Putting your Rotary to bed for Winter.

[Interpol2471]

Hi all, I spent this afternoon in the lovely sunshine getting my IP2 ready for winter. After giving her a good soapy wash and covering the engine parts in Motorex protective spray I checked the oil levels and tyres and then did the usual and put in 20ml of Silkolene into each plug hole and turned the engine over with the back wheel.It was nice to see the plugs running a really nice colour too when I removed them, anyway does anyone do anything different when they are putting their rotary to bed?I added a picture on the gallery as it looked so nice and shiney Many thanks Paul

[Dell Boy]

There the ideal winter bike with there fully functional fairing & enclosed chain so I just keep riding mine. Heated handlebars make a world of difference to winter riding. Derek.

[Richard Negus]

I added a picture on the gallery as it looked so nice and shiney

Agreed, it (she ?) does look good.Memo to self : get my wheels powder coated before next season and get a new screen.R.

[Interpol2471]

Thanks Richard for agreeing on my nice shiney wheels and yes Dell Boy I agree also she is a good winter bike (after the toy run last weekend I have to agree it poured with rain on the way home and myself and my son in Santa suit both arrived home dry) but I have to say I personally like my heated leather seats and climate control in the Jag to heated handlebars. I know I am getting soft in my old age but in my defence I did not own a car until I got married so did my years of winter biking riding hundreds of miles across Germany to go home for Christmas etc in deep snow when I was posted overseas. Mind you at that time the BMW did have heated grips and also the cylinders used to keep your toes warm

[John]

Was just reading an article in a classic bike guide magazine about the Norton F1 thats out this month. In it it gives a tip when laying up the bike to pull the oil cable pump full on when bike is warm until tons of smoke comes out the exhaust then you know the internals are nicely coated with oil to prevent rusting. Anyone do this?

[Interpol2471]

John that has the same effect as putting the oil direct into the plug hole but I prefer to do the clean oil route as it has no combustion effects on the oil and you know the clean oil is distributed well by turning over the engine with the back wheel.The Silkolene oil I use does have excellent sticking properties and once on the side plates does stay there for quite a while protecting it. When I rebuilt my Yamaha engine everything was covered in nice sticky oil so I am sold on it.I will repeat the procedure again during the winter keeping everything oiled and hopefully free.

[Interpol2471]

I am sure somone will tell me I am wrong again lol Richard ?

[rustynuts]

Have any of you had sucess with heated grips on the IP2? I have just fitted an old pair of Oxford grips on mine. They have a control function which turns them off if supply voltage falls below a certain level (about 9V, I seem to remember). They currently will only work with the headlights off, until I use the indicators, then they drop out. I haven't had sufficient tinkering time to investigate what is going on, but as my battery is new, I suspect my wiring is in poor condition and causing a large voltage drop.

[Interpol2471]

Rustynuts have you still got the old black cased voltage regulator fitted? If so dump it for the uprated version sold by NML as this cured a load of my original charging issues including the charge light coming on when high beam was switched etc.I dont think the original regulator was quite man enough for the job.

[Richard Negus]

I had heated grips on my Commander which had a fancy push-button control and LED's ; the control was useless !Buttons too small to press with gloves, so sensitive to voltage that it turned itself off at every opportunity. Can't remember the make though - might have been Oxford.Now I have a different make with a three-position twiddly knob : OFF, START (= hothothot), RUN. I used the supplied poxy glue which is ok on the twistgrip but the l/h turns on the bar when hot. Much better than cold fingers though.R.

[MrB]

I've put Motrax heated grips on mine. Single push button control is a bit fiddly, one push = red LED = hot (and it is), second push = green = warm, third push = no LED = off. V good. Stuck them on with Evostick, left 3 or 4 days to cure. Worked eventually and no loosening when on the hot setting.As for laying up, I don't like salt on the roads getting into areas I don't want it to be so I tend to stay off mine for four months or so. I did have back trouble for three years so mileage was almost non-existent for that period. I've never done anything more than turn the engine off and charge the battery if and when I remember to. The battery is the only thing that has prevented a first time start in nine years. Even after not moving for 18 months I fitted a new battery, checked the tyres, filled the carbs (I modified the fuel tap a while back), pressed the button and we were off. Never had a problem with fuel gumming, engine sticking (it is moly'd) nor anything else.That said, I have got a decent garage these days which is a stable temperature and doesn't suffer any dampness at all.Johnny

