Warming the Engine

I hardly ever warm up any of my bikes either. Just crank and go. If it won't handle it, I don't need it!!!
 
Just start them up, give em enough time for the oil pressure to come up and circulate for a moment (about a minute) and go. I wouldn't suggest going full throttle out of the hole, however drive normal for a couple minutes and you are ready to crank it up on the curves. If the bike it too cold it will let you know as it won't want to take the fuel when you accellerate. The NT will let you know when it's warmed up enough to crank on it, because the fast idle will drop when it reaches a good temp. At 45 degrees or less that is about three or four city blocks for me. Believe me you will not wear out or damage that engine any sooner. Proper maintenance is way more important than how long you let it warm up. FACT !

DJ
 
On warm up I will say that I am a complete believer in allowing a through warm up. I usually give it three or four minutes depending on the outside temperature. Also there is the factor of if the bike has been sitting for a while. Then I do even longer. I have noticed on my NT a subtle change in the mechanical sound of the engine as it warms up. For lack of a better description I will call it a harshness to the various sounds eminating from the engine. These simply go away as the engine gets warmer. My ST did the same thing. My pet theory is the that the bearings as well as everthing else that is moving are less lubricated by the cold oil and give off these sounds.
 
Keep in mind the temperature guage is measuring the water temperature not the engine temperature. There is a lag between the two.
 
With the fuel injection, electronic ignition and modern multigrade oils, there is no reason to warm up a motor any more. In Canada in the winter, when it is -30f we used to warm up our cars for 5 or 10 minutes prior to driving. But it was for creature comfort and to keep things like the stearing wheel and vinal seats from cracking, not to protect the motor. The old automatic transmitions would not engage until the fuid had warmed enough, so we had to warm them up until they would move. (My dad's old IH travel-all used to pull in reverse before it would pull in forward. So we would back out of the driveway, and then could not move forward for another couple of minutes).

Granted, you should not run the motor up to full red line until it is up to operating temperature, but running the motor allways wears the motor. Excessive idling to warm them up wears them as much as driving. As long as the motor will run and the drive trane will work, warm it up on the road. Just take it easy at first.
 
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