Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I used to assume that allowing my bike to idle and let the motor warm entirely before I rolled off was the safer bet, but is that really true? I have read/heard from different sources that an idle warm up may be damaging for certain areas of the bike because the oil isn't distributed properly throughout the entire machine and that some parts may run too hot before much oil can reach it.

So what's your warm up routine? Any insight to what I've been reading about or is it all rumor? I've been letting mine idle for about five minutes or however long it takes me to get it out of my shed and gear up, but then I'm pretty easy on the throttle and RPM range before it completely warms up. I choke it literally for less than 20 seconds every morning. Must be the 70-80 degree weather lately...

choke? I put on all my gear except for gloves and helmet, flick the bike on, take my time putting those on, hop on the bike and take off. The RPM's drop to normal idle by the end of my street.

spoiled bloke. my buddy has EFI on his 04 gixxer1000 and takes off on it almost immediately after having sat for eight hours at work. No big deal tho, i'm really not sure if I could catch up to one of those even if my carbed bike were already warmed up.

I start the bike up and start riding immediately. Gently until the bike warms up. Letting the bike idle is one of the worst things to do IMO.

All my bikes except for the KLX are fuelies. I changed the pilot, main, needle, etc on the KLX carb and the bike starts instantaneously and the bike can be ridden away immediately with not hiccups or hesitation whatsoever.

I gear up. Start up. Ride. Sometimes I'm onto the highway within 1/2 mile. Other times I'm taking the winding way to work.

My bike is fuel injected. It bike does have a "fast idle switch" that increased the idle speed - use that only when the temps are COLD.

Never idle the cars either. Just a waste of gasoline IMHO.

P

In warm weather you may not need the choke. Just roll the throttle slightly as you hit the starter. Then you can drive of but take it somewhat easy for the first few minutes.

I like to start off drag racing style. Burnout every morning before leaving the driveway. I was thinking of painting the driveway black, but I dont have to anymore!

my bike manual says let it warm up for about 2-5 mins before riding, thats what i do

i have a 650 ninja

I start the bike, put on the gear and by then it's time to go. Idle time ends up being ~1-2min, then take it a little easy until up to temperature.

I think the key is to let it run long enough to get the oil circulating but not excessively.

start bike with choke on to set it to about 2-3k rpms
for about 30 seconds, take off choke, idle for a little bit then roll out =]