Cold Weather Bad for Motorcycle Engine?

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And I rode to work this morning.......:p

Garage_Guy_Chris said:
If I were the OP i would enjoy the few nice days we have left and then put the bike away and await spring. The bike can handle the winter temps without too much drama, I would warm it up a bit before heading out. The cold isn't great for it but really wont amount to much.

But here is a wonderful list of stuff that your gonna face in the winter that doesn't factor in for nice weather

-Insurance, Are you covered to ride in the winter? Also If something does happen as a new rider your gonna pay for it
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ohhh and as for the question above, am I covered to ride in the winter, well I better well be covered, I paid for a whole year of Insurance, as far as I know they didn't tell me it has been stopped, nor did they send me any type of refund because it's winter, or that my coverage is any less, it stays the same for the whole year.........

But OP since your a new rider, you just might want to think twice about cold weather riding, this morning it was cold, but this afternoon it will be much warmer, that would be a better time for you to venture out....just saying..

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To follow up about my own questions...

Talked to Pro 6 who just did my rebuild. They told me I should probably avoid riding below 10C without rejetting. For warming they just said to give it a few minutes of blipping the throttle slightly (under 6k RPM). Less than 5 minutes is what they told me.

My current method is to start it and blip the throttle until it idles on its own with choke. Let it idle until it warms up enough that it shouldn't need choke anymore so it stalls (usually finish putting on helmet and gloves during this time), then I get on it, start again, blip a bit, then ride. Take it easy until I get at least one bar on the temperature gauge but ideally two (three is normal operating temperature). The bike REALLY doesn't want to rev over 6k before it's warmed up so you get a warning, anyway, if you try to push it too hard. Not sure if that's a feature built into it or just some kind of function of how the engine works when cold.
 
unL33T said:
To follow up about my own questions...

Talked to Pro 6 who just did my rebuild. They told me I should probably avoid riding below 10C without rejetting. For warming they just said to give it a few minutes of blipping the throttle slightly (under 6k RPM). Less than 5 minutes is what they told me.

My current method is to start it and blip the throttle until it idles on its own with choke. Let it idle until it warms up enough that it shouldn't need choke anymore so it stalls (usually finish putting on helmet and gloves during this time), then I get on it, start again, blip a bit, then ride. Take it easy until I get at least one bar on the temperature gauge but ideally two (three is normal operating temperature). The bike REALLY doesn't want to rev over 6k before it's warmed up so you get a warning, anyway, if you try to push it too hard. Not sure if that's a feature built into it or just some kind of function of how the engine works when cold.
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how come my CBR500R doesn't have a choke :(
 
Alexyan said:
how come my CBR500R doesn't have a choke :(
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Because it's fuel injected and you don't need to worry about it at all. You don't need to worry about jetting either.

The more confusing one is why do Hyabusas have a choke even though they're fuel injected.
 
unL33T said:
Because it's fuel injected and you don't need to worry about it at all. You don't need to worry about jetting either.

The more confusing one is why do Hyabusas have a choke even though they're fuel injected.
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No actually a choke per say... more a manual idle air controller, used in place of an automatically adjusted throttle bypass solenoid or idle air control circuit
 
Sorry for my out of topic question but may I ask how to tell whether my bike has a slipper clutch or not?
 
Drop a couple of gears and drop the clutch at high speed and see if the rear locks up? You might crash doing this, though, lol.
 
I'm sure OP had no clue what kind of discussion will ensue when he started this thread
 
Race rain tires are unbelievable in the rain but they are made for racing and they do not last long. I have destroyed a brand new set in one 3 hour endurance race. You also have to remember that they are rain tires and not cold tires, in a race you would keep higher temperature in your tires which you can not in the street.

Overall a bad idea, and if Pet knew you were buying race rain tires for street use and didn't talk you out of it then he is pretty irresponsible and in for the dollrs only.
unL33T said:
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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ZX600 said:
Race rain tires are unbelievable in the rain but they are made for racing and they do not last long. I have destroyed a brand new set in one 3 hour endurance race. You also have to remember that they are rain tires and not cold tires, in a race you would keep higher temperature in your tires which you can not in the street.

Overall a bad idea, and if Pet knew you were buying race rain tires for street use and didn't talk you out of it then he is pretty irresponsible and in for the dollrs only.
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They are DOT approved so should be safe on the street?

I have heard that in the dry and especially when warm those tires don't last long.

Maybe I never told him what I was thinking of using them for? I don't remember.
 
They don't last long period, I have used them in all different conditions, including while started hailing and snowing during a race. You go ahead and use them, good luck!
unL33T said:
They are DOT approved so should be safe on the street?

I have heard that in the dry and especially when warm those tires don't last long.

Maybe I never told him what I was thinking of using them for? I don't remember.
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ZX600 said:
They don't last long period, I have used them in all different conditions, including while started hailing and snowing during a race. You go ahead and use them, good luck!
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I don't think I will based on your feedback unless I misunderstood and you think they'd be good cold weather tires but that's not what I got from your post. :)

I do recall reading somewhere that those in particular were actually a decent alternative to TKC80s for people that want to put more off-road oriented tires on sport bike rims.
 
unL33T said:
I don't think I will based on your feedback unless I misunderstood and you think they'd be good cold weather tires but that's not what I got from your post. :)

I do recall reading somewhere that those in particular were actually a decent alternative to TKC80s for people that want to put more off-road oriented tires on sport bike rims.
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No, they will not be good cold weather tires. I am not sure there is such a thing.
 
ZX600 said:
No, they will not be good cold weather tires. I am not sure there is such a thing.
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Sport touring tires. The harder compound doesn't result in rock hard stiffness on colder temps like soft compound sport tires do.

I used to ride with Angel STs below zero on my GSXR and had no issues. My *** cheeks clenched a little every time I cornered (slowly) though, never know if there's ice or not =/
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