Summerizing

[fredintoon]

OK,
all of us who put our bikes away for the winter follow one version or another of a winterizing program in the sure and certain knowledge that if we don't, we'll be sorry.
OTOH, last fall I shoved my snowblower into the shed with a half-tank of gas in it. On Wednesday I dragged it out of the shed and parked it in the garage. Today I needed to deal with the ~2" of snow in the drive. Plugged in the cord, turned on the gas, pumped the primer and pushed the starter. Fired right up on last fall's gas.
Why can't my XS11 be like that?

[Elevener]

Maybe its the four carbs fred, or maybe it just doesnt like you,

[cywelchjr]

I don't know. If I don't prep my lawnmower, I end up having to clean the carb on it, and it's passages are not nearly as small as the ones on these carbs, which I think has something to do with it. That said, it will run on gas that the bike won't run on.

[DGXSER]

IMO Cy has hit on it, the carbs of a lawn mower are not nearly as complicated as the carbs on these bikes, and the passages are not as small. The engine is also not nearly as complicated, ever reshimm or otherwise adjust the valves on your mower? I have yet to ever drain out or winterize any of my gas powered lawn equipment or even my chainsaw for that matter and it can sit for years at a time. They may be a little finicky on first start up, but never fail to run and on whatever gas is still in them from the last use whenever that was.

Now my Evinrude 3.3 HP outboard, that is another story. Since it was built in 1953, it seems to be old and crotchety like some other folks I know of that vintage. IT wants to be handled just so or it will complain and whine and not do a dang thing I ask it to do.

[motoman]

Never have had a fuel issue with mower, weed-eater, or the scoots for that matter. At times, one of the scoots will set for 4-5months just cause interest happens to be with the one I'm riddin' at the time. If I happen to remember, will dump a bit of Sea-Foam in tanks once a year. The warm man-cave and no humidity here I'm sure helps everthing funtion correctly.

[webbcraft2150]

Winterizing? Whats that? It was 83 here yesterday.

[planedick]

I belong to a riding club called AYRR (All Year Round Riders) and we don't "winterize" here at all. Ha Ha Ha

[madmax-im]

All the years I lived in NJ I never once winterized since I like to ride in the wintertime whenever roads were clear and dry...I found that just getting out once or twice a month during the winter was enough to keep the bike from gumming up...but of course I'd get out more often than that...
So now down here in NC dont think I'd be winterizing here either... The past few days have been delightfully warm.

[fredintoon]

What I should have said was:-
OK,
all of us who put our bikes away for the winter follow one version or another of a winterizing program in the sure and certain knowledge that if we don't, we'll be sorry.
OTOH, this spring I shoved my snowblower into the shed with a half-tank of gas in it. On Wednesday I dragged it out of the shed and parked it in the garage. Today I needed to deal with the ~2" of snow in the drive. Plugged in the cord, turned on the gas, pumped the primer and pushed the starter. Fired right up on 7 month old gas.
Why can't my XS11 be like that?

[cywelchjr]

Originally Posted by fredintoon

What I should have said was:-
OK,
all of us who put our bikes away for the winter follow one version or another of a winterizing program in the sure and certain knowledge that if we don't, we'll be sorry.
OTOH, this spring I shoved my snowblower into the shed with a half-tank of gas in it. On Wednesday I dragged it out of the shed and parked it in the garage. Today I needed to deal with the ~2" of snow in the drive. Plugged in the cord, turned on the gas, pumped the primer and pushed the starter. Fired right up on 7 month old gas.
Why can't my XS11 be like that?

Cause your snowblower isn't a high performance 4 cylinder multi carb engine with very small passages in constant velocity carbs. It has a very simple carb that is likely a simple side draft carb designed to pretty much run at one speed. At least my lawnmower and such has pretty big passages and such that don't clog easily unlike the XS (and pretty much any other MC as well) with it's small passages that get clogged easily by bad gas. I can let my lawnmower sit all winter and start it in the spring and away it goes. My dad's generator on the other hand I have to make sure we put stabil in the tank and run it till it gets to the carb before storing it for a while.

[ManagerMike]

You didn't mention if your snowblower is a two or four stroke. If it is a two cylce and you run premixed fuel, the oil is also a stabilizer. I never winterize any of my two cycle engines, but do so to all my four cycle equipment. Just an FYI kinda comment

[tonyg-5386]

I never "winterize" my bikes. I basically start to use stabil (marine formula) in Dec and always carry a "5 hour energy drink" plastic bottle with me full of stabil. It holds 2 ounces so that's 2 tankfulls worth of treatment. I remove the label from the bottle and write "stabil" on it so I don't swig it down by mistake. :-) In the winter when I ride I always top off my tank a few miles from home and add an ounce of stabil so it mixes in with the fuel. This way if I park it and it does snow and the roads are bad for a few weeks I know the fuel has stabilizer in it and the tank is topped off. In the last 15 years I don't think I've ever gone longer than 6-8 weeks in the winter without riding the bike. I let my carbs get gummed up once, many years ago and I will never repeat that again!!

[fredintoon]

Originally Posted by tonyg-5386

I never "winterize" my bikes. - - - In the winter when I ride I always top off my tank a few miles from home and add an ounce of stabil so it mixes in with the fuel. - - - In the last 15 years I don't think I've ever gone longer than 6-8 weeks in the winter - - -

Hi Tony,
your minimalist profile don't say where you live but it has to be a long way south of Saskatoon, eh?