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Is it best to let my motorcycle warm up before I ride?

45K views 66 replies 34 participants last post by  Porky 
#1 · (Edited)
According to article HERE it is OK to just start your car and drive right away because its injector and it knows how much fuel to add.

So what about motorcycle with injector? Is it the same?

Just to add. Lets talk about reasonable 40F-60F temperatures. Nothing North Pole extreme.
 
#5 ·
I believe the oil comes up within 5 or 10 seconds. That is about what I wait.
Even with a carb. you have a choke, which allows you to warm up ... while you ride.
The worst possible gas mileage you can get is ... sitting ... warming up. And you get all the usual wear and tear on your engine.
If I have to wait at the train tracks for more than 20 seconds, on the bike or in the car, I shut the engine down.
Why waste the engine and the gas? And pollute the atmosphere. No reason.
The mild strain of the engine while rolling out is the best way to 'warm up' the engine.
dc
 
#9 ·
Fact of the matter is whether carb or injected, metal parts like rings, cylinder walls, gears perform better when warm, and wear less when warm. It is a fact that even injected engines get horrible milage when they are cold. It is best on a injected engine to warm it up for one minute. On a carb engine, it takes a bit longer at about 2 minutes. In the long run you will save fuel, and wear and tear on your engine.

I have cars and trucks that have 300,000 miles on the original engine using this method. Motorcycles can use the same TLC.

This can be subsatnsiated in any car and driver magazine or any motorcycle magazine in which tests were performed.
 
#11 ·
TO ensure a longer life of the engine you should always let the motor warm up before driving / or riding anywhere regardless of what it is. (assuming is has an internal combustion engine anyway)

Pistons are actually helical shaped you just cant see it, they are cut that way so when they expend from heat the rings set properly once to operating temperature, plus once at operating temperature, your oil will be at the proper viscosity, and your engine more fully lubricated.
 
#12 ·
I was told to let mine warm up (a 2009 Suzuki C50). I don't let it sit long however. I go out to my bike, put it in neutral and start the engine, and then zip my jacket, put on my helmet, put on my gloves, and I figure by then it should be warmed up enough to start my ride (and for the first minute or two I take it a little easier on the throttle just in case).
 
#15 ·
The reality is that you should start to ride/drive as soon as you start your engine (and it doesn't matter what type of induction you have) as if its tuned correctly it should be drivable.

Your better off to ride gently than to just let it sit and idle, and the reason is that even if the oil is cold, it is thin enough (that's why they make multi grade oil 10W-40 etc) to lubricate all the the bottom end of the motor etc, but usually the only way the cylinder walls are lubricated on modern engines is by oil throw from the crank / rods, and on idle it only receives the minimal amount to lubricate the cylinder walls...
And this is when you will get the highest wear rate with the engine being cold and low lubrication...
This idea of warming up the engine comes from way back when oil was a constant weight (e.g. straight 30, 40 or 50 weight) and it didn't flow easily, it was like treacle at times.
But all modern oils will flow cold and give you engine all the protection it needs right from the minute you start it.
If you live in an extremely cold location you can get 0W-20 weight oil, or for the hotter climates 20W-50, but usually a 10W-30/40 weight oil will work efficiently in most average climates.
So choose your oil weight to match the climate you live and ride in...

Plus the motor will heat a lot quicker if driven than just left idling... If you really feel that you need to warm the engine first, do it a favor, don't let it idle and keep the revs up at about 1000 to 1200rpm at least to allow enough lube to mist the internal of the engine...
 
#16 ·
Great!

Essentially exactly what every article and every knowledgable person I've spoken to has implied. If the bike can smoothly pull away under its own power it's fine. Those people includes trained mechanics and other service related people with some good background.

In my case with Kawasakis I ride away within less than 30 seconds normally. After all it has to be better to ride off at some normal rate than to be sitting there fighting with the Kawasaki enrichener 3000-5000 rpm "idle". It's almost an on/off switch! Apparently Kawasaki never believed in real chokes like Honda did. Both would rev their guts out if I didn't try to adjust the enrichener, and still if not careful they will stall or take off again on the revs. So I'm rolling as quick as I can get going.

If your oil pump works there's adequate lube everywhere within a second - simple hydraulics dictates that. And for easy starting and rollling the load on the engine is so low it's not going to cause any undue stress or heat. In fact it seems on an air cooled engine it would be better. And the cooling air on the exhaust helps too. In all my years of sales I could almost always tell you who warmed bikes up for extended periods by the coloration on their exhaust.

