Preparation helps prevent spring motorcycle problems
Roberto M. Esquivel | Herald-Standard
Rich Travalena, owner of Uniontown Kawasaki and Can-Am, is pictured in the showroom of his shop in Smock.
Larry Daniels, service manager at Uniontown Kawasaki and Can-Am, installs a new rear tire on a motorcycle he is servicing for the warmer months ahead.
Motorcycle riders yearn all winter to get their bikes on the road in springtime.
So they don’t want to deal with a dead battery, which is the leading cause of the envy they feel while watching and hearing other bikes on the road before them, according to a local bike shop owner.
“That’s the most common thing we get in the spring — dead batteries,” said Rich Travalena, owner of Uniontown Kawasaki and Can-Am in Smock.
Riders who store their bikes in a garage or shed without electricity should remove their batteries and store them somewhere warm when they park their machines for the winter, Travalena said.
He recommends trickle chargers to maintain a battery’s charge for bikes kept in garages with electricity and for batteries that have been removed from bikes.
The terminals on a trickle charger connect to the battery and the charger plugs into an outlet. A trickle charger comes with a harness that allows the terminals to remain attached to the battery after the charger is unplugged and the bike is in use.
“They’re designed to stay on all year long,” Travalena said.
A trickle charger can be connected to a battery that has been removed from a bike, but should not be confused with a regular batter charger, which will damage a battery if left connected for long periods of time, he said.
Batteries stored over winter in unheated places can freeze, which can result in internal damage, he said.
Another problem that can prevent a bike from starting in the spring is leaving untreated gasoline in the fuel tank or carburetor.
Gas destabilizes and “turns into varnish,” which can clog a fuel system, Travalena said.
He recommends shutting the fuel valve on a bike with a carburetor and then running the engine until it runs out of gas so the fuel bowls in the carburetor are dry when the bike is stored.
Fuel stabilizers can then be added to the gas in the tank to preserve the gas, he said.
A bike with fuel injection systems should be stored without gas, Travalena said, noting that there are several retail brands of stabilizers and trickle charges.
Engine oil should be changed before a bike is stored or before it is started for the first time in the spring, he said. Oil left sitting for long periods tends to condensate and turn acidic, said Larry Daniels, service manager.
Oil in a bike that wasn’t ridden much during the summer can wait until the following spring to be changed, but oil in a heavily used bike should be changed before winter storage, Daniels said.
Tire pressure is another item on the pre-ride checklist.
“Before you ride in the spring, you have to check your tires,” Daniels said.
Tires naturally lose pressure in cold winter temperatures, he said.
Chains on chain-driven bikes should be lubricated before winter storage to prevent rust and kinks from developing, he said.
Belts on belt-driven bikes should be checked for cracks or damages, Daniels said. Mice have been know to chew on belts and wires on bikes stored in sheds or barns, he said.
Exhaust pipes on shed-stored bikes also should be checked for mice nests, he said.
Travalena said riders who aren’t sure how to prepare bikes that have been idle over the winter should take them to a shop to get them ready for the riding season.
If a bike was properly stored and prepared, but still won’t start in the spring, a visit to a shop is on order, he said.
“If it’s not something obvious, take it to a qualified repair shop,” Travalena said.