sharethesecret
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Is it necessary to "warm up" the engine before riding? If so...for how long- and why???
Mel
Mel
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Is it necessary to "warm up" the engine before riding? If so...for how long- and why???
Mel
Pretty much what everyone's said....put your gear on, take that last sip of coffee, etc. The way I see it is, would you go running before you stretch?
I usually start the bike, finish my coffee, feed the animals, get my gear on, and kiss the gf bye before heading to work.:thumbup:
I read i a car-magazine not long ago, that letting a modern car heat up in idle before driving was pointless. Something about that oil would get around the various engine parts faster if you started driving right after startup (low revs of course). Furthermore the engine would reach the best temperature faster when driving (pollute less!).
Can you transfer this to modern bikes? Is the journalist stupid?
Anyways I'd stick to letting it heat up idling if I had to head down the highway shortly after taking off... otherwise I'd just go ahead with low revs to begin with like I wrote before.
I like to get my bike to at least 1 bar (on 2006 model no temp reading).
I read i a car-magazine not long ago, that letting a modern car heat up in idle before driving was pointless. Something about that oil would get around the various engine parts faster if you started driving right after startup (low revs of course). Furthermore the engine would reach the best temperature faster when driving (pollute less!).
Can you transfer this to modern bikes? Is the journalist stupid?
Anyways I'd stick to letting it heat up idling if I had to head down the highway shortly after taking off... otherwise I'd just go ahead with low revs to begin with like I wrote before.
Good info.I shoot for one bar before taking off as well. Keep in mind, that the oil takes longer to come up to temp than the coolant or anything else for that matter. Even if the gauge shows that the engine is warmed up, the oil probably isn't. If it's cool outside(under 70F), the oil will take a while to come up to temp.
On one of my cars, I have an oil temperature gauge that I installed. I found that once the factory gauge registered that the car was up to temp, the oil gauge said otherwise, showing barely 120F. Remember, the temp gauges only show coolant, and maybe head temp at best. It usually took several miles(2-5) of city driving for the oil to reach a good temp of around 170+F, and that was after the factory temp showed all good. If it's cold outside(under 60F), and there's no stops for a while, it can take even longer, as much as 7 miles. Normal oil temp for that 2.0L 4-cylinder was 260-280F, 280 being the number when it was hot or I was giving it a good workout. lol
Once my FZ shows temp, I still take it easy for a while, then gradually ramp up my riding, to let the oil really get up temp. Is it really necessarily? Probably not. lol But it makes me feel better that I'm not thrashing an engine with oil that ain't ready to fully do it's job yet. If memory serves, oil isn't really doing it's best until it's at least 150F(as far as flow). On our bikes though, it's probably a non-issue, as they seem to warm up fast, and the oil system is very well designed. I do plan on keeping the FZ for a very long time, so I'll continue to take it easy upon start up and the first few miles of riding. If nothing else, it'll keep my deer-to-motorcycle incidents to a minimum on my mountain road commute. LOL
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The last mile of my rides always ends up in my subdivision and by the time I have toodled through the neighborhood to my house the engine temp is usually over 210 degrees. When I shut the bike off I use the kill switch but leave the ignition on so the fan continues to run. If you watch the temp gauge it will continue to rise up into the 220s. I usually let the bike sit this way while I get my gear off etc then I restart the bike and watch the temp gauge until it drops down below 190 or so. Then I hit the kill switch again and continue this cycle until the temperature stays below 200.
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