Hitchcocks Forum

Hi all ,as my garage is not heated and on occasion can be damp I have coverded my bullet with a nylon waterproof cover,is this a good idea or is it better to use a cloth cover to allow better ventilation.Also I intend to ride my bullet when weather permits and by last times start up I think it may be wet sumping due to the ammount of smoke on initial start up after being stood for a couple of weeks,the smoke does clear after a couple of minutes running,any sugestions.

Waterproof for outside, dust sheet for inside. wipe over the bright bits with a cloth moistened in ACF50, expensive but goes a long way... leave the motor at top dead centre to help against wet sumping, also leaves the valve springs non compressed... fill the petrol tank, empty the carb... if you have power in the garage then have the battery connected to an optimate charger, probably the best £50.00 you can lavish on your machine. Then hope for a nice sunny winters day when you can put on a few miles.... cheers gwilly

My garage has several leaky spots from the flat roof that are also mobile. I have to move the bike about when it rains to dodge the drips. I personally don't cover it I just give it a wipe over with an oily rag and sparay WD40 in all the nooks and cranies. I also park it outside to sunbathe and ride it whenever I can so it never goes into true storage. We did the ultimate in rust proofing last weekend by turning the bike upsidedown and pouring hot waxoyl up the front downtube!

Waterproof cover will make the situation worse. Best thing would be to increase ventilation in the garage. I wouldn't leave the battery on an Optimate all the time (despite what they claim) just give it a few hours every few weeks.

Hi guys------ that would be Top Dead Centre on compression stroke ...On Exhaust stroke the exhaust valve is open---naturally !! .... But why store it ?? ... TAPER, aren't you in that there LONDON place ?? Get your Winter gear on and take the old girl out for some fun !!-------- ( ) Add your own joke in that space !!

Ohhh this damm site !! Those brackets are supposed to be about 6" apart.

If you can, fit up a "light bulb" with a clay plant-pot over the top and place under bike and cover/s, will help keep the air dry at a small cost.

A cloth cover will absorb the dampness in the garage and hold it against the bike, so not a good idea. Plastic or similar impervious covers will retain moisture and prevent condensation on the bike from drying off. The best material is the breathable stuff that lets water vapour pass out of it.

ACF 50 is brilliant. If you apply it with a spraygun, it mists beautifully and goes everywhere on the bike. Very quick and thorough (so cover the brakes and tyres before applying!) and also economical because you don't get waste puddles of ACF 50 dripping on the floor.
It's also much quicker than rubbing on with a cloth, and in my experience no amount of pre-warming the ACF can will get it to spray properly.

Winter storage of bikes in this cold damp climate is a nightmare. You have three methods to stop the dreaded condensation that rusts and corrodes alloy chrome and steel. Either by keeping the bike warmer than the surrounding air or by removing the moisture from the air. Generally it is the overnight plunge of temperature that does the damage. If the garage is un-insulated and not heated, the cold night temperatures chill the bike. As the day warms slightly it often carries masses of water vapour which when it seeps into the garage condenses on the bike which is still very cold and will warm up very slowly. Covering the bike with a cloth will make no difference it will just get through and saturate the metal work. Having good ventilation will only help if the outside air blowing in is relatively dry and the bike is the same temperature as the air but as explained, the night temperature freezing the bike will mean the outside temperature will soon rise above the bike and cause condensation should the air contain a lot of moisture. There are 3 possibilities. Keep the garage heated, possibly with a dry heat source, just enough to be above cold damp external air temperatures or use a dehumidifier to dry the garage air and possibly seal the bike in a vacuum plastic bag...never tried one but if you do you will have to make sure it is done in warm conditions before evacuation. In theory you could try to make the garage as air tight as possible to exclude damp air but it would be better to circulate the air slowly with a fan within the sealed space if you could seal the garage.

My name will give you a bit of a clue where I live. (But for all you Southerners who've never been north of Watford, it's about an hour and a half south of the Scottish border).

I always read with mild amusement, all this paranoid fixation about "wintering". I ride my 350 Classic all year round, sometimes in bitterly cold weather. Yesterday, being a case in mind. The only exception I make is when there's ice and snow (for safety reasons) or WET salt on the road. I give it a generous coat of Muc-Off bike spray, WD40 or something similar. (I'm not brand-precious). If the bike get's dirty I simply clean it. It's done approx 6 000 miles and still looks as good as new.

Surely in the long term, any mechanical device fares better through frequent and regular use.