[Pike]

Heated gripsFunnily enough, I just bought one of those 3 wheel Gileras to ride through the bad weather. It came fitted with Oxford Hotgrips and that appalling controller. It turns out that they are famous for turning off at traffic lights (ie when the supply voltage drops) and generally messing around. My set would not turn on at all sometimes. Apparently, the idea behind it all is that when stupid people connect them directly to the battery, they can "detect" ignition switch-off from the voltage drop. Which is great except it doesn't work in the real worldAnother problem was that you have to hold the button down for a few seconds and check the LEDs to turn them on or change temp setting - Not a safe manouevre at 90mph. I bought a replacement controller online (BikeBitz, I think) and it was much better. I also made my own controller with a big ON/OFF switch and a rotary knob for temp setting which is easier to use.

[Dell Boy]

I had Oxford heated grips on my IP2 20 years ago which worked faily well but the wire on the twist grip side would break regularly. They always were a rubbish design. I used to import Hot Grips from New Zealand. These are ceramic elements that fit inside the handlebar and are wired through the handlebars with a off/on & two heat setting easy to use flick switch giving either warm or very hot. I wire them off the front brake switch feed & they are absolutely brilliant. Just fit & forget. They take about 30 minutes to fit. I stopped importing them as most modern bikes have welded in bar weights so they cannot be inserted into the handlebar end. They use the power equivalent of one indicator flashing. If anyone wants a set I can probably still get them. They were £35.00 a set. Derek.

[Ian]

All this is great but when I was riding regularly through winter, up to about 2 years ago, I found that heated grips didn't actually stop my hands getting cold because the backs of the fingers still froze but the palms and the insides roasted.So, I invested in a pair of Gerbing heated gloves. Ace! not only are they a well-made and comfortable pair of waterproof gloves anyway but they kept the whole of the hand and especially the backs very toasty. Strangely enough I found that with warm hands the rest of the body didn't seem too cold either!You can get variable temperature controllers for them too, though I just had mine 'on'.One word of caution. In the UK these are what might be called stupid expensive, but I found a New York bike shop via the power of the interweb who shipped them to me all-in for £70 Worth every penny IMHO. With Gerbing you can have a whole suit of course, including socks if you are that way inclined and they all connect together. I think my gloves took about 20 watts which the bike can easily cope with.Ian

[johnbirchjar]

Hi Ian,those Gerbing gloves of yours , are they realy,realy, waterproof?like ride all day in the rain waterproof?I've found that gloves ,like biker boots, are never realy waterproof,or have I not looked hard enough,and re;"bikes to bed in winter" I'm a bit like Dell Boy, I ride all year through, not far though,no heated grips, regards,J.B.

[gripper]

I had a set of motrax heated grips that worked quite well. they finally came to pieces when I removed them . The next best thing is handlebar muffs, I have made a simple clamping fitting to support the outer end, this stops them flopping down on the back of your hands. They look like s--t but that's not too important if you want to ride through the winter. They also keep a fair bit of road muck of your levers twist grip etc. These and the heated grips together are IMO the best bet. Altberg boots are pretty good but the only guaranteed answer is wellies. Army surplus stores sometimes sell the Gortex sock supplied to the military. Not many soldiers use them because they don't breath too well when tabbing. Not a problem when parked on a bike in one position.

[Ian]

Re: gerbing gloves.Well, if you ask me if I've crossed a continent in a monsoon, well, no. But I have ridden for 2-3 hours in the rain during the winter, many times.The gloves never leaked, which is a good thing since the linings are sheepskin, which if it got wet would take ages to dry. I never had to do this.I'm a fan. The only problem I have for year-round riding that I ever had was that even switched off I found them too warm in summer and they became uncomfortable. Not such a bad problem to have I suppose and fine in anything except summer riding. I think they make a good glove, irrespective of the heated part of them... In the winter, I still use them.Hope this helps.

[Dell Boy]

Through this winter I have been wearing the inner sheepskin mitt taken out of ex. army arctic ski mitts. The ski mitts themselve were too stiff to grip the bars. I don`t have heated bars on the present Commander & have only used the real sheepskin inner mitt & have been nice & warm. I think the combination of natural sheepskin & mitts where my fingers warm each other up are keeping my digits nice & warm. Unfortunately they are not waterproof but even when soaked my hands stay warm enough. Derek.