I love spending time in my garage, mostly because that is where my Suzukies are parked. Now it has been icy for the last 5 days and as much as i want to ride i realize it would be pretty dangerous. The cold is fine because i dress  for the weather. But the ice deters me. So i sit and polish the bikes and find things to tinker on untill the ice goes away, No matter how hard I try i always find myself slipping in the key, caressing the clutch lever and before you know I have hit the starter and they roar to life.  I just love the sound and of course the smell of the exhaust. but i heard recently that it does more harm to start a bike for a couple of minutes that it does to let them sit. I will not winterize them, I think that is terrible because there will be many days good enough to ride and if you winterize it the day may be gone before you can get out and enjoy it. I don't believe any real biker such as a bobber or chopper rider would ever winterize their awsome machine, (sorry I couldn't help refering back to the thread in the cafe, but I will try to refrain from that in the future). Anyway what do you think start the bike or not. Let me know, but please don't start an arguement over it    thanks.  man these red lines are buggin me      john hey, how did that photo get in there????

barry68v10 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:01:
is that in dog years???    john

and be patient for dry roads....it's a virtue ya know....

yes.  bikes run better when filthy (because they liek being ridden).

however, I think the fools at the lcoal shop where I have my tires put on use crappy axle grease and water gets in there...

but seriosuly, I do remember reading here (I think) that letting bikes idle just for the sake of letting them idle and charge blah blah blah ends up rusting the pipes internally? and maybe some other bad side effects. Not sure myself as when I start mine, i ride em.

do a search... i remember it was somewhat recent... search terms?   ???

Opinion from the frozen tundra.....

In Minnesota I generally winterize my bikes...my 75 year old father on the other hand likes to try to ride his SV650 at least once per month to keep the thing lubed up.

As far as too cold??  if it is the street, watch the bridges and overpasses for frost if your air is cold enough long enough to get the concrete masses down to freezing.

Salt is another nasty..it will destroy unprotected aluminum and steel.  wash often and plenty if road salt is around.  also watch for road sand it is very slippery on asphalt.

Too cold and slick?? one year on new years eve day (no alcohol had been consumed) at 10 deg F above, I did 50 mph across a frozen lake and was carving corners at 30 mph and hooking up hard!! every sense in my body said I should be laying on my side but I had all the traction I could handle!! Incredible what 3 sheet metal screws in each knob on a knobby tire will get you!

Ok back to all seriousness... the biggest problem from short run cycles (time running) in cold air is 2 fold.  Each time you collect water in your exhaust and never get the exhaust system hot enough to really boil it out...so you get muffler rot just like we did on cars until they started putting some decent corrosion protection into the mufflers.  Next what I consider the more serious one is that you will build up moisture and acids in your oil.  If it sits then for a month you can etch your bearing surfaces.  I pulled engine covers one year on my old 750 to polish them and found milky white cream inside the covers mixed in with the oil.  It was from riding all fall to and from school (4 miles) in air that was continually dropping to about 25 F (that was about my cut off)  All fall the moisture level in my oil was building from condensation of a cold motor that never fully reached running temp.  Once it does and runs there for a long enough time it boils off that moisture and you have a clean engine.  Shut it down consistantly early and you get a warm/ cold cycles with condensation that just keeps building.  Now I make sure that last ride, no matter how cold, is good and long and the engine if fully up to temp.

As they say...just my two cents.

Guido wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:01:

BLACK ICE!!!!  i used to believe that it was ok to ride in the freezing temps.  totally forgot about water run off and bike did some major fishtailing.  how i kept it upright is beyond me.  shoulda crashed.  oh btw, im a medic and have seen what black ice and over zelious riders can do too.  bikes stay parked til temp is over 45 and sunny.  spring will be here soon.  go sit on ur ride and make motor noises, have a fan blow on ya, but keep it parked unless u really have a death wish.

I rode my bike two weeks ago when I'd put in a new battery and wanted to just do a test run to make sure everything was running fine.  It was - 5 celcuis, and I didn't fully layer up, cause I was too anxious to get on and go.  What a blast!!!!!  I felt like yelling "yahoo!!".

Since then we've had very cold temps and the roads are snowy and icy - so I haven't ventured out.  I am watching the weather forecasts, and when I drive my car, I check out the local roads for snow, salt and sandy patches.  Hopefully, I'll be able to ride my bike soon, as I like to ride every 2 weeks or so all winter long - to keep the battery charged.  I don't just idle the bike and shut it off - I make sure I go for @ 20 minute ride to heat up the engine and blow any crap out.

Oh, I live in Ont. Canada where we get "real" winters. Ha!

I would say if you're going to start it up and not ride it to get to normal running temps, at least let it idle until it is up to temp. My father told me the same thing regarding moisture buildup in the pipes and engine. He recommended not running it when it's really cold, unless you're going to take it out