I live close to where I work, less than five minutes. I want to commute with my bike so I can take rides at lunch and after work. Is the short ride in the morning hard on the motor?

 

Kind of, for two reasons. First of all a 5 minute trip will not put back the amount of electrical charge it took to start the engine. Secondly, but very minor is that the engine is just getting lubricated in that short run. I have the same problem. I leave early and take the long way to work, at least 15-20 minutes. Bottom line is you aren't really hurting anything much.

 

I say, ride it regardless.

One thing I learned in MSC is that statistically - most accidents happen in SHORTER rides. Be careful.

 

+1 - It typically takes 20+ minutes at cruise speed to replenish what was drained from the battery during a start-up. While a good battery has plenty of power for several starts without charging, it wouldn't hurt to hook up a Battery Tender at night to make sure you've got a full charge in the morning.

Repeated short hops will also not allow the oil to get hot enough, long enough, to evaporate condensation that that will form in the oil system. I'd try to make the ride home last at least 30 minutes.

 

Charley is being quite specific.
Add 1/3 cup baking powder, 1 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, blah, blah, blah.

I say ride it like it's stolen and you'll never have an issue. Every car I ever babied like that broke. A dash this - a dash that. Don't measure - just ride it. Who cares.....

My bike got 17,000 miles out of stock tires, and 20,000 miles and going on original brakes. Ride it and ignore the "precautionary preventitive maintainence". It's just cash flow going into another person's pocket.

 

Man, if you live 5 minutes from work just walk it. Take your lunch and pick up your bike for a ride, drop it off and walk back.

Or wake up a bit early and ride the 30 minute route to your work!

 

I live 6 miles from work.
My trip to work is usually about 20 miles and going home is usually about 50 to 100 miles...some kind of time/space continumum I think...

 

yet another rule if you own one of these harley pieces of s*&t i will never buy another im goin back to jap

 

Enjoy the trip Snacks63

 

This same exact thing applies to every internal combustion (gasoline) engine on the road. They all act basically the same way. It's just people with other bikes tend not to worry about it as much. Your future japanese bike will have this same "rule" to it, you just likely won't care.

The charging systems are different for all vehicles, but they generally do require time to charge from start. My civic drains the battery in the summer a little too much if I never take it anywhere but down the road in the warmer weather because I ride the bike mostly.