Do Motorcycles Need to be Warmed Up in the Summer? Is it Required or Not? Improper Warming Up Can Damage the Engine!

Everyone feels that warming up the motorcycle would be better in cold weather. But what if it's hot in the summer?

If you park the motorcycle in direct sunlight, the surface will be too hot to touch. At least the engine won't get unstable right after starting, like in winter. Even if you didn't warm up the engine, it would get hot as soon as you started driving. You don't need to warm up the motorcycle in the summer because it doesn't suddenly accelerate to full throttle right after starting. Have you ever experienced that feeling?

However, this isn't what warm-up is all about. If you know the meaning of warm-up, you will understand that you cannot say things like "you should do it even in summer," "you should do it more in winter," or "you don't need warm-up in the first place.

Regardless of the season or temperature, what is a warm-up operation? Let's take a look at the essence of it.

What is generally referred to as a warm-up operation?

When you hear the term "warm-up operation," you might think of "letting the engine idle for a while after starting it to warm up the engine itself, coolant and oil before starting to drive." I think this is what most people think of as warm-up operation.

In fact, there are many occasions when I witness people warming up their motorcycle in this way, and I believe that the more you take care of your motorcycle, the more carefully you warm it up. If you want to take care of your motorcycle, you can't just warm it up and go. The best thing to do is to warm it up enough so that if you have to open it all the way, it's safe to go! I'm sure you're thinking that you don't actually do that.

What is the purpose of a warm-up operation?

I think most people are aware of the fact that it warms the water temperature to the right level to make it easier for the internal parts of the engine to work, and that is true and correct.

If you're a little more knowledgeable, you'll know that in addition to water temperature, you can also warm up the engine oil to increase its fluidity! Or, warming up the engine body and setting the clearance of each part, such as the gap between the piston and the cylinder, to the correct value. For example, the clearance between the piston and the cylinder. All of these are correct.

The engine is designed to have optimum clearance at the right temperature, so it is definitely better to warm it up to the right temperature and ride it. Engine oil and coolant are also designed to perform at its best only when used at the proper temperature. No matter what kind of engine it is, that's what an engine is made for.

In some cases, such as on a cold winter day, the engine may stall if it is not warmed up. This is due to a combination of reasons: the engine is not at the right temperature, so the clearances between the various parts are not appropriate; the oil is not warmed up, so it is too viscous; and the fuel mixture is not good because it is difficult to vaporize. That's why you have to warm up the motorcycle to be able to start it operating properly.

However, some opinions are as follows.

No warm-up operation required

Some people believe that modern engines are designed so that engine breakdowns do not occur without warming up the engine.

Actually, in a way, this is also correct. The old air-cooled engines with carburetors, but the latest water-cooled injection motorcycles (FI motorcycles) use sensors to read the water and oil temperatures, and this allows the engine to operate at higher speeds. When the engine is cold, it will automatically and aggressively try to warm up (i.e., the idling speed will increase, which is the same as accelerating in the old days), and even if you suddenly open the throttle all the way when the engine is cold, it will compensate for that by making the mixture thicker, so you can start driving normally. It's the same as blowing the accelerator.

Unlike in the past, the clearance of each part has been improved to a higher level of precision, so even when it is cold, there is no need for the gap to become governor or tight. This area is distinctly different from older engine designs, so it is not wrong to say that warm-up operation is not necessary.

Besides, even engines with older designs, such as air-cooled + carbureted engines, will never break down instantly if they are not warmed up. In cold winters, such engines have to be warmed up a bit, because if they are not warmed up, there are cases such as engine stall. However, in the hot summer months, they should be fine.

So it is reasonable to say that warm-up operation is unnecessary, but actually, there is another meaning in it. If you misunderstand this, you may think, "I don't need to warm up the engine because it's a new engine! You don't need to warm it up, it won't break down! You don't need to do anything special because the fuel injection compensates for it! If you think that way, you'll fall into a big trap. This is not the case.

Warming up isn't just about the engine.

The engine is fine without warming up, that may be true, but the problem is that there are other parts of the engine. Motorcycles do not just operate on its engine.

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 extreme cases, it may be those parts rather than the engine that need to be warmed up for safety reasons.

No need to warm up the engine means that tires and riders also need to be warmed up, so warming up the engine alone is useless. This doesn't mean that modern engines don't need to be warmed up because it won't break even if you suddenly start driving it when it's cold. This is extremely important.

What matters is not the warm-up time or water temperature.

Of course, it is better to warm up the engine to the proper temperature. It might not break without warming it up, but that doesn't mean you don't need to warm it up.

However, there is no point in idling the engine to warm up the coolant and oil. There are many theories about warm-up, such as "5 minutes in summer, 10 minutes in winter," or "until the water temperature gauge starts to move," or "until the oil temperature reaches 50 degrees Celsius," but that's not the point.

It's true that it takes that much time and that much temperature to be able to perform a full-scale ride. But if you only set the engine to that temperature before you start driving, you're not doing enough.

