Years ago on the Ranch and having 17 running motorcycles I never bothered winterizing them... 1. there were just too many and 2. it didn't need any special treatment at all... the gasoline back then would last 3 months with ease
but then they changed the formula for the gasoline and it became necessary to "Winterize the bike" this is because the gas now days will loose it's ability to explode and burn in about 3 months total time and by the time you get it its already 1.5 to 2 months old as it is.... so it is safe to say it will only last a month now..... and that really SUCKS !!!!!
if however you add STA-BUL to the gas tank and mix it with the fuel that little bit will indeed extend the life of the fuel for an almost undetermined time!
Around 1974~1980 somewhere in that area I found out the hard way that the gasoline itself quit working and asorbed alot of water as well....
I had a DT1 Yamaha250cc that I had covered with a tarp and removed the battery.... but that was all I did to it.... I didn't even drain the float bowl.
the next spring I kicked My butt off trying to start that thing but never got a single pop.... I Checked the spark, it was good, and compression was good,
that only left fuel, so I drained the gas out and put some on a 2"x4" i had laying there and tried to light it it would not light even with a torch !
and it wasn't all water either .... but it smelled Odd, not like fresh gasoline
sense I couldn't get it to burn and I tried several times in different ways
I poured it out and the 5 gallons that I had stored for the bike...as it went bad too..... at the time gas prices were $2.29 a gallon and I thought that extremally high at the time.... little did I know! LOL
I went to the corner store and filled my 5 gallon can and came back home and added the new fuel to the gas tank it took about 20 kicks but it finally fired up....and ran like a top...
Now days I turn off the gas and drain the carb float bowl if I can...
there are 4 bikes here bit only 2 are drainable like that... the Triumph 750 and the 2021 TT250.... the Ninja has a petcock but you cannot turn it off ...at least I don't think you can.... and the RX4 is fuel injected so there is no petcock at all....
so what I do to winterize my bikes isn't much it's Add Sta-bul 360 to the fuel and then slosh it around a bit and run it around the block at least... to make sure it reaches the carburator... then put the cover on it and
if the battery is a iffy one I will remove it and put it in the shop and put it on 2 amp trickle charge for the winter !
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I do remember tearing into the fuel systems of my bikes at the Ranch and finding a bunch of white deposits in the float bowl......on a bike that would not start... so from that point on with the 17 bikes I just planned on cleaning the carb before trying to start it.... that one in picitular had been setting a good 3 years and had no battery. ... i cleaned the carbs ( a twin 2 stroke 250 suzuki) put the battery charger on the battery terminals and used a shot of either.... and had it running in about 3 kicks !
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so I sware by sta-Bul 360.... it's never let me down...the only problem with winter storage is keeping the battery alive !!!
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in the past I have drowned the engine in WD-40 in the hopes that it would keep the thing from seizing up over the winter , which it did.. but I don't think I would do that to a running motorcycle ! ...but then again ...what could it hurt Right ? /LOL
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Bob.....