Winter is coming! Are you prepared to winterize your bike the right way? Learn the essential steps to keep your motorcycle in top shape during the off-season. From cleaning and ceramic coatings to battery maintenance, fuel stabilization, and more—this episode is packed with expert tips to help your ride weather the cold months.

🔗 Sponsor & Affiliate Info:

This episode is not sponsored. Some product links may be affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission if you purchase through them—thank you for supporting the podcast!

📋 Episode Summary:

In this episode, Tom and Todd cover everything you need to know about preparing your motorcycle for winter storage. Discover:

The best cleaning techniques, including ceramic coatings for lasting shine.

• How to stabilize fuel and protect your engine.
• Essential battery care and tips for storing your bike safely.
• Why your tires, cables, and leather components need special attention.
• Unique ideas for winter storage, including community storage solutions and DIY tips.
• Whether you're a seasoned rider or just learning, this episode ensures your bike is ready to roll when spring arrives!

🛠️ Products Mentioned:

Seafoam Fuel Additive - https://amzn.to/4fW4YIR

STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer - https://amzn.to/4fLBtJL

Battery Tender - https://amzn.to/3D5Ecz3

Ceramic Coatings - https://amzn.to/3OAGkBy

Breathable Bike Cover - https://amzn.to/4fT0zGN

⏰ Timecodes:

0:00 - Teaser: Santa's New Sleigh?

0:30 - Bottom Line: Your bike deserves winter TLC!

1:00 - Why Winterizing Matters in Cold States

3:15 - Essential Cleaning and Ceramic Coatings

5:30 - The Importance of Fuel Stabilizers

7:45 - Battery Maintenance Tips

10:00 - Preventing Rust and Corrosion

13:15 - DIY and Creative Storage Solutions

16:30 - Leather and Plastic Protection

18:00 - Final Tips and Q&A

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About the Podcast:

At "Best Motorcycle Roads," we share stories, gear reviews, and expert riding advice to inspire every motorcycle enthusiast. Keep the spirit of adventure alive—bikes, friends, and endless roads!

Episode 046 - How to Winterize your motorcycle

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tom: It's, it's really your call.

Bottom Line

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tom: The bottom line is, is if your season's done, just give your motorcycle the care it deserves.

How to Winterize your motorcycle

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tom: ~ Um, ~we'll talk about winterizing the bikes today, showing some love to the motorcycle it is. Now, some states, of course, are just getting into the good ridings. Absolutely, yeah. When it's, you know, 110 in the shade in the summer in Phoenix, then they like to ride in the winter, and I know parts of Texas and even Florida.

tom: Uh, but up here in the north, Uh, it's pretty, I mean, there's some people that get out there. I saw a bike the other day, and

Todd: Yeah, I mean, you might have a couple of warm days in the winter,~ um,~ that you can get out, but I think for, for the most part, people kind of pack them away and call it a season. It's kind of the sad day for me when I have to put the bike away for the season.

Todd: I

tom: You know, the problem is I'd write it to work and it'd be 65 at noon when I was eating lunch, looking at the motorcycle through the window, but then, you know, it'd be just about getting dusk and. Really cool when you're writing home. Yeah, and it was like, why am I doing this? I'm freezing when I'm going to work The bike looks cool at 65 When i'm out, you know eating lunch looking at it And then I freeze on my home so but no So just going over some things to do this time of year ~Um ~when you're starting to come to that winter season, I guess so The number one thing would be just clean it right?

Todd: You know, make sure I just get all the, you know, any grease and grime that's on there,~ um,~ you know, under, especially underneath where you don't usually wash, you know, throughout the summer, I don't do it, you know, I just kind of get underneath there and make sure everything's clean and then really just making sure everything's very dry.

