Starting hint after bike storage

[Alan_nc]

Many of the site visitors are just getting their bikes out of storage and ready for the Summer.

Couple of comments to make it easier on your bike:

1.  Charge the battery before you even try to start the bike.

2.  Check to make sure oil is to the full mark.

3.  Pick up some "Starting Fluid" at the auto parts store.
          a)  Remove one (or both) plugs and squirt just a bit in the spark plug hole
          b)  Put plug back in (remember to hand tighten it until the last turn)
4.  Full choke on

5.  Put petcock knob on "Prime" (make sure you have gas.....draining and replacing old gas with fresh gas does help......but
           shouldn't  be needed if the bike has just been sitting a month or two.

6.  Press starter button


You may have to repeat the process a couple of times if the bike has been sitting for a long while.  This should make it so you don't crank and crank the starter motor running the battery down.

[ned from PA]

If you are removing the spark plugs, it only makes sense to crank the engine with the plugs removed until the oil light goes out.  That way you get the whole engine lubricated before you subject the pistons to the load of the compression stroke.

(After a whole winter of sitting, you can be sure that all the lubricated surfaces are dry, so the first couple of cranks can cause engine wear.  Above methods avoids this wear since there is no compression when the plugs are removed, and the engine spins freely.)

[gsJack]

Just started my 100k mile 02 GS this morning, it's hardly been used over the past 2 years.  A few short rides last spring before packing. moving, and unpacking last summer and I managed to get in a few rides after my 82nd birthday last August, bike has been parked in the garage since last fall till now.

Battery was dead so I put jumper on it and cranked full choke about 5 sec and then repeated another 5 sec and it fired up and ran.  After running with throttle blips off and on it was off choke and ready to go in a couple of minutes.  Sounded as good as ever, wish I was too.

Riding year around for 30 years before that I had an old CM400A in the garage I used for a winter bike when I bought my 97 GS new so the new 97 GS  was parked in the garage for 3 or 4 months every winter for the four years I rode the 97 a total of 80k miles.  Never any prep for winter just good regular maintenance all the way and it started every spring like the 02 just did this morning.

With all the threads we have every spring about getting winter stored bikes started again maybe what we need here is some remedial maintenance courses?   

[Suzuki Stevo]

End of Season...
• Double Dose MMO/Sta-Bil to the fuel
• Plug in Battery Tender

Spring....
• Drain fuel in bowls
• Push start button

This is all I have ever done, but my garage is semi heated, with EFI the Start Up Procedure is....

Spring...
• Push start button