Engine Warm Up?

[schnauzermom]

I realize this question is late in the game for me, but yesterday we went for a glorious ride and and my hubby said to let RT warm up before leaving. Since we are Harley folks as well, you always let the Harley warm up until the the top of the cylinders feels like a cup of warm coffee. I've not seen this addressed with the Spyders but are we supposed to let them warm up to a bar or two before taking off?opcornoes it hurt if we don't ??

 

[crazycanuck]

I realize this question is late in the game for me, but yesterday we went for a glorious ride and and my hubby said to let RT warm up before leaving. Since we are Harley folks as well, you always let the Harley warm up until the the top of the cylinders feels like a cup of warm coffee. I've not seen this addressed with the Spyders but are we supposed to let them warm up to a bar or two before taking off?opcornoes it hurt if we don't ??

Cant comment on a RT, on my RS I start and go and have had no issues.

 

[Illinois Boy]

As with any engine, you should wait a reasonable amount of time, considering the temperature the Spyder was stored in, to allow for the fluids to properly flow and distribute themselves throughout the their system. However, I am fairly sure you do not have to wait as long as you indicated -- but it is not hurting anything if you do.

Having said that, if it is a warm summer day... your wait time is not long, if at all. When it is really cold, obviously you'll want to give it a bit more time -- however waiting as you have in the past might not be as necessary as with the HD.

Carbed HD's were always supposed to be allowed to warm-up; however the FI HD's not so much. I have owned, and still own a FI HD and do not wait for it to warm-up like the old carbed versions.

Just my two-cents on the subject...

 

[SporterSpider]

I have 14k mi on my 2010 RS and I always let it warm up to two bars before I take off. It seems like it is sluggish if I don't let it warm up first. I would always let the Sportster warm up first also because if I didn't it would cough more than normal until it warmed up.

 

[Some Guy]

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I've always let my GS and my RTS warm up to one bar before riding. I use that time to put on my gear. Is it really necessary? I don't know, but it gives me piece of mind...and I can always use more mind!

 

[daveinva]

I have an aftermarket exhaust and a fuel controller. If I don't let my RS warm up to one bar, the exhaust will pop when I shift. Once over one bar, never any problems.

 

[stevedfive]

I follow the one bar rule

 

[ARtraveler]

My :spyder2:'s are garaged. I usually do not go through much warm up. Once the tach settles down, I am off and running down the road. Here, about a minute for start up, helmet latched, gloves on, and comm check.

 

[Bob Denman]

As long as it's had enough time to clear it's throat, and settle into it's normal, steady idle... :thumbup:
For my bikes; that's been about ten seconds or less.

 

[DrewNJ]

Same as a car. Best to let it idle for a few seconds to get everything flowing and your fine. Just don't sit there and rev it up or run the snot out of it until its at operating temp.

I typically start it up, then start throwing on my jacket, gloves, helmet, get the Sena fired up and some tunes going and then I'm on my way.....

Sent from my Venue 8 3830 using Tapatalk

 

[Bob Ledford]

Idle vs Crank & Go

Being a ex military trucker, Private Pilot and GW rider my favorite startup protocol is to do te "before engine checks" before getting on. Then I crank the engine and let it warm as necessary depending on the ambient temperature outdoors. While it is warming I finish up with the helmet stuff, getting my butt comfortable, jacket or vest comfortable and finishing up with the gloves.

Then I back out of the garage. If it idles backing out after a tiny throttle tweak I feel like I am good to go. Usually it is good for throttle up. If it acts sort of congested or irrational by the time I am in the street (50 feet) I will chug to the Stop sign. By then the heat gauge is starting to come off the peg. Make my turn and throttle up until reaching 20 MPH where I hold it until I have about 1 block on the heat gauge. Then I shift to 2 for a 1/4 mile an the first red light one way or the stop sign the other. From that point on I go for it staying under 5,000 RPM's until normal heat range is reached.

While it sounds like a long drawn out protocol it is really quite simple. When trucking we had to wait for the brakes air pressure to hit the minimums on the big ones or until the gas burners would run without using the choke being engaged.

As a small plane pilot you always wanted it to be hot before going throttle full to the wall before making your wheels off the ground run. It gives you a sinking feeling having an engine sputter when your 5 to 500 feet off the ground and about out of spare runway.

 

[Bob Denman]

I used to put my helmet on, while waiting for the prompt to hit the "Mode" button...
I think that the 2014 is spooling up faster... :shocked: Maybe I'll have to use the warm-up time now, for that purpose.

 

[bruiser]

We don't warm up the Spyders. It's on and go. BUT, we don't go like a bat out of heck. We start out easy and let it warm.