Do you warm your bike up before heading off?

[cowboyz]

Wondering how many leave their bike running idle to warm up before riding off? How long do you leave it idling for?

Myself, I start the bike when I get on it. By the time I push it backwards out of the carport and get my shit together to ride it has probably been running for a minute and I ride off. Short shift until the temp lights up 3 bars (where it always sits except in town where it gets real hot - fan kicks in at 6 bars) and then away.

interested in the theories behind it and service intervals. I change oil and filters between 8 and 10,000ks and my bike has done 105,000km without any engine work.

[banditrider]

Warms up while zipping jacket & sticking skid lid on and then while parked on the footpath while I close the gate. Then there's plenty of 50km/h stuff where the bike doesn't need to go over 2,500revs or so. Fuel injection helps of course...

[cowboyz]

Am interested to see already 6 people say it is a must do and yet no comment on why. Is there a secret I am missing?

[sinfull]

I tend to give her a good warm up of 3 or 5 min while i'm chucking a bit of gear on ! then wander out and switch off b4 the fans kicks in (if i aint got my shit together by then) Different story on a ride if i stop, as there should be a good film on most working parts, though the auto choke can be a pain at times so usually wait till it dies down !
Bit of a fanatic with oil and filter changes and do them at around 5000 k

[Hitcher]

Warming up the bikes is an integral part of the Hitcher's getting ready to go ride routine. There's nothing quite like the rorty growl of an FJR1300 running at 2,500rpm through a pair of TBRs to cut through the silence of a suburban Sunday morning.

[Trudes]

I start mine and leave it idling while I sort out my ear-plugs, helmet and gloves and then don't rev it out much until it's warmed up a bit more. I do it mainly because otherwise it runs a bit like a hairy goat when it's really cold and I'm sure it's a good idea to let the oil warm up a bit before making it circulate about under load (could be wrong, but it makes me feel better), also our driveway is quite steep, so don't want it to stall going up because it's cold.

[banditrider]

Am interested to see already 6 people say it is a must do and yet no comment on why. Is there a secret I am missing?

Not a mechanic but a bit of temperature lowers the viscosity of the oil and lets it get in the nooks & crannies a bit easier. Modern oils are supposed to provide a more uniform viscosity over a wider range of temperatures though...

Maybe tommorrow morning you could try a 10,000rpm take off from cold and see what happens...

[JATZ]

My routine goes: start bike,put lid on, scratch arse, put gloves on, tootle down to the corner, check for trafic,push choke in, then ride like a nanna to work.
Works for me, bikes air cooled if that makes any difference

[Papa Bear]

Wife and I always leave our bikes idling while we do up jacket, gloves etc. Never liked the idea of riding/driving straight away on a cold motor.

[wharfy]

Am interested to see already 6 people say it is a must do and yet no comment on why. Is there a secret I am missing?

It allows the oil to be fully circulating and the engine parts to expand to close to there normal operating tolerances before being put under high stress.
Internal combustion engines are designed to run at over 100 C. (Thats why liquid cooling systems are pressurized so they don't boil at "normal" temperature and why you should NEVER open the system when it is hot as it releases the pressure and the liquid will BOIL instantly)

[Mike748]

I have to be sitting on the bike to warm it up, so it's start, helmet, glasses, gloves and go. I do take it gentle till tyres and motor is warm though.
I used to let it warm up before leaving but I plugged the kick stand kill switch back into the ignition circut after giving myself a bit of a fright (once was enough).

[Usarka]

Nah, it's like sex - enough lube and you can get down to action straight away even if she doesn't like it.....

[sinfull]

Ok ok You got me, i'll own up ! Its cause i thrash the bike from the minute i ride out the gate ! AND the tyres are cold , i know i know slap my wrist i'm bad, but damb its a rush ! Got to love virtigo !!!

[Grub]

Ok, first the engine. Like all things made of metal, their machined tolerances are set up to be at their optimum at normal operating temperature. As engineering gets better and HP is one of the most important marketing figures, the tolerances get less margin and more precise. Of course the discussion is hugely different for a 2 stroke where you can have both a cold and hot piston seizure so warming up is mandatory. A 2 stroke piston is super-sloppy in the bore until it's warmed up and grown to fit the bore properly.

Overhead cams, while pretty carefully engineered now with oil baths to run in, used to be starved of oil in the first few revolutions. I used to puke when I would hear an engine start from cold and be run straight up to 5000rpm to 'warm er up'.

Rubber seals. I'm a bit out of date on these in modern engines but if you don't fully warm up a rotary, they leak and then shread. It's not too far a stretch to thing of water pumps, steering pumps and aircon units all having he same issues if they're not allowed to grow with heat and close up the tolerances.

The next factor is the oil. Not so important with hi-tech oils as it used to be but oil does need to be warm and up to it's rated viscosity before it does its job properly. If you kick it to life and boot it off down the road there could be parts of the motor running in very little uesful oil.

Finally, look at the mileage taxis and police cars get because they're running 24/7. It's not unheard of for them to have done 350,000km when everything else on the road dies 100,000 short of that. Might just be something in it.

[McJim]

My engine is basically 70s technology and it needs to warm up for a few minutes just to get the oil circulating and up to temperature so it's protecting the engine from excessive wear.

My bike has done 53,000km with no engine work in respect of wear.

More modern bikes with fuel injection can be ridden more or less as soon as you start them. Modern tooling means they can be manufactured with lower tolerances (i.e. the cylinders and stuff fit better). Older carbed stuff has more character...which can leak and stuff.