Spring starting after late winterizing

[boxer9valve]

Left town in the fall for emergency travel and ended up away for 2 months. Only in Feb did I get around to emptying the tank and pulling the battery. Bike (‘76 R90/6) was stored in enclosed garage but it got pretty cold this winter in Brooklyn.

Battery is on a tender now (less than year old) but any other boxes I should check before trying to get this thing to magically start?

 

[20774]

That's not a horrible length of time. Maybe change the air in the tires from winter to summer!!

 

[stevenrankin]

Check

Two months in a grade is nothing to worry about. Nope, nothing special to do, check your oil level, LOL, if your garage is like some I have seen, check for mice in the mufflers or what not, if no sign of them, one spring I found nuts on top of my air cleaner in my convertible and my garage is pretty well sealed, little buggers can get into places you would never expect them. Check the air in the tires and go. This is all assuming it was kept dry.

Frankly, I store all my power equipment for longer without any additives to the gas or anything and have never had a problem with bad gas. Of course, I do not use 10% ethanol gas unless it is the only gas I can get before things go into storage. While I do ride in the winter when the roads permit, there are times when the bikes sit for a couple of months without running.

The battery tender is a great tool and I love them, best unit available I have found and I have tried a number of maintainer chargers with less than stellar results.

Don't throw any rocks at me for not using any kind of fuel stabilizer, draining the tank or carbs. I have NEVER had a problem in 40 plus years of owning a bike, car, lawnmower, snowblower or boat, sitting for up to five months at a time. I keep things dry, and have never had enough gunk form in my tanks to worry about. in fact the riding mower sat from October till today and started up and ran fine with the gas from last year.

I am sorry if anyone out there has had problems. St.

 

[nrpetersen]

My opinion - Try to preheat the oil some, or at least don't first-start the engine on a particularly cold day.