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It seems that, with the recent addition of ethanol to fuel in many areas, it's no longer acceptable to fill the tank, add a couple ounces on Sta-bil, and put the bike away for the winter. Apparently the ethanol absorbs water, separates from the gasoline, and results in a corrosive mixture at the bottom of the tank.

For more info, check this out http://mysite.verizon.net/doug26b/blog3.html and follow the link to the Chevron website.

So what's the answer? We already know it's a bad idea to leave the tank empty due to condensation as the temperature changes. We can't use avgas or racing fuel, because the lead will poison our catalytic converters. Any ideas?

Where is this Groton Ma?
I will ride far too often for any of these things to matter to me.
I mourn for you. Maybe I could keep your bike for you?
Mark

Mmmm, East Tennessee. OK, I'm jealous.

But the fact is that it's just not safe to ride a bike in the winter around here. They do far too poor a job of snow removal and there's far too little daylight.

Bummer. I gave up "winter storage" when I moved home to Texas four years ago.

Ride the bike in your garage. No reason to winter store.

Very funny, guys, but seriously... I live in Pittsburgh, PA and have the same problem + they salt the streets and I just hate taking the bike out, even if it's warm enough. Any ideas?

Thank heavens we do not have that here at the coast - i think I would go crazy if I could not ride just about everyday - I said to Allan Cook the other day it never really get's below 8 degrees c here. But I digress - what about if you drain the tank completely and leave the filler cap open or just resting on the tank - that should take care of any condensation ??

I've read famous person's info on his site and Chevron's website. This stinks. Living in New York I am equally concerned. Even pushing the temperature envelope, there will be months where I cannot ride without risking life and limb or frost bite.

Phillo wrote: what about if you drain the tank completely and leave the filler cap open or just resting on the tank - that should take care of any condensation ??

Be sure to check for mice before you refill in the Spring.

But I digress - what about if you drain the tank completely and leave the filler cap open or just resting on the tank - that should take care of any condensation ??

That's probably the worst thing you can do. If the humidity is high enough, you can get condensation in the tank as the air cools overnight. The condensation will probably disappear as the temperature rises the next day, but a bit of rusting will have occurred. Repeat the process every night, and it won't take long to rust all the way through the metal.

Get Stabel fuell conditioner, pour in the amount neaded as per instructions prior to filling the tank, FULL, right to the brim. Next run the bike for couple of minutes so that the treated gas runs through the whole system.
After bikes cools of completely , plug the end of exhaust opening with an apropriate plug and thats it.

Airshaft, you came in late. Your answer worked in the old days when gas was gas. Nowadays, with ethanol in the fuel in many places, it's apparently not good enough. Go up to the top of this thread and read what's at the link and the Chevron site.

Draining the tank, and than coating it with oil on the inside is just plain impractical. That's more work than I want to do.

Just add stabilizer and then fill up the tank all the way... I mean even up the filler neck... the only way to do that is put the bike on the center stand and then when you get to the bottom of the filler neck add gas very slowly. The point is to eliminate as much of the air space in your tank as possible. If there's effectively no air space there will be little or no condensation.

I checked with both BP and Sheetz (a convience store in PA that sells gas) and neither have added any ethanol to the fuel they sell. It seems that it's much more common out west than in the northeast. So I would check with your local gas stations to see if their gas contains ethanol.

Unfortunately (for winter storage, at least), it sounds like it is only a couple of years until all gas has some ethanol added, but until then, you might be okay.