SW warm up?

How much do you have to let the SW warm up in the cold? Is two bars enough? Thanks Dan

Start it, maybe 10-20 seconds to let oil flow, ride it. Easy throttle for first few blocks.

Standing idle warm up waste of time----maybe long term thins oil with gas?

I have used my scooters down to zero or 10 degrees F on regular basis.

No problems 10-40 WalMart Oil.

Most people never ride their scooter enough to wear them out anyway.

agreed, mine gets about the amount of time it takes me to get my gloves on and jacket zipped

There are two main opinions on the subject of 'warming up' an engine.
The prehistoric one being that you should have your motor run idle until it's temperature is in the 'operational range'.

Since this is a waste of gas/fuel/petrol and your engine will NEVER get to the optimal temperature this way, you 're better off riding/driving a cold engine with a gentle throttle until the engine OIL is warmed up. (This will happen a while after the coolant is warmed up enough!)

Since petrol/gas is a hydrocarbon, it will produce water vapour when burned. In a cold engine, this vapour can be seen as the white 'cloud' that comes out of the exhaust pipes. On 'warming up' at iddle, this vapour condensates and turns into water droplets in the exhaust system, causing corrosion. When this water is mixed with the engine oil, it turns it into 'sludge', which is an emulsion, like vinaigrette or mayonnaise. I like that stuff on my salad, but not in my engine...

Therefore, the modern idea about 'warming up' an engine is to ride/drive off shortly after starting, but under a light load only. This way the engine will warm up more efficient and faster, not only saving fuel and the environment, but also sparing the engine from corrosion and excessive wear.

Thanks. Great tip and I thought as a newbie - 1-2 minutes and the manual states 5 mins ????? Riiight. Makes better sense to get the bike moving gently.

Gentle acceleration and moderate speed whilst the engine warms up gives both the engine and the rider time to settle in.

Cheers,

Yes, love it everytime I start the engine - and by 3-4 traffic light - engine warmed up ready to zip...smooth and assertive.

One of the benefits of EFI over carbs is that these bikes will start and go without hesitating or quitting. Not so with carbureted bikes, my '93 Goldwing once pinned me to my front lawn because I tried to ride it off without warming up. I was making a sharp turn on the edge of my sidewalk to the driveway when the engine decided it was too cold and quit. You aren't going to do much when the engine quits suddenly in a sharp, slow turn. You also aren't going to do much trying to hold up an 850lb bike either. Over we went with my left leg caught under the bike. Lucky form me that it fell away from the concrete and dropped into the lawn. Also lucky the crash bars held the full weight of the bike from coming down on my leg. I still couldn't get my foot pulled out from under the bike because my boot wouldn't pull through. I blasted away with the bike's air horn for a few minutes before my wife heard me and came outside. I asked her to take the boot off my foot and then pulled it out from under the bike. I can tell you for sure it was a couple of weeks before I could walk normally though I did get some spectacularly colored bruises.

Just start and ride off, maybe take it easy for a couple of blocks.

'Ere's one for ya! I changed the thermostat and coolant and after a test ride I noticed that I had three blips on the temperature gauge after about 1/2 mile, maybe 3/4.

I always let the engine idle after start-up while I do my pre-flight checks, you know, 'flaps to take-off, brakes off, everybody strapped in, rolling, V2...and rotate,...about a minute or so? I took off gently, all uphill to about 500ft. I was astounded.

What a difference a new thermostat makes

'modern' engines don't need 'warming up' in fact many engine manufacturers advise against it. just start it and go. As others have said just take it easy for a mile or so until the engine is up to normal operating temperature

My take on it is: do what suits you.
There are variables. Do the same rules apply both to going on a longer ride or just two miles up the road?
In the latter case, the engine won't reach working temperature; is that good for it?

Back in my biking days I used to go to BMW Club events and there used to be this strange ritual of riders 'warming up' their engines for a good five minutes before they set off on group rides. A lot of looking at each other and gentle throttle blipping. The same riders most likely had cars at home and there'll have been none of this warming up malarkey with the car. They'll have just turned on the ignition and set off.

Of course on here there's been topics on here about deliberately disabling the side stand ignition cut off switch just so the owner can start the bike on it. The excuse being having the engine running and warm the engine up while they do up their helmet strap or some other excuse.

MikeO wrote:

My take on it is: do what suits you.
There are variables. Do the same rules apply both to going on a longer ride or just two miles up the road?
In the latter case, the engine won't reach working temperature; is that good for it?

That can be said for any engine short trips are the hardest on engines and exhaust systems.

It's strange then only motorcyclists and maxi scooter owners replace exhaust systems not because they've rusted through with condensation. they want something lighter, or sportier with a big logo on it, or just plain and simple noisier.

ps If I'm on here posting a lot today, I'm just passing time reading random stuff while some bread dough proves. (I'm going to try out the new bread dome I bought down in the Surrey Hills at the weekend.)

Scooter exhausts get replaced as they are often inferior quality. I'm looking at you Piaggio.

It's probably like what Meldrew said. My 08 SWing has the original exhaust and still sounds and works good. But at my age I really don't want a loud anything to drive. I get enough loudness from my 50s and 60s music. It would drown out any loud muffler anyway...