Regularly starting your bike in winter is bad

[cycling]

haha. I know one guy whose bike has never left the 416. He rides it every weekend to the coffee shop, parks it and stares at it while sipping his latte, then rides it back home and polishes it.

Bike is probably close to 10 years old now and that engine has never seen more than 30 minutes of continuous run-time... Also less than 10K on the odo.

Might dispell the myths. Ride or not to ride. Interesting.

 

[Lightcycle]

Might dispell the myths. Ride or not to ride. Interesting.

Well, despite its age, with less than 10K on the clock, it's way too early to tell if that engine will have problems.

Also it's a Honda (under-stressed cruiser powerplant), you can pour 100% ethanol in the tank and it'll still probably last forever anyway...

 

[AllistonGT]

Take note that Shell fuels, even the premium and the super premium...are no longer ethanol free as of late this past summer.

If you look close you'll see that all the "no ethanol" stickers have been removed now and there's just one big sticker that now says "May contain up to 10% ethanol".

I believe Canadian Tire premium is now the *only* option left.

No ethanol stickers still in tact at Alliston Shell.

 

[Mad Mike]

Ari from RevZilla just did a video on this for the Shop Manual series. Here's the link, however busted it may be as I'm posting this from a mobile browser:

Coles notes: it's bad, unless you let it run long enough for the lower side covers to get too hot to touch. This is waaaaay longer than just waiting for the coolant gauge to show operating temp...

Maybe I've been doing it wrong for 40 years!

My 50year old Triumph, 46 year old Goldwing, 40 year old 920r as well as my late model FJR and Vstrom have enjoyed the same treatment since birth.

I'd love to see a disassembled bike with the type of damage Revzilla claims.

 

[PrivatePilot]

I'd love to see a disassembled bike with the type of damage Revzilla claims.

Just because you can’t see wear doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

Reality is, every cold start is hard on an engine. Especially in cold weather on motorcycles which typically use fairly heavy weight oils that don’t flow well on cold starts and might take a few seconds to reach critical surfaces.

Without going too far into the minutiae of things…if you’re not riding, why start the engine then? Unnecessary additional wear and moisture issues happen, whether you believe it or not. The battery is drawn down and the charging system on an idling bike may not be able to fully recoup what was lost in the start. You partiallly warm up your drivetrain and exhaust which then gets cold again when you shut it off and draws in moisture.

Just….why?

Park it. Leave it. Put a tender on the battery. When you want to ride, start it.

 

[PrivatePilot]

No ethanol stickers still in tact at Alliston Shell.

Oshawa area yesterday- no ethanol stickers all gone from the 91 button.

 

[Mad Mike]

Just because you can’t see wear doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

Reality is, every cold start is hard on an engine. Especially in cold weather on motorcycles which typically use fairly heavy weight oils that don’t flow well on cold starts and might take a few seconds to reach critical surfaces.

Without going too far into the minutiae of things…if you’re not riding, why start the engine then? Unnecessary additional wear and moisture issues happen, whether you believe it or not. The battery is drawn down and the charging system on an idling bike may not be able to fully recoup what was lost in the start. You partiallly warm up your drivetrain and exhaust which then gets cold again when you shut it off and draws in moisture.

Just….why?

Park it. Leave it. Put a tender on the battery. When you want to ride, start it.

I'm guessing a 300km romp thru the Haliburton highlands at close to redline puts more wear and tear on my bikes than a few cold starts over the winter.

I start them because in Jan-Feb I like like the smell, vibration, & sound. It partially warms my drive train.

Always have, always will.

 

[AllistonGT]

Porsche recommends to change oil before storage, fill tires to 55lbs to prevent flat spotting, fill gas tank and plug in battery maintainer. Then leave alone till spring. Do not start unless you're going to actually drive the car during the storage period.

 

[POWERMAN]

change oil before storage

I've always wondered - does the new oil go bad sitting like that throughout winter?

 

[GreyGhost]

I've always wondered - does the new oil go bad sitting like that throughout winter?

It would be sitting in the bottle over the winter otherwise. Yes it is exposed to more air and metal but oil doesnt degrade much with time. Use beats up oil. I am with porsche. Get the contaminants and acids out of the expensive part of the car.

 

[Wingboy]

Some of the fears are holdouts from much older technology. Modern engine design has changed and some of the fears we have will disappear when the baby boomers take the big dirt nap.

 

[Wind Shear]

I'm guessing a 300km romp thru the Haliburton highlands at close to redline puts more wear and tear on my bikes than a few cold starts over the winter.

I start them because in Jan-Feb I like like the smell, vibration, & sound. It partially warms my drive train.

Always have, always will.

The occasional winter start might be bad for the machine, but it's good for the soul.

 

[timtune]

Porsche recommends to change oil before storage, fill tires to 55lbs to prevent flat spotting, fill gas tank and plug in battery maintainer. Then leave alone till spring. Do not start unless you're going to actually drive the car during the storage period.

I'm going to discount that. Germans tend over think just about everything. Folding keys, 3 button turn signals etc.....

 

[AllistonGT]

I'm going to discount that. Germans tend over think just about everything. Folding keys, 3 button turn signals etc.....

Yea, but so do I.

I like folding keys.