I read somewhere that blipping the throttle too soon after a cold start can screw up the idle settings on the MM EFI....so, how long should I wait before riding after a cold start? I also just learned to wait until the engine light goes out before starting the bike in order to give enough time for the computer to set - I don't know if I wasn't waiting before but i do pay attention now.

 

As far as waiting for the engine light to go out before starting an EFI, good advice. You can also hear the fuel being sent through the lines during that time.

As for how long to wait before starting to ride after a cold start up. You will hear lots of opinions on that.

 

I had been taught years ago on these air cooled bikes to wait until you feel the heat on the top of the rocker covers/ heads before taking off.......jmo

 

*shrug*

I've heard conflicting advice. I typically wait at least 20 seconds before riding, which is what I was told once is how long the computer enriches the fuel after cold start up. In cold weather, I tend to let it run longer. With 50k miles on the bike, I now notice a lot more chatter in the top end if the oil is cold and waiting for it to warm up nicely seems to help quite a bit. So, I wait for the idle to start dropping before riding. YMMV

 

As mentioned in another thread, would you buy a bike from someone who didn't bother to warm up the engine, or from someone who faithfully warmed it every time?
Got in the habit with my early TC88 T-Sport, 5 minutes. As you get older you seem to be less impatient.

 

Don't know about MM, but the Delphi exits the cold start up enrichment/high idle mode after the CHT reaches 167F. I have a factory lean tune and it consistiently takes 3-5 minutes from the first cold start of the day to reach 167F. After that I'll take off and ride easy for a while, I still don't consider it a good idea to wick the throttle until the rest of the bike comes up to temperature; oil and engine components take considerably longer to reach normalized temp, for my bike that's 20-30 minutes of riding.

 

How long I wait depends 1. on how cold it is. 45* or below I usually let it set for a couple minutes +/- on the temp. above that we have 2. sit on it , zip my coat, put on my glasses, gloves hat and ease on down the road, (notice I said "ease") 3. Taking the girl friend I do the same as #2 and then wait til she gets her stuff stowed, runs back to get something she forgot and then zips her jacket................. I usually then just go for it cause the bike is warm enough.

 

I've always waited till the "little red light" goes out.....then I wait for a bit to let that Evo warm up before headin down the road.

 

maybe twenty seconds.......never have warmed up anything, but I also never "rod" my vehicles, being 4 wheeled or 2....face it.......your engine may be warm, but nothing else is........startup and run slow for the first few miles, during that time you can also evaluate how she is running, steering, braking.........
My brothers old heritage won't roll 3 feet until it's warmed up, my dad says he trained it like that........

 

I wait about a minute. There was another thread about this a couple weeks ago and the opinions varied quite a bit.