[Guest]

For you Kawi riders, what temp is your bike at when you can turn off the choke? Even at 55 degrees by HOney still needs the choke! But i don't always have that much time to warm her up much past 55. Is that a normal temp?

 

[Digi168]

For you Kawi riders, what temp is your bike at when you can turn off the choke? Even at 55 degrees by HOney still needs the choke! But i don't always have that much time to warm her up much past 55. Is that a normal temp?

Can't help you here, Yamaha + FI = turn key, hit starter, drive away

 

[Guest]

You don't have to rub it in!

 

[CG]

well I dunno about kawis, but when I test rode a R1, I had to let it get up into the mid-high 60's before it was smooth enough to take off....

but like Digi said, fuel injection rocks, turn key, press button, ride away though even fuel injection bikes run a little rough when cold, i've ran mine at sub 20s without any problems, once I hit the high 30s, it smooths right out really good. I take it easy on my bike up till around 50-55. Then i'll run it harder.

I remember some of the really cold days in december/jan, it was soo cold, my bike would not get warmer than 59 while I was riding on the highway, I shit you not, it's true....

 

[Jared]

When I warm my bike up I usually let it hit 70 before I go but since I store it in my house it usually doesn't need that much warming up but just going by what Trevor from BK told me.

 

[atomlowe]

I normally wait until it warms to the mid-thirties celcius before getting underway. Its pretty much the amount of time it takes to remove the disk lock and strap on the gear.

 

[TeeTee]

My 9 needs just a touch of choke at that point too. But I just ride easy for the first block or two and by that time it's up to 60'ish and I flick the last of the choke off.

It's not a crime to ride with a little bit of choke. Just go easy on the load and revs until it gets up to about 70C because the oil is still not awake.

 

[Guest]

MY choke is very finicky, but generally I let the bike warm to 50-60C before getting underway.

Generally at hiway/backroad speeds she only runs 69-70C. In traffic she warms up very quickly...but we try to stay out of that as much as possible .

 

[Human]

when my bike is cold I use the full choke until the revs. start climbing, I don't let the revs. past 2.5k, I simply scale back the choke, and rev the bike a bit every now and then, as soon as it reaches 60 I go....but my choke is completely off way before then....

 

[Human]

You don't have to rub it in!

don't mind him, just be happy that we didn't have to pay $4-5 k more than him......and so I am willing to trade of Fi and having a petcock for $4-5k.....

 

[adamantium]

For me? If the bikes cold, I'll pull the choke 2/3's the way out and start her.. but as soon as I hear the RPM's start to climb I shut the choke right off and just let her gurgle. I ride away as soon as my tempurated says 41 (before that it says LOW)... and just take her nice and easy till she's in the 60-70 range - as I find she hesitates a little when colder.

 

[Guest]

I have been told that you should warm with as little choke as possible, warm up with the throttle instead. If your bike is in-tune, then it shouldn't take more than a minute or so of choke until you'll be able to use the throttle to warm up your bike. Given that here is my starting routine when starting cold.

1.) Choke fully on -> press starter button with no throttle.
2.) Immeadiately back off to half choke.
3.) Wait 30 seconds or so.
4.) Back off the choke all the way, and catch the revs with the throttle.
5.) Hold throttle at 1-2K rpm until about 40 C (At this temp, the idle should hold just fine).
6.) let off the throttle, and put on your gear.
7.) By this time temp should be between 50-60 C.
8.) Ride away and take it easy for the first few kilometers.

This is for my gixxer mind you. I guess with the Kawi you should just experiment at what temperature the throttle will behave smoothly. As soon as the throttle is smooth you can (and should) ride away, the bike warms up to normal operating temp much quicker if you're acutally moving as opposed to idle (and you save gas too!). Just don't flog it until you've reached normal operating temperature.

 

[Ryan R]

I can turn my choke off around 50 and give the motor a rev and she is running fine. But till it gets warmer out I wait till 80 degrees before I start off.

 

[bl1tz]

i remember trevor at bk telling me to shut off the choke at 60C

 

[TeeTee]

I have been told that you should warm with as little choke as possible, ....

That's right. Too much choke when it's not needed uselessly pours gas into the cylinders. This leads to carboning plugs and cylinders and the extra gas can condense on the cylinder walls thinning and washing away the oil film that you depend on for a long ring and cylinder life.

That's why it's important to roll the choke off progressively as the engine warms. Not to mention keeping the idle speed under control.

 

[Basilla]

Idle speed

My 02 ZX-6R seems to idle a little fast, I'd say around 1400rpm.

Is this within normal limits? my old ZX-9 idled around 1100 rpm.
Yes, I know how to adjust it I just wondered what other folks think the idle should be set to.

Bruce M's post about not using too much choke got me thinking...

 

[Guest]

1400 sounds a little higher than mine but i can't remember what the manual said. i'll look it up and let you know. It will idle differently before its broken in too, so I wouldn't really worry about it. Maybe mention it to the techs when you bring her in for service to ease your mind.

 

[Guest]

90% of engine wear is from people riding or driving there cars when the engine is still cold. I usually let mine warm up for 5 minutes, then you can redline right away. Do you care about your bike?

 

[Guest]

90% of engine wear is from people riding or driving there cars when the engine is still cold. I usually let mine warm up for 5 minutes, then you can redline right away. Do you care about your bike?

I think this is a bit of a misnomer. 90% of the engine wear may happen when the bike is cold, but the damage is done whether you're sitting at idle or riding away at low engine speed. Given that, it's probably better to warm it up under some low speed riding because it gets up to temperature much faster.

I mean, I think the whole thing about having to sit around and wait for your engine to warm up came from carburated engines, where you simply CAN'T ride away (well, at least not safely) until the bike is at a certain temperature because of the role temperature plays in throttle response. In modern fuel injected bikes and cars it's usually sufficient to wait half a minute for the oil pressure to build and circulate.

Careful about redlining it too early though. I'm actually not sure about this, but there may be a differential between the temperature of the engine, the oil, and the coolant. I think the bike takes the temperature of the coolant. And supposedly it takes longer for the engine and the oil to warm up, so that's why I like to take it easy for a few K's even after the temperature has stabilized. I dunno, this is what I have heard...doesn't really make sense scientifically though...I can't see the temperature of the engine and the coolant being different...because diffusion (as applied to heat) says that if the coolant is at a certain temperature, then engine must be at least that temperature, because the coolant is heated by the engine. And since oil has a specific heat that is about half that of water (that is, the energy required to raise matter by 1 C), then if the coolant has raised to a certain temperature, then oil would have reached that temperature in half the time.

...oops, sorry, I'm rambling.

 

[adamantium]

Excellent points Wang,

However I believe the temp reading that I get is of my oil. At least that's what the owner's manual states.