How many bars do I need to warm up before I can ride in the morning?  I work early in the morning and recently installed Termi w/o db killer and it seems I am waking up my neighbor for warming my bike .....

Thanks.

695 owner wondering the same....

If it's like the 620 (and most cars and motorcycles for that matter) you'll want it to warm up as soon as possible. That means riding it, but keeping the rpms low until the temp rises past a minimum threshold. Letting it idle to warm up is bad because it takes longer to get up to temp. Basically, the shorter the amount of time to warm up, the better, but revving the engine too hard before the oil gets warmer is bad.

What I do is start it up first, set the fast idle lever to get 1500 and 2000 rpms. Put on my gear, check the tires, check my gear, check the bike. That takes about a minute or two. Then get on and go. I stay under 4000 rpms through local streets. As soon as I get to about 125 to 130 F, I get on the freeway.

In the winter, I have to go almost 5-10 miles if not more on local streets before I get up to temp. It seems to take forever.    The summer takes a quarter as long (3 miles or so).

Oh, and whatever you do, don't rev the engine to warm up the bike. I see Harley guys do that all the time, and even though they ride Harleys, which I don't care about because I'm not yet 50 yo... I still cringe. I don't think that's good for the bike.

Ride safe!

I can't speak from personal experience on your models of bike but as they are all fuel injected models I would say they should react about the same as my S2R 800.  Mine runs smoothly enough to ride almost immediately after being started.  I don't even bother using that nifty little enrichener when its cold.

Just start it, do up your helmet and ride away easily.  After 10 seconds the oil has lubricated most everything inside the engine.  Just take it easy for the first few minutes of riding.  It won't do any damage and the bike will warm up quicker under load anyways.  Besides, it will keep you on speaking terms with your neighbours.  

Quote from: jclin on July 07, 2008, 05:34:12 PM
If it's like the 620 (and most cars and motorcycles for that matter) you'll want it to warm up as soon as possible. That means riding it, but keeping the rpms low until the temp rises past a minimum threshold. Letting it idle to warm up is bad because it takes longer to get up to temp. Basically, the shorter the amount of time to warm up, the better, but revving the engine too hard before the oil gets warmer is bad.

What I do is start it up first, set the fast idle lever to get 1500 and 2000 rpms. Put on my gear, check the tires, check my gear, check the bike. That takes about a minute or two. Then get on and go. I stay under 4000 rpms through local streets. As soon as I get to about 125 to 130 F, I get on the freeway.

In the winter, I have to go almost 5-10 miles if not more on local streets before I get up to temp. It seems to take forever.    The summer takes a quarter as long (3 miles or so).

Oh, and whatever you do, don't rev the engine to warm up the bike. I see Harley guys do that all the time, and even though they ride Harleys, which I don't care about because I'm not yet 50 yo... I still cringe. I don't think that's good for the bike.

Ride safe!

+1. I think it not a good idea to let sit idling for too long - I follow pretty much the same procedure.

I have found that as soon as there are 2 bars showing on the temp gauge that it'll run great with the Fast Idle lever off.  Some guys were saying (the manual too) to never use throttle when Fast Idle is on ...so I've been following that rule with good success.  If I start mine, by the time I get my jacket, gloves, and helmet on that it's up to temp and ready to ride.

-Craig

I live at an apartment and just start up and go.  I take it easy until the bike is warmed up. 

I've never had a problem doing this (although occasionally I forget to turn off the fast idle lever until I get off the freeway, I know I must be tired when I do that).

+1 on the riding until nice and warm and then dropping the hammer

Warming it up without rolling and riding slow it stupid, unnecessary and waste of fuel.
Start the babe, choke to half, rpm to 1,5-2k and off you go.
I am halfway at work before it get out of the LO.
But people here in Denmark dont really seem to care about idling engines.
They leave their cars running in front of the HotDog booth when talking a snac.
One day I will jump into the car and rider around the corner 

I fast idle at 1500 on my 695 put on my helmet gloves turn off fast idle and ride away. I only live about 3 blocks from the freeway so once I get on I stay under 5k until "LO" goes off then I ride as usual. I cant stay under 4K because then I am only doing 50-59 MPH which is really not a good thing on LA freeways most of the cars are flying by at 80!

Alright, related question...

My bike starts with no problem, no sputtering without using the fast idle... should i use it anyway?

i only really use teh fast idle slider when its below 50 f outside, i find its really unecessary when its above 60deg farenheight outsides.  my feeling is that the fast iddle is more like a choke on an older carb bike something you use to help the bike start on really cold days.

Quote from: DEVO! on July 08, 2008, 03:15:04 PM
I cant stay under 4K because then I am only doing 50-59 MPH which is really not a good thing on LA freeways most of the cars are flying by at 80!

Sometimes I get on the freeway immediately as well, but I still stay below 4k cruising at around 55mph. I just stay on the right hand lane and no one seems to mind (I guess). Of course, Seattle drivers are the complete opposite from LA drivers....

Quote from: zedsaid on July 08, 2008, 03:39:44 PM
My bike starts with no problem, no sputtering without using the fast idle... should i use it anyway?

It's the sputtering that you want to avoid, especially when the oil is at RT. If your bike doesn't sputter on warm days, then don't worry about it; don't use the fast idle lever.

Quote from: zedsaid on July 08, 2008, 03:39:44 PM
My bike starts with no problem, no sputtering without using the fast idle... should i use it anyway?

I wouldn't bother...I just use it to start and to keep me from stalling at the first couple of stop signs.

if it idles above 1200 without it, don't use it. 
otherwise, i'll leave it on while i gear up, turn it off as i leave the drive and keep it from stalling with the throttle till i get out of the neighborhood