Hey guys! Planning on hibernating your bike this winter? I know I am tucking my R1 away! Storing a bike properly takes a lot of preparation. Read on for my top tips on how to do it right.

Storage
Ideally, the bike should be kept indoors when it is not in use. Using a bike cover can provide additional help to prevent accidental damage, make it harder for small creatures to nest, and also stops people from seeing your bike. For complete cryogenic status, companies offer bike chambers for a few hundred dollars that have filter systems to keep away moisture and dust. But that’s a bit overboard in my opinion.

Cleaning
After the last ride before storage, give the bike a really thorough cleaning, paying special attention to metal parts and linkages. Actually, you should do this after every ride anyways. Not many garages are moisture free, so manually dry the bike and coat metal parts (but not the brakes) with an anti-corrosion formula (like WD-40). Remember to grease any parts (linkages, cables, etc.) that might have been stripped of their lubricants.
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As an avid motorcycle hobbyist, I buy and sell bikes. Craigslist is a big contributor to my hobby and you can come across all kinds of great deals and some.. not so great deals.

On Monday, I woke up and did my usual rounds online and came across this ad for a 2007 Honda Cbr600rr frame, motor, and swingarm, all for $1000 bucks. I thought, this is an early bird special and it won’t last. I quickly shot the guy and email and he called me back. I asked the guy all the general questions about the package: condition, mileage and if all the paperwork was in order. He tells me he doesn’t have the paperwork yet and that he’s waiting for it.

That was an immediate red flag, but all was not lost. Having been in many a situation where there was no paperwork, a hand written bill of sale can make due with the DMV. My summation? Probably NOT hot. Great, ALL SYSTEMS GO, and he gives me his address.
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Hiya folks. Now this may be a bit off topic, but I’m going to post it here under my R1 section, mainly because I was riding my R1 today. As many of you know, I run a motorcycle parts and accessories shop called TNT Moto here in San Francisco. As part of my job, I constantly scour the internet for great deals.

I get a call from a person off Craigslist, and this man wants to sell me all the fairings off a 2007 Suzuki Gsxr600. However, he doesn’t want to damage anything and wants to ride the bike over to have me take them off. At the price he was asking, I couldn’t refuse, so today he drops off the bike and leaves. I store the bike in my shop and go out to run errands. He needed to go get a tow truck to take the bike away.

So, I’m at Whole Foods when I get a call from my neighbor asking if my R1 parked out front was stolen. I asked him why and he told me that the police were asking about the bike. I get back to my shop and ten policemen surround me and force their way in.
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