Hello fellow Grommers, just a paranoid Grom owner here wondering how hard is it on the bike to have it sit for an extended period of time without any starts? I am located in Minnesnowta which means I am not able to ride it for at least 6 months out of the year. I purchased my Grom in the beginning of December and it has been sitting inside my house ever since and will be till about the beginning of April. The bike has "0" miles on it and about 5 minutes of run time on it. It has a full tank of gas with seafoam in it, fresh oil from the dealer, and battery is disconnected. Is this hard on my bike? If so, is there anything i can do to store it properly without hurting anything?
Grom sitting for 6 months...Ok?
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I would change the oil with synthetic before storage, fill the tank, add stabilier and throw a battery tender on there. You do that for years and you should never have a problem. Even if the battery is disconnected you will still want a battery maintainer on there to keep it from losing charge over time.
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Just get the small one. That should be plenty for the grom. The big ones are great if you need to actually charge the battery but i have personally never neeeded it.
If you got a cycle gear near by they normally have them for cheap like 15 bucks. I need to go get a second one just for my truck now that i think about it.
If you got a cycle gear near by they normally have them for cheap like 15 bucks. I need to go get a second one just for my truck now that i think about it.
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Battery tender $6 at harbor freight or $20 for the one with the quick disconnect
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absolutely do not change the oil with synthetic before its broken in. you haven't ridden it yet, and if you don't run it for a while with the break in oil, which has a higher zinc content, the rings will not seat and you can have oil consumption issues and a lack of compression.
its a fuel injected bike, so winterizing is easy, run it for about 10 minutes with seafoam(not stabil), put the battery on a tender, or charge it a few times over winter, put a bunch of air in the tires(they lose pressure from sitting and this will give you enough that they wont go flat over winter, set to correct pressure in spring), now go inside and have some hot chocolate.
for bonus points, on mine, I coat the motor and chain, and other hardware with wd40. just give it a bath before you start it in the spring. Im from Wisconsin, so Im in a similar situation weather wise. I also work at a bike shop.
for next year, absolutely change the oil in the fall before you store it. you want it to sit over winter with fresh oil. oil doesn't go bad, but the additives break down and can actually become corrosive. I have seen parts rust that were sitting in an oil bath
its a fuel injected bike, so winterizing is easy, run it for about 10 minutes with seafoam(not stabil), put the battery on a tender, or charge it a few times over winter, put a bunch of air in the tires(they lose pressure from sitting and this will give you enough that they wont go flat over winter, set to correct pressure in spring), now go inside and have some hot chocolate.
for bonus points, on mine, I coat the motor and chain, and other hardware with wd40. just give it a bath before you start it in the spring. Im from Wisconsin, so Im in a similar situation weather wise. I also work at a bike shop.
for next year, absolutely change the oil in the fall before you store it. you want it to sit over winter with fresh oil. oil doesn't go bad, but the additives break down and can actually become corrosive. I have seen parts rust that were sitting in an oil bath
Unfortunately, up here in the northland a lot of our toys sit all winter, plus lawn mowers and tillers. All I have ever done is top off the fuel tanks with fresh fuel, do a fresh oil change before storage (every owners manual will recommend that) and then maintain the battery in any way you see fit. I leave mine on battery tenders all winter long. That 45 degree temp mentioned above is perfect, fuel does not break down near as fast as when parked during hot summer months. Plus you aren't sitting in freezing temps where warm and cold changes cause rusting condensation to build on your precious metal parts. Also, if you can, take the weight off the tires and you will be good to go!
One more thing, if you have access to unleaded fuel without ethanol, use it for the storage season. If you have to, use premium, you can usually find it without ethanol.
One more thing, if you have access to unleaded fuel without ethanol, use it for the storage season. If you have to, use premium, you can usually find it without ethanol.
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