I am a novice rider and what i did was make sure the gas tank is full added stabil in the proper amount   put the battery on a tender and removed the sadlebags to keep indoors  anything else?  oh i intend the change the oil next spring already have what i need for it

I winterize the lawn mower but never the scooter. As long as you're riding every two or three weeks it's a waste of time. Keep up your regular maintenence schedule and as doc says put the battery on a tender(best to have leads mounted to the battery so you can plug in the tender instead of taking the battery out of the bike) and add some fuel treatment to null the ethanol in the fuel.

I'll put 10-15000 miles a year on a bike and a fair amount of that is in our Kentucky winters. I try to ride at least once every week during the winter but that does depend on temps and snowfall.

As for the question on saddlebags coming off and going inside......"inside" means somewhere that mice can't get into them and make a home or lunch out of the bags!

Afan to clarify about the fuel treatment, I use a product called StarTron. Most cycle shops,mower shops and auto parts stores should carry it. There may be other brands too but StarTron is wht I sell and use in my own equipment.

What a product like StarTron does is to help prevent the long term(over 30 days)storage issues that come with the ethanol in our gas.

I've been using it for three years now for my bikes,mowers,generators,any gas engine that sees long stretches without use. I also treat my "emergency" stash of gas for the generator.

I can say I've seen a big improvement is starting and running since I started using this type of treatment.

every couple weeks take couple o beers out and idle the bike till the oil comes up to temp
great cabin fever relief
7 winters on my scoot in Colorado
still runs like a champ, and NO raptor!

I still think that in the U.S. in the winter climatic conditions a little softer. can there be any sense to periodically start the engine and warm it. but when outside temperature is -30 degrees, each launch will be stressful for the engine.
and battery nothing hurt, if the density of the electrolyte is normal...
so let your small animal Savage  asleep until spring, like the Grizzly bear in his lair  

44K miles in 18 months of year round riding, temps as low as 10F. Go to the GI Surplus store, buy some military motorcycle mittens, polypropylene underwear and sock liners. Put a face shield on your 3/4 shell helmet and ride the thing. It's an aircooled engine, it likes cold weather. You'll be amazed how much more power the bike seems to have with cold, dense air versus hot humid air in the summer.

That's why you need at least 2 motorcycles. Aircooled for late fall, winter and early spring. Liquid cooled for late spring, summer and early fall.

Drop your tire pressures to Suzuki recommendations for inclement weather use.

Afan, when I lived in Quincy, Illinois I would go out once a week (usually on sat.) and start up the bike in the garage and run it for about 20 min, with the garage door open! If it was nice (40ish degrees) I would ride it around the neighborhood if the snow was clear of the driving path. I never had a problem, I did however put a gas treatment in it like stabil or some such just incase I missed a sat.