Thinking about winter...

[Marclev]

Ok, so it's still a while off, and I no doubt fail some "real biker" test for this, but my thoughts are that it's unlikely I'll ride my bike a lot in winter, I've hit black ice before at speed in the car and the worst that happened was that it briefly slid around a bit before gaining control, but I'm aware that if that happens on the bike I'd at best land in the hedge by the side of the road, and that's not a very desirable situation to me, also given I've only got a few months of riding experience under my belt. The temptation to ride will no doubt get the better of me, but nowhere near the frequency I'm riding it right now.

So anyhow, I'm wondering what the best way is to actually keep the bike over winter if I don't ride it for extended periods of time. Right now, it's just on the driveway with an Oxford rain cover, but should I be investing in some sort of more permanent shelter for it over winter?

Bike's a 2012 XJ6 by the way if that makes a difference. Nothing fancy, but I do have a soft spot for it and would hate for it to end up being ruined because frost got into the wrong cavity or some such while being exposed to the elements.

Any thoughts?

[Val]

[Casper]

Wash the bastard and spray it with ACF50 apart from disks and tyres then forget about it. Wash again when winters over.

[ADSrox0r]

And whatever you do, don't be tempted to go out into the garage once a week and fire her up for a while to 'keep the battery topped'. It's bollocks, just encourages condensation inside your crankcase and so on. Leave it on a tender and forget about it.
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Current bikes: '08 VFR 800 VTEC(yo) , '07 ZZR1400 Winter hack: '95 Aprilia 650 Pegaso Currently lusting after: RC30

[Rogerborg]

[pja8]

I commute, so ride most of year, most days, got the car for when it's bad weather. Don't ride much in December and January, Bike lives outside apart from those 2 months where I garage it at my parents, leave battery on bike and attach a battery trickle charger.

I have a can of acf50 I use throughout the year, a few cloths to wipe bike clean and that's about it. Oh and I do have some chrome polish, do like to give bike a bit of a buff.

Rust, never seen any of any importance, ride bikes that are chrome obsessed love the stuff, seems to last with me. More than happy to go for a short ride infrequently during the winter, may be not though after the road has just been gritted

As for road conditions and weather, if you don't fancy it, just don't do it better to be safe than sorry.

You have years of biking ahead of you, the bike will last and the sun will shine enough to get your rides in, enjoy.
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Current - Triumph America LT Previous - Honda VT750S, Kymco Pulse S 125cc, Suzuki GS500e, Kawasaki KH100ex & Suzuki TS50er

[Val]

[FlightRisk]

There's plenty of brilliant riding days in winter! Just not when it's icy.

Batteries don't like cold and lack of use, so if you're really not going to be using it for a few weeks consider taking the battery indoors. A charger might not be a bad investment either - an Optimate or similar cheap device from Aldi. If you leave a bike standing for a properly long time the fuel might go bad and it's not great for the tyres. Otherwise it's just a matter of cleaning and a shit-ton of WD40 or GT85 or similar.
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Honda CB500S

[MCN]