good post. this reminds me that with my F4i gauges I just put on the F3, I can actually check the real temp, not just some crappy needle gauge.

 

Yes, i kinda noticed thats a slight change with the engines sound after about a minute. I guess thats when the choke is off. Thanks for the input guys ...

 

Not sure about the older bikes. But my 08 has a temp reader on it. When cold it reads two dashed lines "--" normally when it hits numbers about 90+ I'll start riding. Just cruising till it gets warmer.

 

To add and change this topic a little bit, how do you know when your tires are warm enough?

 

I wait till the --- goes away also, or the little "cloud" that forms behind the exhaust pipe goes away when warming early in the morning before work.

 

There's a good one there, how do we know the tires be warm enough to ride safely?

 

i wait until the bike goes into low-idle mode... =>100F

 

Here you go:

quote:

ORIGINAL: Road Racing World article from about 1999 or so.

Weaving Makes For Good Collisions By Dave Swarts

Weaving to warm tires is a fiction that just won't die. All sorts of
riders who should know better can be seen weaving wildly on warm-up
laps, and we've seen plenty of collisions and near-misses caused by one
guy weaving into another guy on a warm-up lap. Yet some riders persist
in the belief that weaving actually does something other than create a
hazard. So, since we had gathered a test bike, a test rider, all sorts
of measuring instruments, some extra tires, and had a track to ourselves
for our big tire test (Roadracing World, January, 2000), we decided to
test the effects of weaving on motorcycle tire temperatures.

We conducted this experiment using Mark Junge and his 1999 Kawasaki
ZX-6R, at Oak Hill Raceway. Michelin tires were used for this test, the
front a standard Pilot Race, and a Pilot Race "W" on the rear. First, we
measured the cold tires' core temperature in the middle and on both
sides of the tread, front and rear. We then sent Junge onto the track to
ride slowly in a straight line and then measured the tire temperatures.
Then we instructed Junge to weave aggressively from turn eight to turn
two and back again (approximately one-half mile), and measured the tire
temperatures again to see how much heat was produced in the tires.

Weaving on the warm-up lap won't warm-up your tires. It will, however,
make it easier for you to run into other riders on the warm-up lap.
Photo by Brian J. Nelson.

Next, we let the Michelins cool off. We then heated the tires on warmers
for 45 minutes per Michelin's recommendation and took the tire
temperatures. Then Junge went out and did the same weaving and
temperatures were taken again to see if additional heat was built up or
if heat was lost.

Next, Junge was sent on a standard warm-up lap. We then quickly measured
the tire temperatures. Then Junge did another 1.8-mile warm-up lap, this
time weaving, and we measured the temperatures again to see if weaving
built additional heat when compared to a standard warm-up lap, kept the
heat in, or lost the heat. Then we did the half-mile of weaving again
before taking the tire temperatures yet another time.

To complete our test of tires and temperatures, we sent our rider out on
two normal warm-up laps. Once back on the starting grid, we stopped the
bike with the tires remaining on the pavement just as you would sit on a
grid with the 3-minute board in the air. Then we measured each tire, as
quickly as possible, to see how quickly the tires lost the heat built up
on the warm-up lap.

The first thing that we discovered while trying to take the temperature
of the cold tires was that the sun has a significant effect on a tire's
temperature. Our test bike was under a canopy but the front tire was
still in direct sunlight on an 88-degree, Texas afternoon. Just from
sitting in the sun, the front tire had between 10 to 20 degrees more
heat at the tread's core, not the surface.

When Junge rode in a straight line at line at approximately 40 mph for
about a half-mile, the shoulder of the tire that was in the shade
remained at 85-88 degrees F. The temperature at the center of the tires
went up slightly while the shoulder of the tire facing the sun also
started picking up heat. Then our rider went on his weaving course and
came back. Once again the side of the tire facing away from the sun and
the center changed very little. The side of the tire facing the sun
continued to gain heat. We attributed this solely to the sun as Junge
was careful to weave equally hard on each side of the tires.

Junge went back to his task of learning Oak Hill on his "A-bike" while
we took the weaving test bike back under the canopy and applied Ty