Cold Weather Bad for Motorcycle Engine? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Cold Weather Bad for Motorcycle Engine?

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Alexyan

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Hi everyone,

i just got a 2016 CBR500R (with ABS) as my first bike, and I'm very excited to ride it even in the winter.

i heard its bad for the motorcycle engine to ride it in cold weather (such as below 0 Celsius).

Does his still hold true for the modern motorcycles nowadays? Because if a car engine can do it, I don't see why motorcycle engine can't?
 
Alexyan said:
Hi everyone,

i just got a 2016 CBR500R (with ABS) as my first bike, and I'm very excited to ride it even in the winter.

i heard its bad for the motorcycle engine to ride it in cold weather (such as below 0 Celsius).

Does his still hold true for the modern motorcycles nowadays? Because if a car engine can do it, I don't see why motorcycle engine can't?
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Why are you in a rush to ride your first bike in winter?
Salt will be an issue, good luck with resale.
 
Running in cold weather isn't necessarily bad for a motorcycle engine, especially watercooled & fuel injected bikes. Some engines have certain assumptions made about how fast they dissipate heat - in cold weather my GS500 runs like crap, and my ZX-11D would only open the thermostat for a few seconds before closing it again.

Riding in temperatures below 0C might be bad for your health, though
 
TwistedKestrel said:
Running in cold weather isn't necessarily bad for a motorcycle engine, especially watercooled & fuel injected bikes. Some engines have certain assumptions made about how fast they dissipate heat - in cold weather my GS500 runs like crap, and my ZX-11D would only open the thermostat for a few seconds before closing it again.

Riding in temperatures below 0C might be bad for your health, though
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I'm gonna get some heated gears as well as a Canada goose jacket and see how it goes for the cold lol
 
Your gears will be heated anyway if your engine oil is up to temperature. Your gear shouldn't really be a Canada goose jacket as it isn't armoured and you may have an issue doing shoulder checks with the hood.
 
jc100 said:
Your gears will be heated anyway if your engine oil is up to temperature. Your gear shouldn't really be a Canada goose jacket as it isn't armoured and you may have an issue doing shoulder checks with the hood.
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True. Didn't think about the shoulder check thing
 
Alexyan said:
I'm gonna get some heated gears as well as a Canada goose jacket and see how it goes for the cold lol
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What I meant by that is traction is pretty poor at freezing temperatures. Even without black ice, motorcycle tires just don't deal with freezing asphalt very well. Personally I won't ride in anything colder than 4C
 
make sure its well warmed up before you wind on it, those little valve stems and rockers and little cam chains and stuff like to be up to temp.
 
You might need to consider what oil you have in the engine also; lower temps require lower viscosity oils; some synthetics are better for this with very low cold ratings like 0W40.


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Warm it up a little before going, don't wind it out for the first 10-15 minutes, and ride. MC engines are not so inherently different from any other engine that operating in the cold will automatically "hurt" them despite not really being designed for such, but as mentioned...warmup and oil viscosity choices are important to minimize wear.

And yeah....buy some proper gear, a Canada Goose jacket is not proper riding gear. Some might think it's a waste buying cold weather gear for what might be another few weeks of riding, but remember...you'll use it in the spring again when you're itching to go out.

And take the advice about traction on cold MC tires to heart - it really is a thing - I rode to work yesterday morning at -1c and could feel my rear tire hunting for traction as I left intersections and accelerated.
 
Alexyan said:
i think i am only gonna ride it when there is no salt or snow
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Once salt has been put down it's basically there until a few sustained spring rains wash it away. Dry roads in winter appear to have a white hue to them because of the pulverized and powderized salt. Riding on even "dry" roads will still coat the bike in a film of salt.
 
Not wishing anyone to crash ever, but Id like to see a Canada Goose jacket explode in a cloud of fluff.
 
crankcall said:
Not wishing anyone to crash ever, but Id like to see a Canada Goose jacket explode in a cloud of fluff.
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Probably look similar to crashing into a goose.
 
Cold air is much denser than warm so the engine gets more air in cooler weather - better volumetric efficency. So no it's not bad for the engine , in fact it's a good thing.
 
This wasn't your question, but as a new rider with a brand new bike I'd really recommend that you did not ride at all this winter. Unfamiliar bike, at the beginning of your learning curve, cold pavement and poor traction on cold tires, salt or brine on the roads and drivers not used to looking for bikes in the winter could all combine and end badly. As much as you want to ride your new bike you're going to feel real bad if you dump and bang it all up. Just my 2 cents.
 
IMO the salt argument is totally overblown, but yeah, cold pavement can be surprisingly slippery even when dry.

That said, I've ran errands in -8c weather inside the city limits. Wear layers, keep the bike upright and stay under 45-50km/h. S'fine.
 
timtune said:
Cold air is much denser than warm so the engine gets more air in cooler weather - better volumetric efficency. So no it's not bad for the engine , in fact it's a good thing.
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It's good for performance, but it's not necessarily good from a wear/longevity standpoint. On piston powered aircraft for example it's quite common for them to have shutters to control air flow over the cylinders in order to avoid shock cooling related failures. Close the throttles on an extremely cold day while still maintaining signifigant airspeed causes a drastic change in engine temperature all of a sudden which can be stressful and even cause the engine to come apart in extreme situations...that are not exactly unheard of in aviation. The shutters can be selectively closed before such power changes are applied in order to minimize and virtually eliminate the risk.

All that said most of this doesn't directly translate to the average ground based air cooled or liquid cooled engine, but it's important to keep in mind that the operation in cold weather does have potential wear and tear issues for *any* engine, although as I mentioned in my first reply there's nothing specific to motorcycle engines per se that make them any different. Your car engine doesn't "like" extreme cold either, but yes, performance may benefit.
 
I've wondered if race rain tires would be beneficial in low temps. Softer rubber and more aggressive tread pattern would help, I'd think? Although I've heard the softer compound tires actually get even harder than normal compound tires in the cold (which makes little sense to me but I guess it could be true).

Something like these:
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/tire-tyre-guide/Avon-SupermotoPro-XtremeRain.htm
Avon-SupermotoPro-XtremeRain.jpg


Pete's Superbike told me they can get them a few years back but I never bothered to get them.

Maybe I should've posted this in the winter tire thread...
http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforum/showthread.php?199607-Proper-winter-tires
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