Winterizing the Busa -- front Stand or Chock

[Skydyvyr]

Ok, I've searched the .org and not come up with an answer to to my question, so I'll pose it here and let those who have an opinion (is there anyone here like that?) chime in.

It appears winter is fast approaching here in the PacNW and that means I'll be winterizing the bike soon. This will be my first experience putting a bike as heavy as the 'busa into hybernation. I'm prepared with everything I need to do except for the front stand. In looking around I've come across a used Baxley chock at a pretty good price and am wondering what those in the know think.

Should I buy the chock and store the bike on a stand in the rear and the chock in the front or should I just go find a quality front stand? Will the chock prevent/minimize flat spots enough in the way it cradles the front tire? Does the chock work as well with tire pressure lowered to ~20psi?

Another side question, what are everyone's thoughts regarding winterizing with the battery in the bike as opposed to out of the bike? I'll have it on a maintainer/trickle charger either way. FWIW, the bike will be in a garage and the temps in there will likely drop below freezing, but probably not much below or for longer than several hours at a time.

--Sky

 

[cheferman65]

Battery out and in the warmth, If the chock is a deal, grab it! Then purchase a front stand as it's better to keep your girl up off the floor

 

[IG.]

I personally would've left the bike on the side stand, because I would be missing riding and my bike so much, that I would go visit her every week or so, and I would sit on the bike, lay down on the tank to hug her, and make vrooom-vrooom sounds... and since I am there anyway I would move the bike in the same direction a couple of inches on every visit to avoid formation of a flat spot on tires. Putting a light rug under tires also makes it less likely to develop a flat spot. I wouldn't bother dropping the tire pressure - with freezing temperatures and slight loss of air over time, the tire pressure will naturally go down quite a lot. Every 9 deg F drops the pressure by 1 psi. So, if you go from 75 deg to 25 deg, the difference is 50 deg which would drop the pressure by 7 psi, add 1 or 2 psi for naturally escaping air, and you got almost 10 psi loss by doing nothing.

If the bike will be sitting in cold weather for a number of months, I would take the battery out and take it indoors. I wouldn't bother with trickle charge - your battery will lose a small amount of charge, but this is nothing to be concerned about, especially if the battery stays indoors. Just fully charge it once after you take it off the bike, maybe one more time in the middle of the winter if you are that concerned, and one more time before you put it back in the bike. Trickle chargers may do more harm than good.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

You can send it to me in SoFla. I promise to ride it daily and keep the battery up to charge.

 

[cheferman65]

I personally would've left the bike on the side stand, because I would be missing riding and my bike so much, that I would go visit her every week or so, and I would sit on the bike, lay down on the tank to hug her, and make vrooom-vrooom sounds... and since I am there anyway I would move the bike in the same direction a couple of inches on every visit to avoid formation of a flat spot on tires. Putting a light rug under tires also makes it less likely to develop a flat spot. I wouldn't bother dropping the tire pressure - with freezing temperatures and slight loss of air over time, the tire pressure will naturally go down quite a lot. Every 9 deg F drops the pressure by 1 psi. So, if you go from 75 deg to 25 deg, the difference is 50 deg which would drop the pressure by 7 psi, add 1 or 2 psi for naturally escaping air, and you got almost 10 psi loss by doing nothing.

If the bike will be sitting in cold weather for a number of months, I would take the battery out and take it indoors. I wouldn't bother with trickle charge - your battery will lose a small amount of charge, but this is nothing to be concerned about, especially if the battery stays indoors. Just fully charge it once after you take it off the bike, maybe one more time in the middle of the winter if you are that concerned, and one more time before you put it back in the bike. Trickle chargers may do more harm than good.

I completely disagree with your advice as a good trickle charger such as a battery tender will simulate a charge discharge cycle as if it were being used.
Why do you believe that they may be harmful? I have used them in the past as many here have with great success and no damage.

 

[lil charlie]

I've had two trickle chargers that went bad and toasted batteries. I would still put it on a trickle charger though.

 

[Skydyvyr]

You can send it to me in SoFla. I promise to ride it daily and keep the battery up to charge.

I'd gladly send it down to you to keep exercised, but I'm afraid that after only a month of riding down there, it would take tow to get all the bug guts off of it...

--Sky

 

[JUSTANOVA]

I completely disagree with your advice as a good trickle charger such as a battery tender will simulate a charge discharge cycle as if it were being used.
Why do you believe that they may be harmful? I have used them in the past as many here have with great success and no damage.

Most "Trickle" chargers are not desinged for "maintaining" a battery, they are only for charging. Use a battery tender, they are actually designed to "maintain" the battery for long periods of time.

 

[Skydyvyr]

Most "Trickle" chargers are not desinged for "maintaining" a battery, they are only for charging. Use a battery tender, they are actually designed to "maintain" the battery for long periods of time.

I suppose I should have been clear in my initial post. I am using a Battery Tender Plus (image below) now, and will continue it's use through the winter as well.

FWIW, I've been using these for years without a single problem. Most of my friends and family who ride also use them. I've never heard of a single issue. I particularly appreciate that it comes with a harness that you can semi-permanently wire to your battery and leave on the bike. So when I know I won't be riding for a couple of weeks or more, I can just plug the tender in without having to remove my seat.

--Sky

 

[1busa]

I dont know? I had my battery hooked up to a battery tender and it showed the green light that it was all charged up and ready to go. When I turned on the ignition the lights and everything would turn on but when I'd go to crank it the bike wouldnt turn over. I'd plug the battery tender back on and let it charge for a15-30 minutes and then it would turn over but it wouldnt hold the charge long. I went out and got a new battery just to error on the side of caution but now I'm skeptical about hooking up my battery tender. Was it a bad battery or is my tender bad, has this happened to any1 else?

