Charon wrote on 01/18/10 at 19:17:28:My worry would be more with moisture accumulation in the exhaust pipe and the engine oil. I think a run of at least ten miles, with at least a mile or two at highway speed, would be adequate. That would also be enough to recharge the battery, given that the battery is in reasonable shape itself. In aviation, the old saying is "If you start it, fly it." I think the same applies for land vehicles. I think the fairly common practice of starting the engine for a few minutes every couple of weeks "to keep the battery charged" does more harm than good.
If your battery is in reasonably good shape, and there are no parasitic loads on it (radios with memories, clocks, or the like) it will hold plenty of charge for at least a couple of months. I would not bother with a battery tender on a permanent basis. However, it would not be amiss to connect one overnight every month or so.
Naturally, the opinions of others may be different.
BINGO! ANY Bike ,If you dont ride it for very long the moisture in the exhaust does not get blown out and dried out and ..well rusted exhaust aint fun. Condensation in the cyl. wont do it any good either.
A nice 20-30 min ride with a little hwy speed is just fine IMHO.
The WORST thing you can do (again IMHO and experience ) is to go out in the Winter once a week or so and just fire her up and let er idle witha few twists of the throttle thrown in. Better to just pull the batt and let her sit than doing that.
Wait till nicer weather or let her sit IMHO
BTW I LOVE the aviation reference and gonna use that one myself when folks ask!