quick question about warming the engine...

[dorian chapman]

I am living in Victoria BC Canada, nights get close to 0 degrees celsuis. In the morning when i start the bike it starts up fine with some choke. Then i let it sit and warm up for about 10-15 mins.  I was told to have the bike in gear when sitting there warming up as the battery doesn't charge or something like that if it is in Neutral. Not sure if this is true or not as I am very new to bikes, and the person that mentioned thsi to me is very new aswell (someone else passed the info on to him).

Another thing, what would be an inexpensive pipe to add, that will make the bike much louder, I hear these R6's and what not screeming down the streets waking up neighbours ! , and i want mine to do the same !
thanks.

[JamesG]

hehe  no the generator works whenever the engine is turning. It makes more power the higher it revs, but more than breaks even idling.  The only danger of leaving the choke on for long periods of time is that you can gum up the plugs.

Turn the choke full on and start the engine. It might sputter a bit a first, but the idle should get stronger.  After less than a minute usually the idle should climb to 3K rpm. Back the choke off until the idle drops to regular idle 1,500 rpm.  Keep doing that until its completely off an the bike idles fine without choke. Should be less than 2 minutes.

Pipes pop up on Ebay occasionally. And hopefully now that the GS is being made again and as a "sportbike" more brands will make an exhaust for it.

So a search on "drilling" & "exhaust" to get an idea of how to make the stock can louder.

[Briliu]

is it bad that mine takes like 10 minutes to warm up from about 40 degrees before i can turn choke all the way off?

[JeffD]

Long warm ups plauge Unjetted GS's.  If your bike is stock then yes its going to take awhile to "Warm up" but as long as your engine is warm (ie choke on for a minute) just start riding around and keep the RPM's high, dont lug it when its cold, and by high I mean like 4-6k riding around and just baby it for a couple minutes.  This should help warm it up.  The main thing you want to do is get all the cold oil moving again and lubricating important parts, and after a minute that should be fine.

[dorian chapman]

what i was referring to, was when the choke is fully off, and I am just sitting there, letting it warm up, is it necessary to keep it in gear, cause it's annoying to have to sit for 10 mins holding the clutch in while it's in first. Whereas if it's in neutral I don't even need to be sitting on the bike while it warms up. But by the sounds of your response it seems it doesn't matter whether it's in first or neutral, as long as the engine is running the battery is fine.

[JamesG]

Yeah the generator is on the left end of the crankshaft (the bump that sticks out of the left side of the engine) so its actually before the clutch.

[Rema1000]

Nope, no need to have the bike in gear to warm up or charge.  
While it's warming up, I have just enough time to put on my gear (I hang it in the garage).  The bike is warm enough to run with no choke by the time I'm dressed (although it isn't smooth).

Also, there's not much benefit to warming the bike for more than a couple of minutes.  At that point, the oil is fully circulating, so you can just take off.  However, the bike may kill easily for the first minute or two, so you need to keep it one gear lower for a minute or two.

I have stock jetting, and have no problems with killing, etc.  I ride when it's above freezing (and no frozen bridges), so this method works to at-least 38 degrees F. for me.  Unfortunately, it's 15F right now, so I'm not riding .

[Cal Price]

My normal going-to-work-time temperature at this time is about or just above bugger-all celcius. That nice Mr Suzuki writes in the Anglo-French edition of the owner manual that I understand is used for UK-France-Canada & Oz (Kiwis please forgive me but it don't mention you) saying, start the bike, full choke, no throttle in usual way and let it run for thirty seconds before engaging a gear. I normaly do that then let it run a bit more before moving off gradually returning choke depending upon engine "feel" and temperature etc over the next few minutes. It works for me.

[The Buddha]

The generator is on the end of he crank shaft... like JamesG said. So it spins whenever the motor runs. So no need for puttin in gear and clutching it.
Canadian bikes are slightly better jetted than US bikes. 40 pilots and 125 mains were stock on them So a rejet may not do much for you... I'd say you are fine, just keep some thin synthetic oil in it, and you are fine.
Cool.
Srinath.