How important is warming up the engine?

Area57

Well-Known Member
Fortunately I live very close to on ramp of the freeway, but that doesn't give me much time to warm up the engine. I know these bikes are built Yammie tough. How tough is that? I want it to last. I had a Yamaha outboard and the manual says to warm it up for five minutes and people laughed at me for doing that. Everybody else just pulled the cable and went full throttle. How should I treat my motorcycle?
 
Well, this is like one of those "oil" or "spark plug" threads. If ya ask twenty guys you'll have twenty different answers. As for me, I always warm up my bike until I get the temp gauge to register. Couldn't care less what others think about it. Let them laugh if they want. I want to be sure that oil leaves that sump and is up in the motor before I take off. Is two minutes at idle really isn't going to kill anyone. I'd warm it up but that's my opinion of course, at least a couple of minutes. If anything, you'll have piece of mind. I have a buddy that I drive to work everyday with who jumps in his Jeep, hits the starter, and takes off like he had been driving it all day. It makes me cringe every morning! Hahahaha!!!
 
I'm pretty much with Billy on this one, by the time I've got the bike out of the garage and down the lane it's warm any way, although I can't see a problem with riding off moderately without thrashing it would cause a problem , I must admit I do this with the car the manufacturer all but recommends this .
 
Been driving for 50 years, riding bikes for 40 years .... my procedure: 1) get in/on, 2) start engine, 3) put in gear and go. I've never had an engine malfunction or any sort of engine failure in all those years. And I change the oil at manufacturers specs and don't try to second guess the engineers who designed it. Same goes for the fuel, use the octane recommended by the designers. We really overthink these things.
 
My two cents:

1) Do not rev cold engine; FZ1 will start without twisting the throttle. Immediate reckless revving before the oil pressure comes up could be very harmful.

2) After few seconds you can go immediately, but do not accelerate hard during first mile. The FZ1 engine warms up quite fast.
 
If it's not too early in the morning I usually let it warm up until the display registers temperature.
Otherwise I start it and ride off without revving it too hard until the engine is up to temperature.

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Start the engine, put your helmet and gloves on and there we are. That is enough. Ride for 2-3 min. down the street and your are ready for speed ticket. No worries.
Cheers
 
@OldBiker,
Without speeding ticket I guess, right?![emoji6]

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HA! I can honestly say that I have never gotten a speeding ticket on a bike but in 50 years of driving/riding I have managed three in a car.

Believe it or not I have a speeding ticket while on my bicycle, my friend Larry and I were riding over the posted 15 mph in one of Chicago's suburbs. The cop claimed we were doing 25. It was downhill, so yeah.
 
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1000's warm up far faster than 600's. Give it 2-3 minutes, take it easy for the first few and you're good. To warm up a 600 properly it takes 7-10 minutes.
 
Start the engine, put your helmet and gloves on and there we are. That is enough. Ride for 2-3 min. down the street and your are ready for speed ticket. No worries....

This is it. Minus the ticket of course!

I don't care what others say, I do let it warm up for a 2-3 minutes and then ride out casually for a few minutes before hitting the freeway (If I'm going down that way). ;)
 
My routine is start bike , put helmet and gloves on and ride off, been doing the same for the last 40 years and no ill effects on anything I've had.
 
Where i work we have a fleet of 25 cars. Dead of winter. We start them and redline the shit out of them doing donuts smoking the shit out of the cold tires. Yes i have a fun job. In the 11 years I have been there, never once. Not at all. Have we ever had an oil related engine failure or any engine failure related to cold starts. Mostly suspension and chasis failures due to the abuse. No. I do not treat my motorcycle like this. It is a proven fact that modern fuel injected vehicles do not need extended warm up times. Do what you want. Most people that ask these questions are going to do what they want any way. Just looking for affirmation that their choice is the popular one.
 
30 seconds, is how long I let any engine warm, if it's warmer out, I might let that slip to 10 seconds in my truck

Bike sees 30 seconds of prewarm before I even think of blipping the throttle, first start of the day, regardless of weather. If I've been riding, then the key in, on, and go method is adopted. I suppose it would matter which Gen you're talking about, as I think you might be able to get away a bit quicker with Gen II's FI. A little time for engine oil pressure to build and get to the top of the head is never a bad thing though.
 
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