[Antnee]

Last weeks MCN had an article in the Tech Watch column by Kevin Ash about warming your engine before you ride off. This was prompted by a letter the previous week that said that a certain council was prosecuting people who leave their bikes warming up before pulling off.

Kevin's article went on to say that leaving your engine warming up doesn't really do anything as your oil needs to be at 60c before it does its job, and at idle speeds (depending on the ambient temperature) this may never be achieved, or it may just take a very long time, in which case your engine has been running in a bad way for ages.

So, should you just ride off? Yes and no according to the article. He says that you should just ride, but don't give the bike the beans for 10 minutes or so, and don't let it labour either, as both stress the engine unduly. Also, if you have a carburetored engine, running it on the choke makes the fuel/air mixture too rich and it dilutes the oil on the cylinder walls, increasing wear. If you have a 'choke' on an injected bike, apparently it isn't a choke, it just increases the idle speed, rather than the fuel/air mixture.

With all this in mind, how do you guys operate yours? Personally I start mine up on the choke while I fasten my jacket, helmet and gloves, get on the bike, turn the choke off and then go. I don't tend to rev the nuts off the bike for, probably a minute :bad

 

[DAN]

Ride off...always have done, it's what the owners manuals tell you to do (I think).

I would not rev the engine hard until it is at normal operating temperature though.

Apparently my FZ1 doesn't have a choke, just a fast idle.

 

[Ratty]

I fire mine up before I put my lid and gloves on.
...but no reason why you shouldn't just fire-up and ride off.
With me just a habit.

...along with lucky rabbits foot (unlucky for rabbit), odd socks, gloves inside out and holding foot peg and praying, etc, etc... :rollin

Malc'