Todd: Then, you know, at the end of that process.

tom: Yeah. And I know you talk, we've talked a little bit, I mean, in the old days, we used to talk about waxing bikes, but now the new thing is really putting those,~ um,~ The ceramic, the ceramic coatings on them and you can I've had mine done professionally and it was pretty reasonably priced I mean, I think and they might have been running a special but for 200 They came out and detailed and put the ceramic coating on it was like a five year I think coating but you can get that and apply it yourself a lot now, too I'm pretty amazed at how well that works.

tom: But as long as you just use soap and water, I'm still amazed. And it was probably, Boy, two years ago, maybe when I had mine done, it still today just beads up like the best it's that ceramic coating is amazing. That is amazing. Highly recommended. Yeah. ~Um, ~and I, and I think it works well, even on the plastic windshield, it'll fill in.

tom: Oh sure. Yeah. So, and then just your standard change the oil and filter. I think,~ um,~ you know, over the year you get a lot of buildup,~ um,~ the contaminants. Everything settles, and I think you want to have that out of there before, before it just sits for the winter. Yep, for sure. ~Um, ~so you can check that out.

Todd: Yeah, I, I use seafoam as well, but yeah, stables also good when I use that up until I, you know, heard about seafoam and switched over to that. You

tom: really want to fill the tank up right when you do that because the enemy of that is the moisture will build up on

Todd: the inside of the tank and then yeah, you don't want that first of all, rusting the inside of your tank, but it's, it's not good to have any kind of water in your fuel system.

Todd: So yeah, especially if you like,~ um,~ when you have fuel injectors and things like that.

tom: Yeah, so then I think the next step is probably the battery, would you say?

Todd: Yeah, I would, uh, if you can, take the battery out and bring it in inside the house and find just a warm, you know, room that you can set it in. I would even hook it up to a battery tender.

tom: Yeah.

Todd: ~Um, ~but if you, if you do leave it in the bike, I would use the battery tender for sure, especially if you're going to be, you know, in the car. A cold garage.

tom: So for sure, you want to make sure you have a tender on it. If you're going to leave the battery in the bike, for sure.

Todd: Yeah. I know that there's some bikes too, that have, you know, like digital clocks and all that stuff will, will

tom: just

Todd: trickle drain your

tom: batteries and in the newer bikes, I mean, in my newer Goldwing, it's, it's epidemic.

tom: I mean, And what they're finding too is all the electronics wear those batteries out faster. So like if you've got a four year old battery, you know, my dad used to be a mechanic and he, and a guy would always every four years replace his battery. And he'd said, that's the cheapest insurance I could get for not having to have a tow, you know, what a great idea.

tom: And it's, it's cheaper than a tow truck. Right. I mean, so like, it is a good thing to, if you can just, even replace those batteries every few years. And their batteries are more expensive now, but, but yeah, for sure a tender,~ um,~ either way, if you're not taking the battery out, definitely want a tender. And if you are taking it out still, it's always good to maintain that charge on there.

Todd: Yeah.

tom: I mean and that again one getting them all clean and then two just making sure you're spraying you know Corrosion resistant stuff. No.

Todd: Yeah, you can spray You know, you can take your spark plugs out and actually spray a fog. That's what they call

tom: it You'll see that sometimes even if you're taking them in they'll fog The motor for you just kind of gives it a, you know, a light coat of oil.

tom: Yeah, it's

Todd: a light coat of oil in there and, you know, if you have a chain, you know, clean and, uh, and lube that, you know, oil that chain up. ~Um, ~you know, make sure your cables are nice and, you know, dry and,~ um,~ you don't have water on them. ~Um, ~I, I don't really lubricate any of the cables. You know,

tom: yeah,

Todd: well, I've got hydraulic, but I mean on the, yeah, my older bikes, I didn't, I didn't do any of that kind of stuff.

Todd: Yeah.

Todd: yeah,

tom: they don't always get that. ~Um, ~and just all the other parts. I mean, I know like wiping down the wheels, just making sure that you get all that grime off there.

tom: It's just going to sit around. ~Um, ~and you don't, you don't need that. It, it does tend to stick a little more if you leave it for a long time, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I think,~ um,~ that is, that's good suggestion. So.~ Um, ~just and then looking, I guess, at just tires and suspension,~ um,~ you want to make sure the tires are inflated.

