I was reading a post over in the touring section and one of the responses was the statement below. The only one I remotely agree with is the part about warming the engine before an oil change, although 5 miles should be sufficient and which I also doubt the dealers (or Indies for that matter) ever do, but that's another subject. My question is regarding the warm up and then even more skeptical about the 1-2 minutes of idle after riding. I like to get my bike in the barn and shut down as soon as possible after stopping to keep the engine from undue idle heat build up. As far as starting out a ride, I don't see any need for a "warm up". Keeping the throttle down and early shifts (which I do for the sake of the neighbors anyways) and by the time I'm at the end of my street the bike feels good to go. Now I won't run it to redline or even past 4000 Revs for a few miles, but I just don't feel these engines need much time at all to be ready to go.

What do you guys, and gals think?

Here's the quote from the other post.

"just let the bike warm up before you start out. touch the rear cylinder head. if its warm to hot the eng .is ok. ride 20 miles before changeing oil. & let the bike idle 1-2 min. before yopu shut it off to let the oil scavenge back to the oil tank."

 

With FI maybe 1 minute or the time it takes to put on mu helmet and gloves. Good enough for me.

 

depends on where/how you were riding. if it was just local, low speed type stuff, then yeah, go ahead and shut her down. but if you were riding hard, then letting it idle for a minute will actually help cool it down. if you ride hard, then immediately shut it down, the temp will actually increase for a bit after shutdown.

 

Like women...I go at it real hard...then I shut it down and I'm done!

 

Two Minutes Really

 

I read an article a couple years ago from one of the main Harley Davidson engine engineers. He explained that the difference in warm up procedures for different engine types. High performance dragster engines needs a fast warm up period. Something about the rings, can't remember. The old carburetor engines using leaded gas required a much longer warm up period.

Harley Engines, he stated should not be left idle for a warm up. Typically he stated that you should get on, start it up and then ride casually for 3-5 miles, then it can hit highway speeds.

I live 1.5 miles from the first 55 mph section of road. than another 5 miles before I hit freeway speed (70+ mph) I just get on and ride.

Harleys do not need a cool down idle time.

 

Start it up, put on helmet and gloves and take it easy for the first couple of miles. Been doing it that way since my mechanic said to in 1972 and have never had any problems.

 

My thought on this has always been, the bike was designed to be ridden when the motor is hot or up to operating temperate. Motor oil performs it job best, when its warm or up to operating temperature. The motor shrinks and expands due to being cold, or up to operating temperature. Evo motors were famous for developing gasket leaks if not allowed to warm up. before riding. Every motor mfgr says most motor wear is caused during cold starts. Guys that start a cold motor and drive off like it's always warmed up, don't plan on holding onto that bike for 20 years.,,

 

People over analyze too much. Puff, puff, pass!

 

Yeah but unlike my 7.3 litre diesel that holds more than 15 quarts of oil, these are small engines with relatively thin cylinder walls and not much oil to circulate thru the system. I don't believe they take more than a quarter mile or so before the oil is of proper viscosity to do its job. My diesel, on the other hand, is so cold blooded that when I enter the freeway every morning at 5:30 to go to work, I have to put my hazard lights on so the big rigs don't run me down as it takes me at least a half mile before I can get up to 50 mph. 8 miles before the heater is blowing anything other than cold air. But that's a completely different beast.