Is it necessary to Warm the Motorcycle during Summer? Wrong Warm-Up Method can Damage the Engine! Check the Right Process | News

Everyone feels that if it is cold weather, it would be better to ride warmer.
But what about during the hot summer months?

If the motorcycle is parked in direct sunlight, the surfaces will be too hot to touch, and at least the engine will not be as sluggish immediately after starting up as it is in winter. Even if you didn’t warm up the engine, the engine will be hot as soon as you start ridng, and you don’t have to warm up the engine in the summer because it won’t suddenly accelerate to full throttle immediately after starting up. Don’t you feel that way?

However! That’s not what warm-up operation means. If you know what warm-up operation means, you will understand that it is not possible to say “You should do it even in summer,” “You should do it more in winter,” or “You don’t need a warm-up operation in the first place,” or any other such prescriptive phrases. We will now approach the essence of what warm-up operation is, regardless of the season or temperature. We will get to the essence of what warm-up operation is, regardless of the season or temperature.

What is commonly referred to as a warm-up operation

When you hear the term “warm-up operation,” you may imagine that the engine is left idling for a while after starting to warm up the engine body, coolant, and oil before starting to ride.
This is what most people imagine warm-up operations to be.

In fact, there are many opportunities to witness people warming up their motorcycles in this way, and I suspect that the more careful they are in warming up their motorcycles, the more they take care of their motorcycles. If you care about your motorcycle, warm it up a little and then leave immediately! If you care about your motorcycle, it is best to warm it up enough to be safe even if you open it to full throttle before you leave! (although they don’t actually do this).

What is the purpose of the warm-up operation in the first place?

It warms the water temperature to the proper temperature and makes the internal parts of the engine easier to move! This is the correct answer. If you know a little more about it, you can also warm up the engine oil to increase fluidity in addition to the water temperature! or warming up the engine itself to make the clearance of each part, for example, the gap between the piston and the cylinder, the correct value! Some of you may be aware of this. All of them are correct.

Engines are designed for optimum clearance at the proper temperature, so it is definitely better to ride them warmed up to the proper temperature. Engine oil and coolant are also designed to perform at their best only when used at the proper temperature. No matter what kind of engine it is, that is what an engine is.

On cold winter days, the engine may stall if it is not warmed up, because the engine is not at the proper temperature, so the clearances of various parts are not adequate, the oil is not warmed up and has a high viscosity, and the gasoline mixture is not in good condition because it does not vaporize easily. That’s why we have to warm up the motorcycle in order to be able to start it operate properly. However, there are some opinions as follows.

Theory that warm-up operation is unnecessary

The latest engines are designed so that they do not need a warm-up operation! Some people believe that this is because the latest engines are designed so that they do not need to be warmed up and ridden.

Actually, in a sense, this is also correct. In the old air-cooled, carbureted engines of the past, but in the latest water-cooled injection vehicles (FI vehicles), the water and oil temperatures are read by sensors, and when the engine is cold, it automatically and actively tries to warm up (= idling RPM increases, which is the same as accelerating in the old days). ), and even if the throttle is suddenly opened to full throttle when the engine is cold, the engine can be driven normally because the throttle mixture is corrected to be thicker by the same amount.

Unlike in the past, the clearance of each part has been improved in precision, so the gap will not become governed or tight even when the engine is cold. This is clearly different from engines of older designs, so it is not a mistake to say that warm-up operation is unnecessary.

Besides, even engines of older design, such as air-cooled + carburetor engines, should not break down instantly if they are not warmed up. Such engines may have to be warmed up a little in cold winters or they may stall, but in hot summers, they should be fine.

It is one thing to say that warm-up operation is unnecessary, but there is another meaning.
However, there is actually another meaning! It doesn’t break down without doing so! The fuel is compensated by the injection system, so there is no need to do anything special! If you think that, you are neck-deep in a big trap. That’s not the case.

Warming up is not just about engines.

The engine can be operated without warming up, which may be true, but the problem is that there are other parts of the bike besides the engine. A motorcycle does not ride on the engine alone.

Front and rear suspension, front and rear tires, chains, and other parts that are supposed to move and heat up need to be warmed up. In the extreme, it may be those parts that need to be warmed up more than the engine, because they are safety-related.

The term “no need to warm up the engine” means that it is useless to warm up the engine only because tires and humans also need to be warmed up. It does not mean that warm-up operation is unnecessary because modern engines do not break down even if you suddenly start driving while they are cold. This is very important.

It’s not the warm-up time or water temperature that matters.

Of course, it is always better to operate an engine at the proper temperature. It may not break down without warming up the engine, but that does not mean it does not need to be warmed up.

But that doesn’t mean that warming up the coolant and oil while the motorcycle is idling is of no great use. There are many theories about the warm-up operation, such as 5 minutes in summer, and 10 minutes in winter, until the water temperature gauge starts to move, or until the oil temperature reaches 50℃, but that is not the point.

It is true that it takes that long to be able to operate in earnest, and that temperature is necessary.
However, it is one-sided to set only the engine to such a temperature before starting to operate.