Todd: Yeah, make sure they're, they're full because, you know, if you, if they are a little low, you'll, you'll kind of sit there on a flat spot if they're sitting for a long time. Tires will do that. They will, they'll form a flat spot, so make sure they're full. And

tom: so, you probably want to at least, not every single bike has a, has a,~ um,~ It has a center stand, but if you do, I think you want to get that up, up on, off, off the kind of relieve the pressure of,

Todd: yeah, not only relieving the pressure, but just getting that, you know, your, your tire off of the concrete cause concrete will, you know, kind of dry the tire out, you know, help dry that off.

tom: that might draw moisture though. Yeah. You know, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. That's a good point. But get it off the concrete. Get it off the concrete.

tom: Yeah. Yeah. Even like a rubber mat. Oh, that would be good. An extra old floor mat. Mm hmm. And then just all the other places that pivot, right? I mean, your triple tree area, like suspension areas. Mm hmm. If you can just grease that up a little bit, that's always good. Because those are just areas, again, that are going to collect dust, dirt, debris.

Todd: Yeah. I don't know how crazy you want to get, but you know, like, if you have a, if you have a drive shaft, you know, that's something you could, you could lubricate any of the suspension, uh, points.

tom: And this is a spot I would say, Todd, where the internet's worth, worth its weight in gold in the sense that like, there's guys that are just.

tom: I mean, those older motorcycles have a lot of brakes that, you know, combined and not, you're not spraying stuff on the brake pads themselves, but there's a lot of lubricating points, you know, and then mine is an automatic. It has a, it has a parking brake, you know, so there's a, there's a separate place for that.

tom: ~Um, ~all those kinds of things, I think are good spots to kind of make sure that everything is just kind of. Greased up.

Todd: Yeah, I like that suggestion. Find your bike and you're making a model and look it up because someone,

tom: someone's done a video for you. Exactly. And it's all in the manual. If you have the manual, just do a quick look, you know, and it will tell you the things that it wants you to do.

tom: He's got it wrapped so tight. It's true. I mean, a couple of things, right? I mean, you just want to make sure anything that critters can get into is at least a little harder for, for them to crawl up in there. Cause of course that's a little warmer than other places.

Todd: Yeah.

tom: And, uh, you don't really need, uh, Parts unknown to be climbing inside of your exhaust or yeah I hear people using

Todd: dryer sheets or using mothballs, you know that just you know stuff in different places or keep within them Yeah, put a circle around the bike using those.

Todd: Yeah I know that air cleaners are notorious for mice getting in there and making a little mess in there You

tom: can't get to it to clean out yourself, but they find a way right somehow they find a way. Yeah Yeah, so that's a great one. So ~um ~I'm not sure how you prevent like in some of these bigger touring bikes to keep mice out of that area But and really I mean, hopefully you're keeping the bike inside if you can if you're not you're probably trying to really to cover it Up, but it's probably hard to get all the places Collecting so but yeah,

tom: might have to bring him over and give him the patrol over here That's right.

tom: Find any mice out there. Go get him. Oh, that's funny Yeah, and I guess we kind of were talking about this a little bit, but just finding a good place to store it. I mean, you've got that, now you're using the, the dolly, right? ~Um, ~yeah. And so kind of finding a kind of a place to get it out of the way, because you don't need it in the way either, right?

tom: I mean, you want to kind of have things so it's, ~um. ~So you're not bumping into

Todd: it. Right. Rubbing it, scratching it. It's bad

tom: enough the way it is, right? That's why I say I've got enough problems with them the way it is. But, uh, yeah. So just kind of, you know, Want to make sure it's not with most people probably don't have windows or things that are like sun shining on them because yeah That can definitely dry out and then kind of fade certain areas of it But

