What did you do to your bike today?

[Bonz]

You're better off not running it at all and winterizing it. Letting it idle for any amount of time and then just driving it up into the garage does not let the engine get hot enough to burn off accumulated moisture of combustion that accumulates in the oil.

It's fun to start them up and hear them run, etc but if it's not going to be run for a month or maybe more it's not advisable to just idle it.

[MarkD]

+1, Bonz. I had the same idea, winterize, put on center stand, and admire from a distance. My thought on the occasional start-up without getting it up to temp, is it will put moisture in your exhaust pipes, you will turn it off, and the accumulation of moisture will rust your pipes. Here in N. MI, a ride is a far off thing.

[Bonz]

You are thinking the right stuff!

[BA80]

I don't live so close to The Arctic Circle. I still ride mine now and then.

[Dudenatz]

You're better off not running it at all and winterizing it. Letting it idle for any amount of time and then just driving it up into the garage does not let the engine get hot enough to burn off accumulated moisture of combustion that accumulates in the oil.

It's fun to start them up and hear them run, etc but if it's not going to be run for a month or maybe more it's not advisable to just idle it.

Duly noted. As per my post, I've only done the garage running once, but making a habit of it would seem to cause long-term damage for a short-term warm, fuzzy feeling. Definitely not worth it, I want it to last and don't need more repairs to do, especially the self-inflicted damage type. Stupid is as stupid does, you know...

Thanks much for the advice. It is very much appreciated.

Regards

[SteveO]

Excellent advice, and you (Bonz) were the 2nd person to advise me to NOT start and run it from time-to-time over the winter. That is why I love this site and never want it to go away (maybe wishful thinking). So the battery came out and is now on a trickle-charge, and I'm already preparing for the Spring introduction of Fresh Gas and an oil/filer change. I don't like winter so I guess I live in the wrong part of the country. Thanks

[Bonz]

Two Saturdays ago it almost at 60° and I got out for a nice ride, ZRX 1200. This morning it's below 20 degrees, 5" of snow overnight, and they called school off for the day. Being a teacher has its perks, except during finals week when it makes it a tight schedule with Friday scheduled off already as the first day of Christmas break for the students.

A thought on the oil and filter change... If you put fresh oil in this fall, just run it for the regular oil change. Oil will not go bad in the crankcase anymore than it will sitting in the bottle. Even if you ran it a few times the oil is going to be fine. Filter can go two oil changes so unless this is the second oil change, leave it in there.

The oil madness that is easily read about anywhere you want to look for it, it's all about making the person feel good it doesn't do anything for the machine.

[Dudenatz]

Two Saturdays ago it almost at 60° and I got out for a nice ride, ZRX 1200. This morning it's below 20 degrees, 5" of snow overnight, and they called school off for the day. Being a teacher has its perks, except during finals week when it makes it a tight schedule with Friday scheduled off already as the first day of Christmas break for the students.

A thought on the oil and filter change... If you put fresh oil in this fall, just run it for the regular oil change. Oil will not go bad in the crankcase anymore than it will sitting in the bottle. Even if you ran it a few times the oil is going to be fine. Filter can go two oil changes so unless this is the second oil change, leave it in there.

The oil madness that is easily read about anywhere you want to look for it, it's all about making the person feel good it doesn't do anything for the machine.

A question regarding oil: The "Winter Storage Tips" thread says to ride it to warm it up, and change the oil while warm. My weather situation is pretty much the same as yours, so a ride isn't possible, and now I don't want to garage run it, for stated reasons. It has quality oil in it, but the thread refers to acids and water that develop in it. Would you run it in a way to get it hot and change the oil, or leave it be until spring preps begin? TIA.

Regards

[Bonz]

You're going to be fine. I take it to mean the quality oil is fairly fresh oil. Any amount of by-products of combustion that have been created in this case are more than neutralized by the oil.

Look at all the vehicles that go stop and go limited miles each way in the winter, everyday, and never warm up for 6 months at a time.

Your bike is in way less "peril" (lol) than hundreds of millions of cars currently experiencing cold weather in the United States of America.

If it was mine I would simply leave it like it is and give it a kiss good night until spring time.

[SteveO]

Sunday January 12th: 64 degrees and Sunny in New Jersey!!! In order to pull the bike out, I had to move the snow-blower onto the driveway first. Then after a quick pre-flight check and pumping some air in the tires, I was off on a January ride. Felt really nice, and it ran very well! But then....

Sunday January 19th: 28 degrees! I guess last weekend was just a tease! Probably won't be touching it again until the Spring, but I am thankful for the unscheduled ride.

[MarkD]

Finally.

I finally took the time today to lube the splines. I am locked down in MI, so I thought I'd have a look at the driveline. I zerked some grease into it last year, and was pleasantly surprised to see some nicely lubed splines. I did a little more packing of grease, and reinstalled the wheel with no problems. When I spun the rear wheel, it all seems fine. Tomorrow, I'll do some more tinkering to make sure the front wheel spins nice and free.

[3Phase]

I moved my XJ11 around in the garage to exercise the brake system and wiped down the brake rotors to get some road and brake grunk off of them.

I'll bleed the brakes tomorrow after I get some fresh brake fluid. The bottle I have has been open for a too long to trust it and the XJ's linked brake system can be temperamental if it's not bled correctly with dry brake fluid.

[Bonz]

Nice work Scott!

I only looked at the ZRX in the garage today... however each of the last three days I have gone out for a 50 to 75 mile ride after I finish online teaching that the coronavirus has dictated via the Governor's decree. I can't say I don't mind it because I finish up at 2 p.m. and lots of daylight now!

Bled the brakes and clutch through till fresh fluid came out last summer before the rally I think she'll be good to go.

Debating whether to pull the valve cover and do a check. Kawasaki calls for it every 7,500 miles and I'm probably pushing 9,000 miles on it since the last check and adjustment in June 2018 before the Gunnison rally.

I will be rebuilding the forks before the heart of the riding season gets here. Twenty-year-old components and 65,000 miles. I'm sure I can sweeten up the front end feel.

[3Phase]

Thanks, Bonz!

It's been raining here for, like, a couple of weeks now along with the quarantine so I'm about to go full metal barking moonbat.

Hmm... I'm remembering my Kawasaki KZ750 and its insane valve shim changes. Is your ZRX shim-over-bucket like the XS/XJ's or shim-under-bucket and you have to pull the cam(s) to change shims?

I really didn't like doing that.

[Bonz]

I had a V-Strom 1000 that was shim under bucket and I had to pull the cams to do that. Sucked.

ZRX has rockers. The cam works on top of the rocker, the end of the underside of rocker pushes down on the shim which is centered in the retainer on top of the valve.

Check clearance between the rocker arm and the top of the shim, rocker rotates up and slides sideways and is held in place with a detent. Easy shim changes!

With the double valve springs installed from a ZX-11, and running the ZX-11 ECU, the valve train is good for a reliable 11,500 RPM rev limit believe it or not. I've never taken it there, stock rev limit is 10,600 rpm. 10,000 RPM has been my self-imposed upper limit when the valve train was stock and since changing to the double valve springs. With the ZX11 ECU comes a more aggressive timing curve that works well with the other modifications to the engine like the high compression pistons, the larger carbs etc.

With the ZZR 1200 cams in there, power peaks at 10,000 RPM, so I GUESS if I had to use power past the peak when I shifted the RPM would drop back down perfectly into the meat of the upper power band.