Ok, I understand that it's very important to let an Evo warm up since the jugs can expand upwards of 4 thousandths when hot. I have seen several mentions of the "heat cycle". What exactly is a heat cycle?

How long should I let my bike warm up before heading down the road?

My bike has an S&S carb with an enrichener lever on the top of the air cleaner housing. What would be it's "proper" use?

I know what seemed to work the best with my bike, but the engine seized and is currently out for reman. When the new engine comes back, I want to ensure a long life out of it and want to learn everything possible to help me do this. When I dropped my engine off, the mechanic pointed out to me that apparently the front cylinder had at least 1 pulled stud and I already knew about the 2 pulled studs in the rear. I never want to have to pull the engine and send it in for reman again after this.

Teach me! I really want to know!

 

I use the choke as little as I can. Say max time is a minute.
Then when the back cyl is just about hot to the touch
I ride away normally, not wide open throttle till at least a few miles.

 

About the same here. I use the enricher to start her up, then I put on my helmet and gloves, kick the enricher to about half if it's not too cold out, ride down the street about 2 blocks and shut the enricher off during that time.
Probably about 2 minutes or less.

I can only imagine what would happen if you posted this question in the touring section. hahahaha

 

That's pretty much exactly what I was doing. I would push the bike out of the garage, flip up the enrichener and fire up the bike. Then I would smoke a cigarette while putting on my helmet and my gloves. I would get on the bike and go to about 1/2 on the enrichener lever, using throttle to keep it running while I turned it around, then I would gently take off down the street, pushing the enrichener all the way down as I take off. I have a nice flat road for about 3 or 4 miles that I ride gently with no heavy loads on the engine before I get to some hills...

 

oh

oh no .....

 

I start mine up, jump on and ride carefully for the first few miles, which is easy as its a 40 mph limit for 5 miles where I live....once its legal to go quicker I go quicker but I never thrash my bike.....Harleys are not made to be ridden like that...that's what V-Rods are for ;-)

 

I use my choke to start the bike and then immediately use the throttle/throttle lock to just keep the bike running (use the choke for maybe 10 seconds). After a few minutes I take it easy on her for about 5 miles.

 

Same here. I just started doing this since it seemed she was running too rich on warm up.

And since someone else mentioned it......if you were asking in the touring section.........a typical response would be..........


"Geeze man, go find a manual and figure it out"..............

 

Only you know your ride. It is jetted a bit leaner it will warm up a bit quicker.
On my EVO on a normal day I let it idle a minute or so and ride easy for a few miles. When it feels right I push the enricher in.
The big thing is just not to fire it up and roll on like a drag race right out of the driveway.
On the cooler days when it is 30 degrees or so The enricher says on a while. The FB is a bit cold blooded most carbs are.

 

I've been riding Harleys since the 70s and treat them the same as all my bikes. I use the choke/enricher to start, adjust if necessary to avoid it revving too high, then set off. I put my riding gear on first, but also have a residential area to ride through, so the first couple of miles are at slow speeds. I can usually push the choke right off within half a mile or so and steadily pick up speed when I am on the open road.