Putting down a dead bike.
I have been planning on winterizing my bike for a while now. I was actually planning on doing it last week, but the weather was not particularly good, and the forecast for the past weekend looked much more promising. The bike has been sitting in a garage for over three months. One month was during our trip to Indochina, but the next two months were difficult to have it stored and out of reach as the weather this autumn has been rather good for riding, and I missed out on several weeks of potential riding opportunities! Such is the life of a housing nomad.
In any case, having the bike sitting around for months on end without use or maintenance is not usually good for the bike, so I decided to winterize the bike before it got too cold. I was given the keys and garage door opener so I could get access to the bike, and I drove out to the garage.
Half way there, I realized that I had left the garage door opener are the house, so I turned around, picked up the garage door opener, and headed back to the garage.
After I got into the garage and was relieved to see my helmet and gloves hanging on the wall, I realized that the key was not present in the bike. I had not seen my motorcycle key with the rest of my keys so I assumed I had left it with the bike. I assumed incorrectly. I spent the next five minutes looking around before deciding to head back to the house to look for the motorcycle key. I spent the next fifteen minutes hunting in my room before checking the stack of vehicle keys we have in the house and finding it at the back, well hidden from view, which should have been expected since it had not been touched in months. I should have taken a closer look the first time I looked here. Bah!
So I made it back to the garage and got ready to ride the bike to the gas station to fill up. I turned on the bike and.. the display did not turn on. This is not a good sign. The engine would not turn over, and the battery was pretty much drained. There was an outlet available so I searched for my trickle charger that would have put enough juice to start the battery after 30 or so minutes, but it seems like it may have been left at my parents' place. I tried to bump start the bike a couple of times, but I had never succeeded before and I did not succeed this time.
I was able to roll the bike over to my car on the street and was relieved to find the jumper cables in the trunk. I spent the next ten minutes exposing the batteries on both vehicles and hooking them up. A quick boost and the bike was alive again! I cleaned up the mess and put the bike back together again. I was actually surprised to see the mileage for this tank was really low, suggesting that the tank was pretty much full. This was good in the sense that I would not have to ride out to pick up gas, but it also reminded me that I had made a mistake: You need the key to open up the fuel tank. The key was in the ignition. To take the key out, the bike needed to be stopped. Stopping the bike with a weak battery means that it may not start again. *shakes fist*
While I was frantically search for my motorcycle key in the house, I came across my spare key and thought of bringing it along "just in case". But there really is no need to have TWO keys for the bike right? I left it back at the house.
Well, I had a couple of choices: Keep the bike running until I was sure that the battery was juiced up enough to start again or shut it off and jump it again - after I had cleaned up and put everything away. I recall MIBAgentQ telling me that the alternator for motorcycles were quite weak, so I decided to save on time and shut off the bike. Just for the heck of it, I tried to start it again. No dice.
So I opened up the (pretty full) tank, squeezed in some fuel stabilizer, and spent another ten minutes exposing and hooking up both batteries again. After cleaning up a second time, I decided to take the bike for a spin. You need to have the engine running for a while to get the stabilizer mixed in throughout the pipes and tank so I took the opportunity to take the bike out for one final ride of the year. I kept my hand on the throttle to make sure that it would not die on me unexpectedly.
The ride was fortunately uneventful. I put the bike on stands, exposed the battery again (for the third time) and took it out and put everything back. My (less than) one hour tasked turned into two hour odyssey, but I am glad that it is done and over with. At least for this year. I still need to figure out what I plan on doing with the bike going forward..
In any case, having the bike sitting around for months on end without use or maintenance is not usually good for the bike, so I decided to winterize the bike before it got too cold. I was given the keys and garage door opener so I could get access to the bike, and I drove out to the garage.
Half way there, I realized that I had left the garage door opener are the house, so I turned around, picked up the garage door opener, and headed back to the garage.
After I got into the garage and was relieved to see my helmet and gloves hanging on the wall, I realized that the key was not present in the bike. I had not seen my motorcycle key with the rest of my keys so I assumed I had left it with the bike. I assumed incorrectly. I spent the next five minutes looking around before deciding to head back to the house to look for the motorcycle key. I spent the next fifteen minutes hunting in my room before checking the stack of vehicle keys we have in the house and finding it at the back, well hidden from view, which should have been expected since it had not been touched in months. I should have taken a closer look the first time I looked here. Bah!
So I made it back to the garage and got ready to ride the bike to the gas station to fill up. I turned on the bike and.. the display did not turn on. This is not a good sign. The engine would not turn over, and the battery was pretty much drained. There was an outlet available so I searched for my trickle charger that would have put enough juice to start the battery after 30 or so minutes, but it seems like it may have been left at my parents' place. I tried to bump start the bike a couple of times, but I had never succeeded before and I did not succeed this time.
I was able to roll the bike over to my car on the street and was relieved to find the jumper cables in the trunk. I spent the next ten minutes exposing the batteries on both vehicles and hooking them up. A quick boost and the bike was alive again! I cleaned up the mess and put the bike back together again. I was actually surprised to see the mileage for this tank was really low, suggesting that the tank was pretty much full. This was good in the sense that I would not have to ride out to pick up gas, but it also reminded me that I had made a mistake: You need the key to open up the fuel tank. The key was in the ignition. To take the key out, the bike needed to be stopped. Stopping the bike with a weak battery means that it may not start again. *shakes fist*
While I was frantically search for my motorcycle key in the house, I came across my spare key and thought of bringing it along "just in case". But there really is no need to have TWO keys for the bike right? I left it back at the house.
Well, I had a couple of choices: Keep the bike running until I was sure that the battery was juiced up enough to start again or shut it off and jump it again - after I had cleaned up and put everything away. I recall MIBAgentQ telling me that the alternator for motorcycles were quite weak, so I decided to save on time and shut off the bike. Just for the heck of it, I tried to start it again. No dice.
So I opened up the (pretty full) tank, squeezed in some fuel stabilizer, and spent another ten minutes exposing and hooking up both batteries again. After cleaning up a second time, I decided to take the bike for a spin. You need to have the engine running for a while to get the stabilizer mixed in throughout the pipes and tank so I took the opportunity to take the bike out for one final ride of the year. I kept my hand on the throttle to make sure that it would not die on me unexpectedly.
The ride was fortunately uneventful. I put the bike on stands, exposed the battery again (for the third time) and took it out and put everything back. My (less than) one hour tasked turned into two hour odyssey, but I am glad that it is done and over with. At least for this year. I still need to figure out what I plan on doing with the bike going forward..
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