Too bad. I hear the NYC cockaroaches are pretty tough too.

 

Questioning the stay-bit. I have a lot of gas powered toys.

Snowmobiles I use the stay-bill only because they don't have a petcock to defuel before storage and removing the fuel line to try and run it out is near impossible without removing the engine (which I did once). (6 years old)

Dirt bikes I just run them out of fuel in the float bowl by turning the petcock and park them. Next summer they always fire right up. Never used stay-bil. (7 years old)

Boat gets drained of water in the block and then covered. Never used stay-bit. It fires right up next summer (23 years old)

Riding Lawn mower...I turn the key off when I finish the last mowing. (6 years old)

RZR...just park it when done playing. Never did anything special to it. (5 years old)

I have had friends who ride behind me on the first run for the season tell me they can smell the bad fuel. I tell them to get ahead of me and it will go away. I then race off ahead of them and laugh. After I burn off that first tank of left over gas that problem goes away.

My understanding is that stay-bit was developed years ago when fuel was less stabilized. Today's fuels are more stable right from the refineries. Adding a half a tank of premium fuel to a tank of left over fuel will bring it back to whatever standards it needs to be. And gas just doesn't go bad over the winter months...it takes a few years for it to really go bad.

Carbs will get gummed up. Does Stay-Bil actually prevent the gumming? I don't think so but I may be wrong about that. But any fuel injected engine should be fine for winter storage without stay-bit.

Full Disclosure: I'm not stating facts. I just read this response and it kind seems like I'm trying to state facts. It's really just questioning the process. I'm no authority. I'm looking for info.

 

Pretty much all the advice above is good, except raising the bike off the floor. That is not necessary at all. Tires only last a couple years anyway, and parking on them for a winter won't hurt anything. Now the best possible advice I can give you is don't wash the bike just before storage, as there will be water in the nooks and crannies for weeks, causing rust. Next thing you should do is spray WD-40 on everything that can rust. Sounds a bit messy, but cleans off easy in the spring, and there will not be any rust, Been doing this myself since the 70's, and I live beside the Atlantic.

 

My owner's manual has one and a half pages devoted to storage procedures. I follow them, and never had a problem. 40+ Wisconsin winters in an unheated, vermin free garage. My last bike was fourteen years old, and looked showroom new when I sold it. Factory battery lasted ten years. Although not mentioned in the manual, I do store on a jack, it can't hurt, and makes it easier to maneuver if space is an issue.

 

It's moreso about displacing water/water vapor. On a steel tank, keeping water and oxygen away will keep it from rusting and also prevent varnish. I get what you're saying about newer fuels, but the ethanol is a bitch. On plastic tanks (lawn mower, trimmer, etc), I run them completely dry. In the summer, I drain the fuel into a can, fill with fresh mixed with gumout and a little Marvel's Mystery oil. Cleans everything up real nice.

 

Move to Florida & ride the muhfuh all year! Problem solved.

 

Condensation will rust the inside of the tank - ensure it's full before storing!

 

This is what you should do.