Considering water freezes at 32°f, I would say yes use coolant 50/50 mixture. I would run it for a bit as well to lube up the water pump and coat the internals for the winter.
I just drain my water out for the winter. lean it over a few times to get the extra water and leave the drain plug out. Has been fine for me and i live in Michigan were it also gets well in the negative temps during winter.
some of the engines i build i run a distilled water/coolant lowering addative in the summer months on my customers bikes. just called three of them this week to remind them to drain and refill with antifreeze for cold weather coming. so yeah, definatley change to antifreeze solution.
It gets down to -40 here so us damn Canadians have a lot of experience dealing with cold.
50/50 mix of antifreeze and distilled water is what you need. The glycol in the antifreeze keeps it from freezing, and the anti corrosive additives keep it from corroding. Simply drain the existing coolant and replace with this stuff. Top up the reservoir, let it run for a few minutes, and you're done.
"Tipping the bike over a couple times" does not get ALL the water out of the pump or water jacket of the engine. That doesn't work at all and being someone who runs a parts desk at a local dealership I sell quite a few rads and water pump covers due to that horrible advice. It will still freeze and crack. Please don't do that. Plus if you leave your coolant system empty you will accelerate corrosion while drying out your seals.
Your track tech won't want to see glycol in the spring (if you crash and it leaks it's super slippery and a b!tc# to clean up) so when the risk of freezing subsides drain out the glycol mix and replace it with whatever you're running now.
It gets down to -40 here so us damn Canadians have a lot of experience dealing with cold. 50/50 mix of antifreeze and distilled water is what you need.
For sure using anti freeze is a smart move. You may not be racing but you want to starting that bike every couple of weeks let it run up to temp then turn het off. Prolonged cold is bad on internal springs and the shell bearings suffer icy the oil isn't freshened up by regular starting. And the additives in the coolant have a lubricating and cleansing effect leaving the system in better condition when you drain out for the new season.
well, the best of my knowledge is that even distilled water can and will cause corrosion and that you should always add some sort of corrosion inhibitor such as water wetter or antifreeze. water wetter is great as long as the bike won't be subject to sub zero c° or -32°f temps. if it will be then a product meant as an antifreeze would be your best bet. here is a link I dig up about the details but it seems to be both ambiguous as well as informative, read it and gather what you can. I will just highly suggest you add a corrosion inhibitor since a new radiator is more a pain in the ass then just flushing the system. https://appliedspeed.com/blogs/tech...s-can-it-damage-the-aluminum-and-create-leaks
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