 

[IG.]

Here is the main problem with trickle chargers - they are not needed most of the time, i.e. why fix it if it ain't broken? What most riders are concerned about is to preserve the battery for the next season. I mentioned in my original post the easiest way to accomplish this. The only good reason to use trickle charger is to have the battery 100% charged all the time so you can jump out of bed, and in 10 sec can start the bike in the middle of the winter. How many people really need this? There is absolutely no meaningful advantage to keeping a battery on charge/discharge cycle. Ever bought a car battery from the store where it's been sitting for like 6 months, put in your car and it starts right away - that's with the battery being probably at 60% of it's full charge?

I wouldn't trust any trickle charger to maintain my battery for more than a few days. There are plenty of stories of toasted batteries. I can assure you that modern gel batteries have such a low discharge rate, that it ain't worth it. All trickle charging misconcpetions come from excessive advertising from their manufacturers. Don't believe me? Get yourself a digital V-meter, and measure the voltage on the stand alone fully charged battery for a period of one month. You will get bored after the first week, seeing the the voltage drop was so small. Keep in mind that the rate at which the voltage drops slows down over time. BTW, a fully charged stand alone battery (without residual charge) would show a voltage of 12.60V or above. A noticeably discharged battery (let's say by 50%) would show a voltage of 12.30V or below.

 

[Skydyvyr]

I'll admit that there might not be much need for a Battery Tender if the battery is sitting on a shelf disconnected from the world and kept at a constant temp, but if it is in the bike and connected and subjected to significant temp swings, there will be nominal drain or in the case of my bike with an alarm and other accessories slightly more than nominal constant drain. Over time this could significantly deplete the battery. In this scenario, a tender makes sense. Of course, the more anal of us may remove the battery any time they expect the bike to sit for more than a couple of days. As it turns out; I'm not quite that anal about the maintenance of my bike.

So all that being said, my real question to start this thread (to which only Chef has replied) related to the pros/cons of using a chock instead of a front stand when storing the bike for long periods of time. Is the reason nobody else has commented on that because everyone agrees with Chef that the chock is a bad option for long term storage? Are there no dissenting thoughts or opinions?

--Sky

 

[dadofthree]

You can send it to me in SoFla. I promise to ride it daily and keep the battery up to charge.

and place large deposits of carbon on the valves

 

[masterblaster]

Unless there is snow on the ground ride the bike every weekend and you don't have to winterize it. $200 gets you a nice set of heated gear. Use the stand if you must store it.

 

[dadofthree]

Stands, battery tender , inside would be best, never on a concrete or stone / tile floor

 

[jstorz]

I live across the lake from you... realistically it's only too cold/wet to ride no more than half the time, and usually not more than a few days in a row. Just take her out for a spin every couple of days, and leave her on the battery tender if it's more than 2 or 3 That's what I do at least, never had a problem with any of my bikes. In fact this is how my "bad weather bike" survives during the summer, when the situation is reversed (except for the cold).

 

[IG.]

You are right. We like to deviate and dream. So, let's get back on the subject. I think leaving on the chock for a few months may produce flat spots at the pressure points - probably better than leaving on the kick stand. If you throw a thick rug inside the chock, this may noticeably alleviate the issue. So, it's a grey area. Ideally, the tire should be off the ground if you really want to leave it alone for a few months, especially the front one, because the bike in general is more sensitive to front tire ailments.

I'll admit that there might not be much need for a Battery Tender if the battery is sitting on a shelf disconnected from the world and kept at a constant temp, but if it is in the bike and connected and subjected to significant temp swings, there will be nominal drain or in the case of my bike with an alarm and other accessories slightly more than nominal constant drain. Over time this could significantly deplete the battery. In this scenario, a tender makes sense. Of course, the more anal of us may remove the battery any time they expect the bike to sit for more than a couple of days. As it turns out; I'm not quite that anal about the maintenance of my bike.

So all that being said, my real question to start this thread (to which only Chef has replied) related to the pros/cons of using a chock instead of a front stand when storing the bike for long periods of time. Is the reason nobody else has commented on that because everyone agrees with Chef that the chock is a bad option for long term storage? Are there no dissenting thoughts or opinions?

--Sky

 

[semi]

i put Lucy up on stands any time i know i'm not going to be riding within the next 24 hours...as far as the chock, i own a Baxley (they are the best for securing your ride in the back of a truck or a trailer) and would rather leave the bike on the ground on the kickstand than store it for several months in it...that's just my humble opinion

 

[GNBRETT]

Trickle chargers may do more harm than good.

say wat

 

[Mythos]

I would only bother with a chock as an easy way to get the bike to stand on its own for a short time without a side stand. For storage, the tire is still gonna be flat on the ground and possibly develop a flat spot (though personally, I think that would be unlikely if you keep the tire well inflated in the cold).

I use a front and rear stand. A Steering stem stand (such as Pit Bulls fork lift with converter or the Newfrontstand) will relieve all of the weight off the tire and the suspension (if there is any benefit to the forks from that???). A swing arm stand such as Heindl Engineering will also take all the weight of the rear tire and the rear shock. I have each of these stands and I can tell you they all work together on the Gen 2 busa.

If you don't end up getting a front stand, just air the front up hard and put a blanket under the tire. Maybe move it a few times throughout the winter. I stored mine without a stand for a Wisconsin winter and had no flat spots in spring.

Just get a Shorai battery and you won't need to worry about trickle charging inside or out. +save about 8 lbs of weight.