We are leaving Tucson for the summer, 10 or 12 weeks or so.  The Savage will be in the garage where temperatures will often hit the high nineties.  The bike is stock except for a gel battery (delivers 13.1 volts cold in the morning) and a Raptor thingy.  I was thinking of disconnecting the battery leads,  leaving it with a full tank of gas with the thingy in the “off” position and the carb drained.

Any experience, thoughts, comments, or other wisdom would be appreciated.

Might put the battery on a trickle if you have a 1 amp or less...
If you really want to be safe with the carb, turn the petcock off and drain the floatbowl... then crank the engine over a couple of times, to pull gas out of the jets..
Have a nice vacation....

I wouldn't change the oil unless it was due anyway, then I'd change it for sure.  I'd drain the tank and run the carburetor dry; my second choice would be Stabil or equal stabilizer in the gas & run the engine to get it into the carb.  Air up the tires.  And automatic trickle charger would be good but probably not necessary in the Summer.

Wouldnt draining the tank and running the carb dry be better for storing than leaving it full of gas w/ stabil or something similar in it?  I'm just asking b/c I had to clean and coat the inside of my 10 year old fuel tank b/c of rust and shellac from what I think was caused by gas left in there for an extended period of time.  I know that when I store my this winter its gonna get the tank drained as well as the carb run dry to prevent and rust/shellac/gook in those places.  

-Matt

matt_savage wrote on 06/09/09 at 08:52:12:

Thats what the stabil is for. It claims to prevent the laquering for 2 years though I've never had it longer than a few months during winter. It also keeps any water in the gas from seperating and settling in the tank causing rust. In all honesty you could just drain the tank and carb if you're going to be gone just a month or two. I had my tank off this winter and it was drained although my humid basement and empty tank did create some surface rust inside. Not enough to even bother worrying about though.