Hi all... Is there a consensus of opinion as to the warm up period (if any) before riding. Dealer told me just start and ride, or should there be a certain temperature before riding off (manual doesn't state anything on this). I have to say hopping on the bike yesterday and riding off with the revs racing a bit felt a bit wrong to me. Thanks in advance Edmund
I've heard it doesn't do any good just leaving a bike ticking over from cold, best start it and ride it. Keep to low revs until temp up to 75-80 degrees I reckon. Just my opinion, I'll probably get corrected on this .
I leave mine to idle until temp gauge registers about 35c is it.. Then a good 10 minutes of riding before I go over 4K. Water temp maybe warm at 80c but oil takes much longer!
Usually just hit the starter,put helmet and gloves on then head off. 10 mins gentle riding then all systems go
With all bikes just get on and ride but not hard accelerating until fully warmed up. Same with any engine bike or car.
As above, button and go, neighbours do not appreciate a bike plugging away at 6 in the morning 5 days a week. If all the rotating components are not protected by oil as soon as that engine starts to fire, then it don't matter how long you run it stationary or at low revs, your engine is half way to being goosed.
Never leave just on tick over as pressure on tick over is low. Start up 20 secs, few small revs to 2500, leave a couple if mins to settle, quick indicator and brake light check, a few Rossi squats to make sure my bollocks are in the leathers and away you go, no madness whilst tyres warm and then business as usual
I'd suggest it's slightly different for a track bike. Shortly after getting up to temperature a track bike is thrashed. This probably wouldn't happen on a road bike. Letting engines tick over for long periods polishes the bores, glazing them up.
Paragraph 1, basically makes me late for work and bored to f*ck for the first part of my journey, hence why Honda give a warranty I guess for those of us that have deadlines to meet.
Warm it up and let the revs drop to normal idle speed, I need engine braking to work almost straight away - cannot be riding the clutch with the revs up and dragging the brakes. Let it warm up, and then the throttle does what it is told instead of a world of its own, and the bike starts and stops like it is supposed to. Sure there is an argument for coating the engine internals with oil - but personally I want the bike to do what I want it to do from the off, and not revving away doing its own thing until it reaches temp.
Another vote for firing her up and riding away but no hard acceleration until up to operating temperature. Leaving them idling from cold does an engine no good at all. Here's how precious Honda's staff are with their treasures...
The issue I see Steve, is that the world has changed, but not everyone has changed with it. Was a time where you had to run engines in, not anymore, modern materials and engineering techniques have put paid to that. Was a time when you had a chokey thing and you had to pfaff around with it until the bike run smooth and was warm enough to run smoothly, fuel injection put paid to that. Was a time when we all did that, appears some peeps still do, appears some peeps have wised up and moved on
All the talk seems to be about what is best for the engine, and nothing about setting off down the road on a bike revving out of your control. It all seems to be about acceleration, and no mention of slowing down. I don't care about the engine so much. But heading down the hill in traffic on a bike that is revving away and will not slow down when the throttle is closed is a concern, at least it is to me ! And if my CBR1000, that produces maximum power at 10,500 rpm, is troubled by these few minutes of idle warm up, and I only get 70,000 miles out of it, then I guess I will just have to live with it. The principles are still the same, but instead of a choke it is done for you electronically. But the idea of flooding the engine with more fuel, because it doesn't vaporise as well in a cold motor, is still the same. Anyway, personally it is not about the motor, and what may or may not be best for it, but about setting off down the road on a bike that is idling at close to 2-3k rpm. All the talk is about what is best for the motor, but no mention at all about controlling a bike in traffic when it is not under control. The bike was not designed to be ridden with such an idle speed. Normal controlled idle speed is about 1.3 k rpm and not an idle speed of close to 3k rpm. That to me is the argument, whether it is acceptable to set off into traffic with a motor idling at close to 3k rpm ? Anyway, sitting on my CBR1000 RR in the underground car park, and listening to the sound of it running for a minute, is no hardship for me.
Start bike, ride away and sit in traffic after 50 meters while waiting for main lights to change = engine warm up. When used on trackdays , start bike and leave it running to get it up to temp waiting in pitlane - then have a blast , never did any harm by all accounts. Did above for 80,000 miles and the engine had pretty much zero wear when it was inspected - parts are spotless with almost no marks so no reason an engine shouldn't last well over 100,000 miles without issue.
All very valid posts, but I do agree with Mattie660 in terms of leaving it till the engine died down to normal idle speed. It is boring waiting as you are all fired up and impatient but (mattie660) setting off at high idle has nearly caught me out a couple of times.
