To warm or not to warm [bike]

[Wolf]

(unbuttons white coat and hangs it up , cleans glasses, folds hanky before putting it away, straightens all six pens in pocket protector and puts on anorak before going outside to gargre)

You rebel! You didn't even tell mummy where you're going

[Wolf]

Temperature gauges? Liquid cooling? None of my bikes have had those.

I used to go by the feel of the bike and it varied from bike to bike - if it was not running smoothly, I took it easy until it warmed up. Some I'd start and leave running while I finished suiting up.

My Zundapp seldom needed the choke and started better than I did on cold mornings (most my bikes have been like that, actually) it was raring to go and I was and not at all enthused about going to work.

[denill]

I aren't a mechanic, but my father was and I seem to recall him advising me to use the minimum required amount of choke.
Marty

Yeah, I think your dad was right. I had read or been told a loooong time ago that too much choke equates to - too much gas in the combustion chamber that will be unburnt and 'wash' the oil off the cylinder walls.

Different bikes require different amounts of choke. I go with the theory that when it will reasonably idle without the choke, I am off.
I have also read in reference to cars, to not allow them to 'warm up' at all. Maybe the efficient auto-chokes make the difference?

Part of my pre-ride sequence is to pull in the clutch and a blip or two on the throttle to free up the clutch plates so that it will (hopefully) snick into 1st gear quietly.

Cheers
Bill

[Paul in NZ]

With the Guzzi I fire it up.....

Full choke until it will run well enough to get up the drive without stopping (bad thing to happen - trust me) or the engine runs evenly (idle speed picks up)

Then, since I live so close to SHW1 I trot off the wrong way, around the block, gently running up through the gears with no stress on the bike. By the time I have done that every thing is more or less up to temp (including tyres), the brain is engaged and away we go...

Cheers

[placidfemme]

With my ZXR I start her up using the choke on half (Any more than that and the neighbors complain that I'm being too noisy too early [6.25am]) and hold it at half until the rev's even out (or until the barely noticeable clonking noise stops), once I release the choke (after about a minute) if she doesn't cut out and die on me I'm off... take it gentle up the road and by the time I hit the motorway we're ready to roll :P

[Motu]

In hi-performance V8 engines with high oil-pressure it's not unknown to shear off the oil-pump drive if the engine is revved too much when cold - just due to the extreme load on it from trying to move thick oil too quickly.

(unbuttons white coat and hangs it up , cleans glasses, folds hanky before putting it away, straightens all six pens in pocket protector and puts on anorak before going outside to gargre)

Also happens if you put STP or Moreys in first,then the oil,that stuff doesn't move.I knew a guy who sheared the oil pump drive on his RR by adding this stuff.Don't ask why you would do that to a RR.

Are you the guy who does the Castrol adds?

[scumdog]

Are you the guy who does the Castrol adds?

No, but I wish I was, might give me more money for my 'toys'

[vifferman]

I tried to find a definitive answer to this question by Googling for one, but it was too hard. Almost everything I read couldn't be verified, as it was all anecdotal or opinion. However, my habit is to warm the engine up as little as possible while idling it, usually I put my helmet on, start the bike, then put my gloves on before riding off. I don't thrash it until the thermometer reads about 60 and the fast idle has cut out. No point, as it doesn't run well anyway if the throttle is cracked open too quickly when cold.

I used to warm the bikes and cars up before riding/driving off, but read several unrelated sources that said that this was bad practice, as it didn't allow proper circulation of fluids through all parts of the engine and gearbox. Sounds sensible to me, as you could end up with warmed-up cylinders, but the gearbox (especially on a car) still cold and with viscous oil. Also, the oil pressure while idling is much lower than if the engine is allowed to rev up a bit.

I find it quite amazing that people will do things which are very often illogical, just because "so and so says to do it" or because they've always done it that way, or because a friend told them that someone else told them they'd heard that a friend of their's once had a bad experience...etc etc... Warming it on the sidestand sort of fell into this category for me, because the only reason I was doing it was because I'd heard people say, "I always thoroughly warm the engine before riding off", usually with some (unsubstantiated) story about what could happen if you didn't do this, and some emotive language to make you feel like you were an evil engine abuser if you didn't care for your engine by 'pampering' it by warming it.

Another reason I started the "warm it up by riding" thing is that it appears that excessive idling on the sidestand could be implicated as a contributing factor to VTR1000 camchain problems, so I didn't do what the previous owner did and warm it up for 5-10 minutes on the sidestand. I suspect he did this because he'd had a string of temperamental Italian Stallions prior to the VTR.
BTW - he DID have camchain problems, and had to replace both camchains and tensioners and two valves.

[Ixion]

It depends on the bike. The BMW has fuel injection and just starts. Warming up doesn't seem to be an issue. Li'l Rat Bike is hard to start and doesn't want to run until it's had a minute or so with choke and much careful blipping. Typical 4 stroke single. T500 needs lots of revs at the start up or it's likely to foul a plug.

Once they're running "ridable" I usually ride to the end of the longish drive, to circulate gearbox oil etc, then stop for a minute or two, idling. Collect thoughts check mirrors etc etc. Prevents Mrs Ixion complaining about me filling the gargre with two smoker smoke also.Then ride gently for the first 10 minutes or so.

[XP@]

Go to the warehouse,
but a single electric blanket
before you go to bed wrap the engine in it and set the timer to 1hr before you will be setting off.
unwrap the bike and.... voila no choke required, even at -10c

hmmm... wonder if there is a market for heated bash plates...

[Lou Girardin]

Sump heater, tyre warmers and a fluffy liddle puddy-tat to warm the seat. Then I'm all set to face the day.