Another advantage of that initial warmup (time varies) is as the idle speed lowers, you don't get that sharp snap into first gear as the primary oil warms up and the clutch disks slow down. Kevlar drive belts have been know to snap if you put the transmission in to first gear before things have settled down a bit.

 

I think relli is refering to warm up fuel that is added at start up. The longer it idles the more unwanted fuel is burned.Wait until you feel some heat with the back of your hand on the front cylinder then go. Forged should warm up longer or limit acceleration until warm. sometimes it takes 20 minutes when cold to come off of warm up fuel. Fuel isn't cheap nowdays, use it don't lose it.

 

Maybe this is something for the mythbusters. Actually, I would tend to think thats a bunch of non-sense and it shouldn't matter if ya warm it up or not. If ya shouldn't let the scooter warm up, then what the heck ya going to do in slow traffic?

 

Looking at pic of your ride and see that you have V&H Ovals do you have true duals as well and how do you like V&H I have just installed V&H true duals and ovals but it will be a while before riding temps arrive.

 

If stock you would then be off the warm up fuel and back to the lean factory setting. Difference is warm up and burn up. Some warm up is important but waiting until it comes up to 285+ or operating temp as MOCO suggests is a little much.

 

im just talkin bout letting the oil get to all the vitals after sitting a while.surely you would want to atke a minute or two to bring the oil temp up a little.

 

I've always just started it up and let idle long enough to pull my gloves on, check for oil pressure [guage] and ease away. It's a proven fact motors warm up quicker pulling a light load...so I just play real easy with the throttle till she's good and warm.

F-it...if it ends up costing me some of the lifespan of my 95"er, it just means it will be that much sooner that I'll be playing with my RevPerf 114" oversqaure 'all bore'.

 

I've never thought about warming one up. I hit my starter as i'm backing up out of the garage...as soon asI get backed out and pointing outand hit the garage door opener to close it (maybe 10 seconds) I'm out of there! Do you let your riding mower warm up 10 minutes before you start mowing? No difference. Once you have oil pressure...it's ready to roll.

 

I also have an '07 FLHTC. My dealer told me to idle until the heads warm up.
Then again, "warm" to me might not be "warm" to you. I dunno.

 

You may find this article by Joe Minton /American Rider magazine October 24, 2005 an interesting read. After having my bike in storage for the past month, I have a bad itch to go for a ride despite the cold.

Engine warm-up is important and is a good idea that we all know something about the matter. Safety is the most important reason to warm an engine before riding. Most stock engines tend to lack power and deliver uncertain throttle response until they have run for at least a few minutes. In fact, some engines will stop running altogether if the throttle is quickly and fully opened immediately after they are started. If that were to happen in front or someone running a stop sign with their SUV, well.... This kind of scenario, by the way, is the main reason manufacturers often recommend long pre-ride warm-ups.
Many of the motor parts inside your Harley engine do not fit and work together well until they are at or near normal operating temperatures. I think the best example is the cylinder-and-head stack. Evo, Sportster, and Twin Cam engines have aluminum cylinders, heads and rocker boxes. However, the studs that hold those parts together are steel. The difference in the temperature-related expansion rate between aluminum and steel is about 10 to one. Thus, the head gaskets are squeezed much tighter after the motor is hot. Early Evos would often blow head gaskets if they were given full throttle before the cylinders and heads were warm. The earlier Shovelheads and Iron Sportsters did not have this problem and, at least in this one respect, were superior designs.
Lets look at our street Harley motors and how we use them. Most of the time we are asking them to produce less than 15 Horsepower when traveling at steady speeds. About 10 horsepower are needed to push a Sportster down a flat, windless road at 60 mph. An FXD or bare Softail needs 11 or so and a full touring rig about 13. This isn't much of a load for an engine capable of producing 60 peak horsepower.
I can assure you that Harley-Davidson has spent many hours and miles refining the piston, ring, valve guide and other dimensions to serve this standard load. They have also had to allow for the occasional extremes which include "seeing what she'll do" and the stresses of abusive warm-up.
The extra ring end-gap needed to ensure there is no binding during long full throttle runs allows blow-by when the gap is wider, as it is when the engine is cold. The ring end-gap must be large enough for a hot engine and is likely too large in a cold engine. There are other such compromises like piston skirt-to-cylinder clearance and cylinder-head torque. If you were to make sure your Harley motor were completely warm before using full throttle to get up to 100 mph, you could run the piston clearance within a half-thousandths of an inch of the cylinder walls instead of the standard two-thou (or so). Harley must certainly assume that you might not do that and fits pistons accordingly.
So, what is a person to do to properly warm-up the engine? Basically, give the motor a chance to swell up and get its clearances together. The bit of extra piston/cylinder clearance or piston ring end gap won't matter if you keep the loads and rpm moderate during warm-up. The lower clamping pressure holding the heads in close proximity to the cylinders aren't so important at half-throttle.
Why not just let the engine idle until it is warm? This is important. A cold engine generally needs the choke to run at all. Chokes are relatively crude devices and dump too much fuel into the engine, more than it needs. This extra fuel washes oil off cylinder walls, finds it’s way past loose pistons (and ring gaps) and down into the oil. Other byproducts of combustion find their way into the crankcase and engine oil as well. These include: water, acids and carbon particles.

The best way to minimize all this contamination is to warm the engine as quickly as is reasonably possible. "R