how long to warm up XL700?

[deskjetian]

Another newbie question !
When warming up my XL700V, I wait till the temp gauge display comes on (35 degrees) before I head off down the road.
Is this the best practice or am I waiting too long?

[raymo]

Another newbie question !
When warming up my XL700V, I wait till the temp gauge display comes on (35 degrees) before I head off down the road.
Is this the best practice or am I waiting too long?

nope, start it, then ride it .. it will warm up in couple of miles..

[StumpyFingers]

As long as the bike has oil the engine is fine, start it up 30 seconds later you should be well on your way.
The oil is protecting the engine if that is low then damage is done but the coolant is just that it is there to keep the engine cool.

[silverwing]

A honda spannerman once told me to ride the bike from cold, as if you are running it in. Most engine wear occures when it is cold, so be gentle with the revs until its up to normal running temp.

[deskjetian]

thanks for the replies....they are just what I was hoping you'd say....
but all those minutes I needlessly wasted

[StumpyFingers]

Just worry about that oil pressure light once that is out the oil is circulating so the engine is fine

[Pondlife]

I normally wait a few seconds, you can tell by the engine noise and watching the rev needle thats its ticking over on the proper idle speed.

After that I'm away..

[MandoBear]

Yep, just make sure the oil pressure light goes off... and personally, I keep the revs down until the engine is up to temperature. So when I'm running through town on a cold-ish engine, I'll generally keep it below 5k revs. Once we're up to 74 degrees, I'll give it the berries...

[Farky]

Agree with all that - start and run after a few seconds - by the time I get my gloves on usually. In the winter, when its especially cold, i run on idle for the first 500 yards (til im out of the estate) and usually its showing a temp by then.

Just keep it well serviced.

[Orinoco]

For me it's start the engine, let the tick-over settle, a quick blip of the throttle and I'm off. I generally keep the revs down for about a mile or so, but once the digital guage is registering [TA 700] then it's fair game.

I've heard a few stories in my years of riding and spannering, no idea if there's any truth in them but;

The Oil pressure warning lights are usually set to come on at a very low pressure and usually they inform you that damage has occured. If you ever see one come on then turn the engine off immediately.....

At tick-over the oil pump is not pumping oil at a high enough level to keep things lube'ed properly and thus it's important to blip the throttle occasionally to boost the oil pressure - especially when the engine's col.