Winter storage

[Cormanus]

Sometimes I think too much thought goes into this petrol and storage debate and people get overly conservative.

The RAC (Royal Automobile Club), akin to AAA states the following:

Generally speaking, petrol has a shelf-life of six months if stored in a sealed container at 20 degrees Centigrade – or just three months if kept at 30 degrees Centigrade. The more it's exposed to heat, the more quickly it will go off.

So we are probably in good order storing fuel in our tanks at any level in that cold garage. I have never bothered to fill or empty a tank during the winter on any of my bikes or two classic cars. If there is a sunny but cold day I would try to take a run to get some fuel through the whole system and give the gearbox, bearings, brakes and oil seals a little workout too but I never worried about the fuel.

My MG TD would often sit for 4 months without running, it has never let me down on start-up. The storage location is unheated so the fuel is sitting at a very cold ambient.

Luckily I am in a temperate climate, we don't suffer long months of snow

The level only matters here because the Ethanol attracts moisture from the air. So thats why they say to do full so that there is no bare metal to be affected by the moisture that is absorbed within the tank/fuel.

It basically mitigates having rust develop in the tank. Not so much worried about stale gas like you said won't happen within a winter storage cycle.

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

That goes to ride4now’s original question: if the CB1100’s fuel system is sealed, why would moisture be a problem? I suspect the answer may be that the system isn’t sealed. The tank has a breather pipe I think which presumably lets small amounts of air in.