Posted by Tbert on March 16, 2002 at 22:42:53:
In Reply to: cold weather storage ? posted by michelle on December 15, 2001 at 18:25:33:
I know this is a little late in the season, but I just stumbled upon this site as we became a two bike family with a 96 Savage for my wife.
If you are not going to ride the bike, I definitely recommend you do NOT start the bike for 10-20 minutes every two weeks. You should also plan on that ride being at least 30-40 minutes to run the engine at temperature. The reason for this is because of moisture (water) that is in the engine oil. This develops from condensation created from the cold metal parts. Over winter and in unheated storage, this moisture will freeze and create ice sludge in your oil. No harm, no foul if you run the engine up to temperature and long enough to burn off the water. Otherwise the water remains in the oil and causes damage to internal engine parts in the form of corrosion (worse then any four letter word to a motorcycle).
Hope this is helpful to you in the future. The other tips posted here are good advice, although I am not a big fan of Sta-bil. Draining the tank is a better practice in my humble opinion.