WARMING UP!

[SouL]

I've had a chat to a few people on the topic of warming up their bikes before pulling away and I get a mixed response and different feelings on this topic.

Some say they like the bike to reach a certain temperature, others say start the bike and start riding but keep away from riding hard until the bike is properly warm and the juices are flowing?

Just like to hear what the guys on this forum have to say and what you do on start up

[mattUKNC]

I think this was mentioned a little while back.

Personally, I have mine running, then lock up the garage set alarm, put on helmet and gloves, get on check lights and ride off! (And if the bike doesn't fall on it's side while I'm doing all that, well that's a bonus!!)

[Hadies]

I also prefer to start mine first and then kit up. This probably equates to 5 minutes idling before I start riding and still take it easy for while.

[banoffee]

similar. bikes get started up while I put on my kit and lock the house, garage etc. usually ok to come off choke by then.

nc30 and gsxr are both useless when cold, the 675 is a bit more friendly

[Neosophist]

I start mine up and ride away, keeping it below 5/6000rpm for the first 5 mins / 3 miles.

If you start it up and let it idle it your:

a. not charging the battery
b. not spreading the oil around the engine as much (lower pressure)
c. wasting fuel.

A bike warms up under load a lot quicker than idling too, so it uses less fuel overall. The quicker the engine is warm the better, tolerances tighten up, engine-wear comes down :)

If I need to use choke to start it I knock it off as soon as i'm doing 5 - 10mph.

The running bike also keeps the oil circulating better due to the higher pressure, a lot of 80's Hondas, The 750 Magnas, XBR500's etc suffered poor cam lubrication at idle.. prolonged starting up and idling exacerbated cam wear.

Never had any problems with fouled plugs / hard starting / cam-wear.

Letting the oil warm up is a bit of a misnomer, it's multi-grade and should in theory work well at either temperature.. warming the engine is what were trying to do here.

Old british bikes with single grade oil would probably have benefitted from warming up the oil but it's not needed on these bikes.

Thrashing the engine when cold isn't really anything to do with the oil (which is often cited / believed) but more to do as said above with engine temperature and loose tolerances, which is why I keep the revs down till it's warmed up :-)

[viper_biker]

I don't usually move off before the bike is at 40 degrees.

[SouL]

LOL once again a variety of what rider prefer...although Neosophist IMO has it spot on!

[Man_Named_Dave]

At first I would let it 'warm up' by choking and then idling for a few minutes, but I found it made no difference whatsoever. The only way to warm my bike up is to ride it for 5 minutes, taking it easy and maybe with a little choke if it's chilly.

[Christoph]

What does the choke do exactly? Mine starts up pretty easily, do I need to keep the choke on for a while? if so, why?

[Man_Named_Dave]

What does the choke do exactly? Mine starts up pretty easily, do I need to keep the choke on for a while? if so, why?

The choke will 'choke' the amount of oxygen in the combustion process by allowing a greater amount of fuel in. When the engine is cold, and especially in cold weather, it's harder to get the combustion process started, so a higher amount of fuel is needed.

If it's starting fine then don't worry, they are ok in warm weather.