it just hit me today sitting at a traffic light that my idle speed may be a little too high. it tends to fluctuate somewhere between 1500 and 1600 rpms. afaik it's supposed to be closer to 1300, right?
i don't understand why i didn't realize this earlier - is it possible that the idle speed depends somehow on outside temperature? (it was colder today than usual)

thanks,
d.

 

The bike will idle high before the temp meter kicks in at ~100 (below the rpm meter). After the bike's around 120-140 the idle should be stable after that. If it's moving continuously you need to check it out. If it's constantly above 1300 when the bike is warmed up crank the idle screw down.

The starting high idle gets worse with decreasing temperature and the bike takes longer to stabilize. But in 5 minutes of riding it should stabilize.

 

this is not the starting idle, that's well above 2000. 1500-1600 is when my engine is warm. can this be too high because of low air temperature? i'm thinking colder air, more oxygen molecules, more fuel burned, does this make any sense?

should i worry if it fluctuates between 1500 and 1600? should it be rock steady?

 

I have had that same problem on my '92 Mitsu Eclipse. It was fine when I jsut started the car but after I run it for awhile rev'ing. I tried adjusting the throttle body but it had the same problem. It turned out that my throttle body had to be replaced. Hope that helps.

 

Well, I just adjusted the idle around 1300, and hope it stays there from now on

Is there the possibility to adjust it too low? What happens if you do? Engine dies all of a sudden?

 

if you start going too low the bike will idle down and startfeeling "rough"....after keep going after that and it will die. Try it, start your bike, warm it up, and start to lower the idle adjuster...your not going to do any harm, just idle it back up to where it is supposed to be when you are done experimenting.