water and gummed up residue behind , which can be a nightmare to get all out


If you can't run the bike for a bit to circulate the gas at least every month , then .

Drain the gas from the tank , then fire the bike to get rid of the remaining gas in the system , in spring , fill er up , and go ride ...

Thanks JimDirt and Leardriver. I was leaning towards draining the gas just to be on the safe side and you have confirmed my thoughts.

I have always turned off the petcock and run it dry. I fill the tank as full as I can to keep the air out, which holds condensation. I also swear by a battery tender, as cold weather is not kind to small batteries

The float bowl in a carb bike is still full-ish of fuel if you run it dry.
The X has the bowl drain screw, which helps finish the job.

And (just so you know) a 450X Float Bowl will swap to a 450R carb , so you can have the drain screw (what i did)

Also don't rely on/use Stabil , it won't help with Ethanol residue , , the "best" step would be to remove the bowl to make sure all gas is gone so it does not leave any deposits , either that or go down to the local airport (small plane airport) and get a bit of Av gas (they usually have a pump you can drive right up to and use your credit card and get as much or as little gas as you need) , for the record , small planes can't run Ethanol based gas because if they get water in the gas they can't just pull over to fix it , its a long drop when the engine quits

So Av Gas will last in your tank/carb for a few months without creating havoc...., so at least you now have some more options to try/do