They do sell a heater pad you epoxy on that plugs in to heat up the engine. You see these a lot up in Alaska. Over kill? Probably.

 

lol---------------its almost like trying to redesign the wheel sometimes it seems

 

Or you could just do it the "right" way.

 

Perfect, but my OL just wont stand for it. She may have to go, lol!

 

Like others said if you are not going to ride it leave it alone.
If your going to ride in cold know your bike.
My EVO is a bit stiff and slow to start at 20 degrees but will fire off a 10 if you give it a chance. When they use to be stored out in the cold I would pre-heat it.
The newer EFI bike fires off down at 5 degress. But now they are in a heated room so All I do is ride out the door.

 

What kind of helmet was free?

The existing water??

As a general rule, have the oil at about 180 degrees before going WOT.

 

Hello from Redcar England.
Its cold wet and orible over here at this time of year but it never gets to cold to start my bike. Seen a thing on youtube think it was end of the word trip and it was a bit like ice road truckers and they had to get the bikes in a heated garage and put flames under the bike cos the oil had froz. That was to cold but when they got the bikes running on there spiked tyres it was just the coolest thing no pun intended.
fxdxi rider
tbone

 

I've got one on my bike. Many early mornings in January I leave for work and the temp is in the 20's. The oil temp is about 90 degrees when I start her up so oil pressure is "normal" in a matter of minutes.

I've got it on a timer that comes on at midnight, so it warms for 5 hours before I come out to the barn. ( 125 Watt, Light bulb wattage.)

They used to say that 90% of an engines wear occurs in the first 10 minutes of operation. I think that used to be more true way back when than it is today with the better oils we now run. But with my heater pad I also know it's getting to normal temp quicker than without it, so I still use it 6 months out of the year.