Todd: Uh, the cover kind of needs to be a little bit breathable as well. Yeah, you don't want to trap moisture. You don't want to trap moisture in there, so. That kind

tom: of reminds me of an idea too, if you have, you know, maybe if there's a forum that has people that are local, like three or four guys. Because, you know, You can pick up a small storage shed for, you know, for, you know, three or four people doing that together.

tom: That's a great idea. A great idea to kind of just buy a storage unit together. Maybe you can get one for a couple hundred bucks and split it

Todd: four or five ways.

tom: That's that wouldn't be bad either. So just be thinking outside the box a little bit. Maybe I

Todd: hadn't thought of that. And the storage shed guy

tom: thought of that.

tom: You don't want a bike that's frozen. The good news is, is to keep it from overheating. It's, you know, the mix of the antifreeze also keeps it from overheating. So that's good, but you should probably check it to make sure it's not too much, uh, water level. Too much water. Yeah. And that's not easy to do anymore.

tom: I mean, a lot of these bikes don't really leak water. So you can't, it's sometimes hard to get to the coolant reservoirs to check them. So that's a, that's a tough one. And then if you're, if you have a hydraulic clutches breaks, check the fluids again, they collect moisture. Just, just like everything else.

tom: And, uh, you definitely don't want to find that out.

tom: Anything else that you can think of Todd, as you're starting to think of things to store, I mean, One thing I thought of is just check your, you know, there's some bags and things that I leave in the bike all the time.

tom: ~Um, ~you know, so there could be fluids perhaps in a bag that might, could freeze and then, you know. What else?

Todd: No, that's a great idea. I, I do keep like some lens cleaner, like for my glasses in, in a bag inside my trunk. And yeah, I've got to make sure I take that up. But, uh, some of your electronics, I would just say, bring those in.

Todd: I don't know what happens to electronics if they freeze, you know, if you had a, a GPS, you know, or any of those kinds of things. I don't know what happens if they freeze. So I just bring them in.

tom: Yeah, I mean, where I think the problem exists is if it gets super cold, like with an LCD style screen, I mean, those are liquid crystal displays.

tom: It's like made from soy. Oh, really and that's partially why they like to get into wiring. Oh, and so yeah That might be one reason why they seem to be attracted to wiring. It's not the metal. It's the covering that I'll be darned Yeah that they get into so

Todd: the other thing too You might want to like treat your leather, uh, you know, leather seats.

Todd: If you have leather bags on your bike or, you know, any kind of pouches and that, you know, maybe treat those with a, you know, a good leather protectant,~ um,~ you know, help keeps the moisture out, right. It keeps them from drying and cracking and

tom: all the plastics, you know, you can condition those, there's some pretty good conditioners.

tom: And those are usually a cable. So like, you want to check into that and make sure, you know, that latch that's manually released can get pulled.

Todd: That's a great point.

tom: You know, because those are the things that get bound up and then, you know, you get somewhere. It opens up for you and then you don't get it open back up again.

tom: I mean, we know a couple of guys that have a little bit of gravel and that, you know, it just sucks in all that stuff. Yeah, it just seems like, ~um, ~

Todd: I also take like my flashlights and things that I have like that, you know, cause there's batteries in there. I don't know. Will the batteries freeze? Maybe. I don't, will they break?

Todd: I don't know. I don't, I don't chance it. I just put, it seems

This is a section we call the toolkit. We share motorcycle gear, gear review, and other riding tips.

tom: In the toolkit today is kind of a lot of things that I think we talk about, but it really just goes hand in hand with some of the things we talked about a bike cover. And you mentioned a breathable bike cover, and really that's so important. And for this instance, winterizing, I would say that you're going to probably want to be looking for the full, like a full bike cover, wouldn't you?

tom: Oh yeah, for sure, yeah.~ Um, ~so looking for something, and just making sure that it fits over your bike. And I think in this instance, having something that maybe is a little bit larger, probably not a bad thing, so I'd go bigger than smaller. ~Um, ~but, uh, yeah, and then we've talked battery tender. There's a bunch of great low cost battery tender options.

