Bike left outside for a month

[jaypeezy215]

So while I'm at college i left my bike at home in my garage. Fuels been filled and stabilized and bikes been covered. I come home for break and see that my bike has been moved outside, covered, but outside. My dad explains to me that there's no room for it so he put it outside. fair enough I guess it is his property and he is paying my tuition...for now. His rebuttal for my temper tantrum was "Our neighbor leaves his Harley outside all year without it covered and it's fine" My bike is covered with a ebay cover, so while most of the rain was deflected, a small amount got through. My question to everyone is, is it ok to leave it outside during the winter?  The battery's on a tender, and I think I covered enough steps to winterize a bike minus the part about garaging it for the winter. I have a 2005 gs500f if that helps at all. thanks alot for the help.

[ohgood]

So while I'm at college i left my bike at home in my garage. Fuels been filled and stabilized and bikes been covered. I come home for break and see that my bike has been moved outside, covered, but outside. My dad explains to me that there's no room for it so he put it outside. fair enough I guess it is his property and he is paying my tuition...for now. His rebuttal for my temper tantrum was "Our neighbor leaves his Harley outside all year without it covered and it's fine" My bike is covered with a ebay cover, so while most of the rain was deflected, a small amount got through. My question to everyone is, is it ok to leave it outside during the winter?  The battery's on a tender, and I think I covered enough steps to winterize a bike minus the part about garaging it for the winter. I have a 2005 gs500f if that helps at all. thanks alot for the help.

Cover it, and tell your dad to stop riding it.

Hell if he won't admit to getting busted (forgot to put it up after his last joy ride) at the least he could change the oil every 2,000 miles.

It will be fine. Put a coat of wax on it, WD-40 the exposed bolts LIGHTLY, and put it on the CENTER stand, maybe with a piece of soft foam under the front wheel to prevent flat spots.

[jaypeezy215]

awesome thanks, I was getting worried. Yeah my dad was a motorcycle mechanic back in high school so I know he wants to get on. He hasn't had a ride in over 30 years and he's to proud to ask to borrow mine. I guess i'll buy a new cover tonight thanks!

[Kerry]

I don't know if it will help any, but here is a picture of my bike on the morning of January 9th.  It had been out for a month or more (unridden) already, it's still there today, and it will probably be there for a while yet (more snow coming).  Sigh....

The cover is a $20 jobbie from WalMart.

[jaypeezy215]

whew thansk alot kerry. Whiel my situation hasnt been THAT bad we've seen soem rain and a little snow here in Philly. Thanks alot cant wait till Marxh 

[Kerry]

Yeah - the bike can take it.  But I will say that I'm getting quite a bit of rust on my front brake rotor.  (This is a wetter winter than we've had lately.)  That's going to take some cleanup work in the Spring.

Does anyone know of a way to keep rust off an unused rotor without contaminating the brake pads, both during storage AND when you start riding again?

[frankieG]

clingy plastic wrap like u use for vegitables ?

[Kerry]

Hey, not a bad idea!   

All I could come up with was some kind of wax or grease that I'd have to (carefully) take off later with some nasty chemical.

Simple is good.