Regardless, you're going to get those "warm it up for at least 3 (or five or whatever) minutes" comments, because that's what they were told. Much like a lot of other "folklore" of motorcycling from the 1930s and 40s that has persisted well into the new millenium, some car stuff has done the same. "If it was good enough for grandpa on his 45 flat head Harley it's good enough for my 20-- in-line four or whatever... like nothing's changed in chemicals, metalurgy, and machining, along with engineering, in the past 65 years or so.
 
#18 ·
This is a great thread. A lot of opposing opinions and few of them are actually wrong. I was trained as a mechanic in the army in the 60s. We had very old equipment and ran single viscosity oils. So the rule was that you had to bring the engine up to temperature befor putting it under load.
Today we have multi weight oills and engines made of materials that were not available back them. So yes, you can start up and take off. My new pickup truck is a fuel injected standard. I start it up in the morning and idle and idle off down the driveway to the stop sign at the end of the srteet and then I'm gone. My bike however is 25 years old and carburated. It is well tuned and maintained but with the wet clutch and all, it does not do well till it has run for at least a full minute.
So as has been said befor, do what the owners manual or dealer mech says.
 
#19 ·
I've been a Design Engineer for over 30+ years and most of that time has been in the automotive industry...

And for a period there I wrote the workshop manuals (Chrysler & Mitsubishi) that you guys read and treat like bibles, but let me tell you something, the manufactures are more concerned that you vehicle (bike or car) is drivable without problems than what may be the best for it at times. They are not too concerned if you bike is worn out at 80k or gets over 200k, as the reality is you won't probably own it by the time it gets to this mileage, that's if you bought it brand new.
And then the guy (or gal) that buys it and then finds its worn out, just puts it down to the previous owner's misuse or neglect and not a bad procedures in its earlier years of use...

Now just because the owners manual says something, and I know, most will say that this is all I can go by, there are sometimes better ways. Look, if you follow what the manual says, you will get the expected service life from the vehicle, but this service life usually not stated anywhere in the manual...

If you read what you just said "Stainlesstehle", "Read your owners manual.. Mine says to let it warm for 2-3 min. no longer than 5. Runs poorly if I don't anyways" you will see what I'm saying, it was easier for Yamaha to tell you to warm it up than to fix it so that it's rideable from cold.
This doesn't mean that they skip on all things, but in this case it was an acceptable solution to solve the problem for them...

But I don't believe that it's acceptable for any modern day vehicle to have to do this. You should be able to start it and ride whether it's from cold or a hot start... JMHO...
 
#20 ·
I agree soxOZ, one should be able to. So please "fix" mine. Two dealers and one private shop have told me thats how they run. It has been checked and thats the best I get. So you are correct and thats all I have to go by. I wish I could start driving cold like my car.
I'm open for any suggestions:)
 
G
#21 ·
I've had several motorcycles and none have had as much character or spunk as my FI air cooled desmodromic engine. The design has been around forever, but it sure works. I'm willing to spend a few extra minutes to let it warm up. It also gives me time to think about my trip and get my head straight before a long ride.
 
#23 ·
Both my carburated star 650 and my FI/liquid cooled Star 1300 run a little warmer after a minute or two of actual riding.

The 650 in Phoenix took about 30 seconds of choke in the 50 degree weather, and riding it was definitely tough gradually getting in to first for the first 1-2 minutes.


The 1300 I start, put on my gloves, and then go, it's not as bad but it's still a tad choppy for the first minute or so.
 
#24 · (Edited)
If it's cold I pull the choke, start the bike, wait 10-15 seconds and I'm off. If it's warm no choke, start the bike, 1 or 2 revs and I'm off. My drive is 300' long, steep downward grade, and dirt. So this allows for a slow start and the bike is ready when I reach the bottom for normal riding without the choke, warm or cold.

Honda VT1100C A.C.E., (synthetic oil)
 
#26 ·
Just by knowing how every single thing in an engine works and why..... I know that letting it warm up by idling is better then riding it.

Regardless though...

On my Old Suzuki, I let her warm up until it will idle without the choke, and my ZX6R's temp gauge reads blank until its warmed up, I'll let it sit on High idle until I get a reading (comes on at about 104)
 
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