Todd: I always plug money into the battery tender.

Todd: It, I, I have two cables that are on the battery and it's got the plug hanging out the side of the bike. And so I just click, click and I'm, I'm tender

tom: what I've done before too. And this is a good time. Maybe if it's not the same spot that you're parking it regularly, but even in your winter spot I'll just mount a battery tender on the wall there.

tom: They've gotten so reasonably priced ~Um, ~and you know, these are great items to pick up at garage sales, too You'll see a lot of battery tenders there and they're almost always good But then I just mount that baby right on the wall and then just kind of make it super convenient So then when I park it I reach over I plug it in You know and you know I just have a couple extra battery tenders laying around.

tom: ~Um, ~it would certainly help. I mean, I, I don't know how long that triple would last in those. Yeah,

Todd: that I don't know, but it would

tom: be better than leaving the battery. I would think,~ um,~ you know, trying to keep it going. I would think that at least a couple of three weeks it would last on a, a battery pack like that.

tom: I mean, it probably depends on the temperature and something like that. And then lastly, you know, you just picked up the motorcycle dolly,~ um,~ I think you ended up, did you get the Harbor Freight one? I got

Todd: They recommend you push it up. But,~ um,~ yeah, it took me about four tries. I finally get it to roll up on there. But then even after it was up there, I realized. You can't just push on the motorcycle because you push the motorcycle on top of the dolly and the dolly just doesn't move That's so good. So we put it in gear.

Todd: Yeah, you know, I also grabbed the front brake Okay, and then tried to push it off to the side or on top of it It was very difficult like it, you know, the if the dolly wheels aren't going in the direction you want to go castors Yeah, you almost get them lined

tom: up

Todd: Yeah, you

tom: got a little push You're parallel parking like a drifter would. Yes, exactly.

Todd: Just had to slide it right up against the wall between two things. So

tom: you got a bargain one, you know, I would say, cause it was like 130 years, like 120 bucks or something. So I suppose that, I mean, I know the, there's some really nice ones.

tom: Like I think the black widow, I think is like one of the top models and you're talking to them. Three times the price is the one you spent. Yeah. And I'm assuming maybe the casters, maybe just a little bit better, but it still seemed once you kind of got the hang of it. Yeah. Once I got it kind of figured out, I got it in there.

tom: I mean, it seems so handy. I mean, I thought about just getting one to roll around in my, and I have plenty of room where everything goes, but just to kind of be able to really tuck it in, I thought another, that would be kind of interesting just to get one too, because it is kind of handy. I've got,~ um,~ some.

tom: Yeah I wonder if that would work though because oh, no i'm talking about i'm talking about getting a bike dolly Oh a bike. Yeah, not like no no I'm just saying the car dolly ones are so slick. You can spin those cars I'm talking about getting I want to get one. I think like yours because It's just easy to kind of cram For space purposes it is yeah,

Todd: so using that dolly that I got it It sits on the side stand and the dolly has a little spot for the side stand, okay So it does you know, it's still on its side lean.

Todd: Yeah, so I'm not on the center stand I would maybe prefer to have this out But what I could do is I could put a block of wood under the maybe for the winter I'll stand it up a little just to kind of really cool. Yeah.

tom: Yeah. Yeah Cool. Well, that's really nice. I mean, I think that's good to know that it works out, you know, you get what you pay for, but yeah.

tom: And maybe I guess at the end of the world, the guy could maybe switch out the casters if you really wanted to.

tom: mean, going back to winterizing, maybe spray a little WD 40 on those characters.

tom: Like true. They probably didn't give it the full grease up.

Todd: Yeah.

tom: If you like the podcast today, please like and subscribe or sign up for our BMR rider alerts. It's our way of keeping you in the loop, and we promise no spam.

Todd: Keep the spirit of adventure alive, and remember, bikes, friends, and endless roads, the stories ride forever. Take care.