I'm in Northern Illinois too, only 30 miles from the Wisconsin line. I had a Harley Lowrider many years ago that I would go out into my cold, unheated garage every couple days, start and run for 3-5 minutes, then shut it off. My "idea" was to keep the battery charged, as I couldn't afford a charger and it was before "SmartTender" days (hey, I was young, stupid and broke...now I'm not young or broke anymore..:willy_nilly::zzdisappointed: ).
Anyway, long story short - I scored the cylinders and did more damage than good by doing this to the bike.:nono: The service tech, after fixing my bike, said the oil would drain down from the cylinder walls and not have an opportunity to lubricate evenly, thus eventually causing the scoring of the walls. He also said one should never start a bike that hasn't been run in awhile without riding it for 20 miles to get all the moisture out of the oil. While his advice seemed a little extreme, I abide..just to be safe.
I put Seafoam in my oil & gas, rode about 10 miles to make sure everything circulated then shut it off, leaving gas in the carb as Big Dog suggests to keep carb gaskets from drying out. And that's it until my first (20 mile) ride in the Spring.
The Dog's now on a lift with a battery tender on it and a space heater nearby to keep the air temp above freezing.
Probably more info than you wanted, but that's my :zz2cents:..
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