rblanders@watrose.UUCP (Robyn Landers) (12/13/85)
I agree with what Mr. Chitwood has said about storing your bike for the winter - change oil, wax/WD40 on chrome, blocks to get front tire off the ground, oil in cylinders, etc, etc. All the owners manuals I've ever read have recommended draining the gas tank and coating the inside with rust inhibiting spray, and also draining the carburetors. This has always seemed like too much hassle to me, so I fill the gas tank to the brim, shut off the gas valve and run the engine until it burns up all the gas in the carbs. (Perhaps someone who knows more about engines can comment on the dangers of this!) By doing this, I prevent tank rust and varnish buildup on carb jets much easier than recommended procedures. The only penalty I know of is having a tank of stale gas in the spring, so the bike doesn't run in top form, but it's not too bad, and could be drained then. Fringe benefits include not having to clean the rust inhibiting spray out of the tank in the spring, not screwing up the carb adjustments by hitting the wrong screw, and having the engine all nice and warm to do the oil change. For a couple of years, I didn't do the carb draining trick, and paid the price by having the carbs get gummed up. A few tanks of gas with carb cleaner mixed in cured that problem, though. One other important thing is to avoid using plastic covers over the bike, since plastic doesn't breathe i.e. traps moisture. I use lots of cloth blankets, which I take in the house and run through the dryer now and then. Also, I place a bag of silica dessicant over the end of the muffler and wrap this up tight to hopefully extract moisture from the pipes. (One season I even took the mufflers off the bike and kept them in the house. When you've got a CB750K with 4 of them at $120 a toss, you do drastic things!) Robyn