Motorcycle Forum / General / Sportbikes / December 2004

My carb bike kinda stinks in the house, but the rest of the bike is
pretty much like the furniture.  I'm sure a fuel injected bike would not
be an issue in the house.  Its no more of a crime to park a bike in the
house than to park your car in the garage.

Sure: I kept a Ducati 851 in my living room, because I lived in a town
that looked nice on the outside (Pleasant Hill, California) but had an
ugly underbelly of scumbags, gang-bangers, thieves, winos, etc.  Took
one stolen bike before I wised up.  "Out of sight, out of mind."

Socially, it was taken as matter-of-course Bannon would have a
motorcycle in the living room.  Not sure how that fits your lifestyle.
Mine wasn't near gas or flame, though.  Nor did it leak fluids, fuel,
etc. so fire didn't appear to be a major concern.

'-----------------------------------------------------
' Daniel Bannon
' NW WA State, U.S.A.
' 2003 ZX636B Hercusaki, 1999 CBR1100XX
'-----------------------------------------------------

Just empty the fuel tank. If there was ever a fire firemen would not like
gas in the house, and your insurance would be invalid.

This is my theory...

Storing something in a heated area (like a basement/garage) is good because
the higher temperature than outside means lower relative humidity. The
stable temperature also reduces the amount of air that's drawn in/out of the
tank etc and the condensation which can happen as a result of temperature
fluctuations being in an outside garage.

If you're using the bike (or car), storing it in a heated area thsi is not
good. This is because when you park it inside and the bike is cold, it gets
condensation on it, and the higher temps accelerate the corrosion,
especially if there is salt on it.

The gas tank should be safe enough, but you could remove it and put it
somewhere outside if you don't like the idea of having it inside.

D.

well away from furnace and water heater with the tank drained. Local fire regs
don't cover the issue though they recommend storage of gasoline outside the
home "if possible". The gas company had no

I remember reading several years ago that the city of Los Angeles enacted an
ordinance prohibiting the storage of motorcycles or any motorcycle parts
whatever in any apartment, after a number of fires caused by hardcore bikers
storing their bikes indoors. One fire started when gasoline leaked out of the
sink when a biker was cleaning engine parts in the kitchen...

But, you seem to have the sense to drain the gas tank before storing your
machine inside...

Put some plastic sheeting down underneath the motorcycle, because it's going to
eventually weep oil out of the engine and forks...

Dogs or cats living in the house will probably want to pee on the tires, too,
because  rubber has an interesting smell to them, so the plastic sheeting will
at least protect the area where the bike is parked from urine stains...

And remove the motorcycle seat and store it in the closet where the cat can't
claw it, those little pinholes in the vinyl aren't enough reason to have the
seat recovered, but it's annoying to look at the holes and not want to slap the
sh.t out of the cat...

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    ^

Thanks for the input, guys. I think I'll play it safe and cold store it
in the (detached) garage. (Moved this year and the old place had an
attached garage where nothing froze.)  Don't really want to risk fire
or cancelled insurance even though the bike's a passion. It's a 2000
CBR1100XX, btw. The car may just have to stay outside.

There's snow on the ground now (Ontario, Canada), so I guess it's
really time to finally put it away (damn!), even though it's not -5C
yet. It was back on the road last March 5 for the first time though.
Only 10 weeks to go!

Paul

   When I leave town, I push my bike into the apartment. If you drain your
tank, you may get rust.

Reassembler

Resist the urge to do burn outs while waiting for spring.

Don't ask why I know this.