To tell a scarier story, engine oil becomes hard (viscosity increases and fluidity decreases) due to the cold weather during the harsh winter season, but the oil pressure rises easily due to the hardened oil, so the relief ports that allow oil pressure to escape open and allow oil pressure to escape. When this happens, the oil pressure immediately after the oil pump increases, but the actual oil pressure is actually low. If idling is continued with such low oil pressure, the possibility of fatal damage increases, such as galling due to insufficient lubrication of the camshafts or metal damage due to insufficient lubrication of the connecting rod large ends. If it’s summer, it’s irrelevant, but that’s what warming up at idle is all about.

To add to the horror stories, the air mixture (gasoline and air) at idle is far from ideal, and carbon buildup in the combustion chamber inside the engine can easily occur. Warming up the engine with the intention of working on it can make the internal condition of the engine even worse.

But the engine should be warmed up, and every part of the body should be warmed up, but it’s not good to warm it up endlessly at idle. I’m in trouble.

Warm-up operation full of mistakes

When you start from home, you accelerate all the way up to the maximum speed in 6th gear! Who would do that? Even if they lived in a place where it was possible, they would not do such a thing.

To summarize the situation, if you have an injection motorcycle with a modern water-cooled engine, warming up the engine by idling it endlessly until the water temperature rises is not worth the trouble. This is because the engine has an excellent control system that allows the motorcycle to start riding normally without warming up the engine to some extent, as in the past. The engine will not break down just because it suddenly starts riding without warming up.

The engine can be warmed up by idling warm-up operation while stopped. However, this will only warm up the engine, and only that part of the engine that is involved in the combustion chamber.

It may seem as if the entire engine warms up because the water temperature circulating inside the engine rises and the oil temperature rises, but this is not true. Idling for 5 or 10 minutes does not warm up the engine as a whole. It is only a temporary relief.

And as noted above, the warm-up operation is not just about warming up the engine. It is necessary to warm up the entire vehicle body as well as the engine.

For example, suspension damper oil generates heat by sliding, which produces damping.
If the damper oil remains cold, the dampers are working too hard.

Tires also need to be warmed up; cold tires are hard rubber and cannot be expected to grip as well as they should. They need to be moved by riding to warm them up from the inside.

As a blind spot, the rider’s own warm-up is also necessary. It is not so much a warm-up as a time to regain a sense of control over the bike. Human beings are very capable and can drive a motorcycle normally even after a long time, but there is a difference between being able to drive a motorcycle and actively controlling it. Riders themselves need time to reconfirm their sense of riding a motorcycle.

Warming up the engine simply improves throttle response, prevents stalling, and makes it easier to change gears, but you may have realized that warming up the non-engine parts of the engine is more important. You may think this is a big deal, but it is very important because it is a safety issue.

Warm-up operation (warm-up riding) is necessary even in summer

You already know the answer, don’t you? What is important in warm-up operation is not to warm up the engine oil or water temperature by idling. Of course it is important to keep the engine, oil, and coolant at the proper temperature, but it is equally important to keep the entire car body at the proper temperature. It is important to warm up not only the engine, coolant, and oil, but also the tires (including the inside, not just the surface temperature) and the rider himself. Besides, prolonged idling is not good for the engine in the first place.

In other words, once the engine is started and slightly warmed up (to the point that it does not stall), the motorcycle is quickly driven, warming up everything, including itself, as it warms up. After riding for a while, the engine, water temperature, oil temperature, car body, and myself will become accustomed to the motorcycle, and I will gradually return to my usual pace. It is best to start riding immediately as if you are warming up the motorcycle rather than warming up the engine. By the time your body is accustomed to it, the engine will have warmed up on its own.

This can be done in any season. Is summer hot enough for humans to regain their sense of riding a motorcycle faster? I don’t think so!

A story of a bonus

There are some types of vehicles that are difficult to warm up and ride slowly as soon as the engine is started, warming everything up as it acclimates. That is scooters and other vehicles with CVTs (unauthorized transmissions).

The fate of the CVT transmission is that the engine speed and vehicle speed cannot be controlled separately, so it is very difficult (though not impossible) to control the speed of the vehicle while the engine remains at a low RPM, or to keep the engine riding at a low speed while the vehicle speed increases.

Therefore, it is best to start riding at a moderate speed and with a low level of acceleration.
This is definitely better than idling the motorcycle at a standstill and letting the engine warm up.

Also, since it is not possible to warm up the engine while driving in a race, the engine is warmed up while stopped before the start (tires are warmed up with tire warmers, and riders are warmed up with a preparation exercise). (Tires are warmed up with tire warmers, and riders are acclimated during the preparation exercise.) The engine is not warmed up by idling it for a long time for the reasons mentioned above. Rather, for reasons such as the need to aggressively increase oil pressure and the extreme carbon buildup in the combustion chamber with low RPM race fuel injection mapping, the engine is warmed up using a very high RPM range as soon as it is started. Although there are some differences depending on the motorcycle model, it is common to warm up the engine by keeping the rpm at 3000 rpm as soon as the engine starts, and after warming up to a certain extent, gradually use the higher rpm range to warm up the engine.
From the side, it may look as if the engine is being blown dry like a parent’s revenge, but this is what happens when warming up the engine while operating a production motorcycle is done in an extreme manner.

Don’t imitate its shape only, and don’t do empty blasting from an idling state because it is a meaningless and embarrassing act. It only makes exhaust noise and is a nuisance to the neighbors and does no good.

This is a revised and reposted version of an article published on May 17, 2022