- This topic has 11 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 9 months ago by CBBaron.
Warming up
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October 2, 2009 at 2:40 am #3479yugen852Participant
How much time are you supposed to warm up the bike in the morning? I have a neighbor that starts his cruiser, waits ten seconds and then goes out. Is that healthy to the bike? Recently, the bike has been sputtering, but then it gets alright.
—yugen852October 2, 2009 at 2:53 am #22630MunchParticipantDepends on the type of fuel delivery. FI……10 to 20 secs should be fine as the ECM can compensate for any adjustments needed. Carb’d ……opinions vary but personally I tell anyone that asks to wait til it’s warmed up ( listen for RPM’s lowering to normal op. temp. speeds). May not effect the the motor as far as hurting it but can reduce the hesitation you can get from a cold fuel system, which could potentially put you in danger if you have to romp it.
October 2, 2009 at 3:15 am #22632eternal05ParticipantAs Munch says, opinions about carbureted bikes vary. While I’d agree with him to get your bike warm before you hit heavy traffic, leaving your bike idling is not good for it and won’t warm it up very fast. Internal combustion vehicles (most cars, bikes, busses, etc.) warm up MUCH faster under load than they do simply idling. As an experiment, the next time you drive a car with a temperature gauge on a cold day, try two different things when starting out. First, sit there and idle until the temp needle hits the standard operating temperature. You’ll be there all day. Next, don’t “warm it up” at all. Turn it on and SLOWLY start driving around. I said under load, but make it a light load! Your car will warm right up in a minute.
The trick is to ride around a bit until your engine warms up. In a car it’s no big deal. On a bike, not having the expected tug from your engine could mean a drop, a collision, or some other not-so-happy occurrence. The first few blocks around my house are all residential, so I just ride around at about 10-15mph for a minute (literally, a minute) and the bike is good to go. Here’s the goods:http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/What_is_the_correct_way_to_apply_choke_at_startup%3F
October 2, 2009 at 1:46 pm #22637yugen852ParticipantThanks for the info. Our houses are inside of, what should I call it, a ”crater”, so to leave we have to go up a incline and then downwards to reach even roads. I understand what you guys said, but shouldn’t the bike warm up a little bit more for the amount of throttle that has to be used to climb the incline?
—yugen852B.S. I couldn’t open the link.
October 2, 2009 at 6:52 pm #22640JackTradeParticipantWith my Buell (a carbed single), this is a big issue. The owner’s manual is emphatic that you have to let it warm up before you take off, for exactly the reasons stated above. Fortunately, it has an automatic choke, which helps.
I usually let it idle for maybe 30 seconds before getting underway (I can hear the drop in rpms). Fortunately, she lives in a parking garage, so I have about 2 levels to ascend before getting to the street. By the time I get there, she’s fine, but I do occasionally get hiccups and hesitations getting there (always when I’m turning around corners it seems…the only times I’ve ever put my foot down while in motion).
October 4, 2009 at 1:20 am #22672eternal05ParticipantIf you can’t ride anywhere at all (even a block or two) before you have to really gas it, then yes, you’ll need to idle it for a bit. Even those of us in the school of “get moving right away” emphasize that if you get out on the road quickly, you need to be VERY gentle on the throttle until the bike warms up. That means both low revs and very little throttle use.
Also, about the link, click on it instead of copying/pasting. The post system truncated the displayed text (see the “…” at the end?), but I just tried and the page you get when you click on it is the correct one.
October 4, 2009 at 1:23 am #22673eternal05ParticipantI think we more or less agree. The thing is, when it’s cold (say high 40s F), my Ninja would take a LOT longer than 30 seconds to warm up at all. I’d have to idle it for minutes for it to be ready for no-choke riding. If I give it choke and trundle it around for a block or two it’s warm and ready to go.
June 11, 2010 at 1:33 pm #26988redcromwellParticipantI read online somewhere, a description of the Ninja 250 as “cold blooded”, and this seems very true.
I usually walk it out of my garage in the morning (don’t want the exhaust filling up inside) and start her up following the user manual’s instruction (full choke, then easing off little by little to keep the RPMs under 2600).
The bike always starts up fine and eventually when at a steady idle I turn off the choke at let her sit for a few minutes (per the user manual).
But, I’ll almost always stall trying to leave my inclined driveway. To add to the problem, I live on a State Road where the speed limit is 35MPH, however motorists are pushing 50MPH past my driveway. I’ve read suggestions to start off easy when the bike is just warmed up, but I’ll get creamed pulling out and merging if I don’t get up to speed quick.
I’ve been leaving for work about an hour earlier just to beat the rush hour traffic on my road and allow me to pull out of my driveway without stopping and gradually throttle on to warm up.
I read the link provided by eternal05 which recommends driving with the choke on at the beginning which I’ll try.
June 11, 2010 at 2:54 pm #26990madjak30ParticipantIt is still cold here in Alberta in the mornings, 5C (38-40F). So I pull on full choke and fire it up, go back in the house to get my helmet and gloves, go back out to the bike to put it all on. This morning my wife decided to start a conversation…I left the bike running for what I thought was about 2 mins in the driveway, but the reality is probably 5 mins…when I went back out it was revving at 4000-4500rpm. I usually only let it rev around 3000rpm. I hope it didn’t damage anything. I turned off the choke and it idled fine. I usually have to leave it on half while I gear up, but not today…it was good and warm. I ride a GS500 which are notorious for being “cold blooded”, but I don’t seem to have that problem with it.
I might get a new bike next year just to get FI…?? We’ll see…
June 14, 2010 at 11:26 pm #27022gitchy42ParticipantHate to say it, but I am a little spoiled having an injected bike. Most of the time I will start the bike on the stand while I am putting on my gloves, 30s later I’m off and running. However there have been quite a few times where I just start-and-go, the bike doesn’t seem to really care either way…..I know that in Autos, some people will let their cars warm up till they start registering a temperature, but I have read that if it is an injected engine on a car you just have to wait till the oil pressure is up before you start driving.
June 15, 2010 at 1:24 am #27024WeaponZeroParticipanton my 2000 SV650 which is carbureted what i do is start it with the choke on full, let it idle until the revs pass 3k (usually about 20-30 seconds) then just get on and go. doesn’t seem to cause any problems.
June 15, 2010 at 2:16 pm #27037CBBaronParticipantI agree with eternal05. Running the bike at a light load will warm it up much faster. My first couple miles are residential streets so I start my bike, put on my gloves, and take off at a slow pace. By the time I get to busier roads I can turn off the choke and run at a normal pace.
Craig
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