To make things even worse, engine oil becomes harder (more viscous and less fluid) due to the cold in the harsh winter, but the hardened oil easily raises the oil pressure, so the relief port that releases the oil pressure opens and lets the oil pressure out.

In this case, the oil pressure immediately after the oil pump is high, but the actual oil pressure is actually low. If you continue to idle at that low oil pressure, you may increase the possibility of damage to the camshaft due to lack of lubrication, or to the metal due to lack of lubrication at the large end of the connecting rod, which can be quite mission-critical. In the summer, it's a non-issue, but that's what idling to warm up is all about.

In addition to the scary stuff, the mixture of fuel and air while idling is far from ideal, and carbon can easily accumulate in the combustion chamber inside the engine. Warming up the engine with the intention of working on it will make the internal condition of the engine even worse.

However, the engine should be warmed up, and the body parts should also be warmed up, but it is not good to warm up the engine by idling it endlessly. That's the problem.

Mistakes in warm-up operation

When leaving home, you can accelerate all the way to maximum speed in 6th gear! Who wouldn't be, right? Even if it were possible to do so, you would not do it.

To sum up the situation, if you have an injected motorcycle with a modern water-cooled engine, warming up the motorcycle by letting it idle endlessly until the water temperature rises is a bad idea. The reason for this is that it has excellent control that allows it to start operating normally, rather than having to warm up to a certain degree as in the past, which made it difficult to operate properly. The engine will not break down just because it suddenly starts operating without warming up.

It is possible to warm up the engine by idling it while you stop. However, this will only warm up the engine, and only the part related to the combustion chamber.

There is an image that the entire engine is warming up because the water and oil temperatures circulating inside the engine are rising, but this is not the case. Idling for 5 or 10 minutes is hardly enough to warm up the engine as a whole. It is only temporary relief.

And as I mentioned above, warming up the engine is not just about warming up the engine. The entire motorcycle requires to be warmed up as well as the engine.

For example, damper oil in suspensions heats up when it is allowed to slide, creating the original damping effect. If it remains cold, the damper will be too effective.

Tires also need to be warmed up, and with cold tires, you can't expect the rubber to grip as well as it should because it is hard. You need to move it out by driving and warm it up from the inside.

As a blind spot, the rider himself also needs to warm up. It's not so much a warm-up as it is a time to regain a sense of control over the motorcycle. Humans are so good that we could drive a motorcycle just like any other after a long time, but there is a big difference between "being able to drive" and "actively controlling". Riders themselves need time to reconfirm the feeling of driving a motorcycle.

Warming up the engine simply makes the throttle feel better, prevents the motorcycle from stalling, and makes it easier to change gears, but I hope you understand that warming up other parts of the motorcycle is more important. You may think that this is such an exaggeration, but it is very important because it involves safety.

Warm-up operation is necessary even in summer.

You already know the answer to that, don't you? Warming up the motorcycle is not about warming up the engine oil or raising the 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 motorcycle at the proper temperature. It is important to warm up not only the engine itself, the coolant and oil, but also the tires (and not just the surface temperature, but also the interior) and the riders themselves.
Besides, idling for a long time is not good for the engine in the first place.

In other words, once the engine is started and slightly warmed up (enough not to stall the motorcycle), you can quickly start driving and let everything, including yourself, warm up as you drive. After riding for a while, you get comfortable with the engine, water temperature, oil temperature, motorcycle itself, and yourself, so you gradually return to your normal pace. The best thing to do is to start driving immediately, as if you were warming up the motorcycle. By the time your body gets accustomed to it, the engine will have warmed up on its own.

This is true regardless of the season. Does the summer heat help riders regain the feeling of driving a motorcycle faster? No, of course not!

A bonus story

As soon as you start the engine, you start driving slowly. There are some motorcycle models that are difficult to warm up and ride while warming up to make sure everything is familiar. This is a motorcycle that uses a CVT (continuously variable transmission), such as a scooter.

As the fate of CVT gearboxes is that the engine speed and vehicle speed cannot be separated and controlled arbitrarily, it is very difficult (though not impossible) to control such things as increasing the motorcycle speed while the engine speed remains low, or revving the engine while the motorcycle speed is low.

Therefore, it is best to start off with a low speed and a low gas pedal pressure. It is definitely better than letting the engine idle at a stoplight and only warming up the engine.

Moreover, in a race, it is not possible to warm up the engine while driving, so the engine is warmed up at a standstill before starting. (Tires are warmed up with tire warmers, and riders are acclimated through preparation exercises.)

The engine is not warmed up by idling for a long time for the reasons mentioned above.
I would rather use a very high RPM range to warm up the engine as soon as it starts, due to the need to increase oil pressure aggressively and the extreme carbon buildup in the combustion chambers with low RPM race fuel injection mapping. The engine looks like it's idling like a parent, but that's what happens when you take the "warm-up while riding" method of production motorcycles to the extreme.

It's a shame to mimic the shape of a motorcycle and start buzzing from idle, but it doesn't make any sense. The exhaust noise is so loud that it's a nuisance to the neighbors and nothing good can come of it.