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Is it safe to cover your bike as soon as you shut the enigne after a 20 mile ride? I cover 40 miles daily to and fro for work. I reach home around 11 pm and barely have the patience to climb down from my apartment after sometime to cover the bike so as to ensure the engine has cooled down. Can I cover it within a few minutes of my reaching home?

Please help. Thanks

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  • I don't know the answer, but I could see the benefit of it cooling down slowly with the cover on causing less stresses on the engine. The exhaust could possibly be too hot for the cover to touch immediately after stopping. – HandyHowie Mar 16 '16 at 10:42
  • One of the reasons for not doing that is condensation accumulating (and freezing too here in Canada) due to the trapped heat. – Erik vanDoren Mar 16 '16 at 14:56
  • I've done that with some motorcycles for years and never thought twice about it. I don't see how it could harm the vehicle. – DucatiKiller Mar 16 '16 at 15:23
  • Just don't do it with one of those super thin/cheap vinyl covers. You could get some melting or stretching action near the exhaust. Obviously... – JPhi1618 Mar 16 '16 at 17:58
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I have used bike covers for years. Both in a garage and outside of a garage.

I have lived near the ocean with high humidity and in the desert of the US southwest with very low humidity.

I have not noticed any ill effects to my motorcycles.

I am certainly not saying that you won't have ill effects. I can see how warm trapped air in a motorcycle cover could possibly lead to condensation. That being said perhaps an experiment over the weekend is in order where you could get the bike good and hot and put the cover on and periodically check.

My opinion, after seeing dew on my bike frequently when I lived by the ocean, dew shouldn't hurt the vehicle. I'm a bit of a vehicle abuser and have driven dirt bikes into lakes, just cuz, in the past. Mind you, I'm not proud of that, but so long as I flipped it over and got the water out of the intake they always started up and were able to beaten up further afterward.

I know this is very subjective and not founded in facts. I don't even have citations. So let the downvoting begin!

Cheers, I hope this helpful.

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If your bike's engine is not running than i can give you some considerations: - For the engine, electronics, mechanical (fuel tank included) parts it's completely safe. These parts are designed to work under high temperature and these limits won't be reached just using a cover, even if the engine is hot after shutdown. - For confort parts such as: seat and plastic details, it won't be affected at first, but you might observe a degradation over time, just like a regular vehicle left under the sun. - For the cover itself: this is the item which concerns me more. If it's not suitable, the material can create you safety risks. Be sure to use proper cover that withstands such temperatures.

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  • Thanks.:) This was helpful. A few imp details i missed are: 1. I live in a part of India where climate is predominantly hot most of the year. So, Can you please tell me if I can cover the bike or not even when its not cooled down yet? – ashutosh Mar 21 '16 at 8:51
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    @ashutosh My answer considered that your engine is hot when you cover the bike ;) – PDuarte Mar 22 '16 at 0:34
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I recently did this for the first time and my windshield got little bubbles all over it and now I guess needs to be replaced. I don't know what else could have caused it. Ido live 3 blocks off the Gulf but I usually let my bike completely cool before I cover it and got home late and only waited until it was warm enough I could touch the pipes without hollering. Go figure!

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