Starting in Cold Weather

Can you start your motorized bike in cold weather?


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I know this probably sounds inconsiderate towards our lovely planet and everything but I'm using the synthetic oil now and it's great and everything but I miss the smell of the natural smoky blend!

I may switch back just for the scent...
 
1 Month Review

So, it's been a month and I've ridden my bike at least twice a week since then to keep the gas flowing.

It turns out the solution to my problem was the choke. See, I'm used to the old lawnmower chokes where it's all the way up to start then thrown all the way down to run. After trying my bike out a couple of times though I've figured out the easiest way to get it started is choke up then push it down a quarter of the way every few seconds into riding until I feel the full power of the engine and get the choke down all the way.

Now whenever I first start riding its with my right hand on the throttle and my left fiddling with the choke until the engine's power kicks in - oddly just a few millimeters of movement and I can feel the difference.

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Thanks for the welcome everyone! I'm from the east part of Tucson (Pantano/Golf Links area if you know it), though fairly soon I'm going to be riding across town to Pima West Campus when I'm out of a car (straight through that downtown cop zone I've been avoiding ... there are six drivers and four cars at my house and I usually have the last say in a car, it's why I bought my MoBike in the first place). Anyone from Tucson have suggestions on which road to take? I'm thinking Broadway since it has a full bus lane that bikes can use (plenty of space to avoid cars), but then 5th and Pima are more residential zones with reduced speed limits, but 5th is known to have a lot of motorcycle cops and Pima is a little north of where I need to be. Check out the bike maps and MoBike rules for Tucson here, if you interested.

Anyway, I know I've broken the engine in well enough, I kept the riding under 25 for the first 200 miles (my little digital odometer says something like 325mi now ... I've probably totalled over 700 in all) and now my 48cc tops out at 35mph with decent acceleration.

Now I've switched over to this blue-colored 2-stroke motoroil (from the red colored full-synthetic I was using) in the past week or so. Is there a big difference in the oil you use? The people that sold me the bike told me to use only full-synthetic, but the mechanic and 3 or 4 Autozone guys I've talked to about the engine have said to use normal motoroil now and only synthetic after the engines been worn out. Does real motoroil hurt the smaller 2-stroke engines? I've never heard a definitive answer on what's the best oil and mix for a 48cc Skyhawk engine.
 
well, it looks like someone's been havin' a good time :)

i do the same thing as you, but i "set" the throttle & reach down with my r-hand to tweak the choke, idling along for about 45 seconds til the choke's wide open...off i go (it still needs a bit of warming up tho)

this gearhead's opinion is "if i use briggs & stratton easy-mix real oil, i can still wear my usa-flag-pin on my coat"...does that make any sense?
 
I have rebuilt numerous 2stroke chainsaw engines, most of which were used to either by loggers or chainsawcarvers. These engines were used hard, continously for long hours day after day. Most of the engines failed for one of two reasons, either overrevved or run with gas more than one month old since mixed with oil. They all failed in the same way. The piston siezed, all the damage was on the exhaust port side of the cylinder and piston. Most of the chainsaw venders are selling synthetic oil nowdays. The British Seagull marine engine website recommends continuing to use petroleum based oil in their engines. They also say that once you mix oil with the gas it severly decreases the gas storage life. My advice to use the twostroke oil of your choice, but don't use stale fuel older than one month since mixing. The oil in the fuel lubes all the bearings and decreases cylinder wear.
 
I Can ride in the cold.

My 70cc engine has no problem starting up in the cold. It is brand new though, if that has any effect. It can start when I even see ice on the ground! :cool:
 
1000 miles for break in on this engine? Sorry, but that is in no way accurate. I have a new engine that I will measure break in with a compression guage. I'll measure compression after every 2 hours of use and let you know when maximum compression occurs. Max compression is indication that rings are properly seated.

With that being said, my 1.9L diesel engine in my vehicle hasn't reached its full compression yet at 22k miles. My last diesel took 50,000 miles to reach maximum cylinder pressure (525 psi on an engine that has about a 20:1 compression ratio). I like to brag about my VW TDI Diesel...I love getting better fuel economy than most motorcycles (45 in winter 50mpg in summer due to differences in BTU content between summer and winter diesel and cold weather starts/longer warmups in winter)
 
The manufacturer said the breakin period was the first 2 tanks of gas, and not to rev the engine too high until after that. I'm not sure how long it would take to reach the engine's full potential though, I'm not that familiar with 2-stroke's. I'm guessing they mean for the engine to be fully lubbed up before really using it.

Thanks for the advice on the gas, I'll make sure not to mix the gas until I'm about to use it then (... thoughts of a flying off my bike while when my engine rips itself apart does NOT sound fun).

Just curious, what are the chances of a piston seizing like that? Last week I ran out of gas on the way to work and stopped by the quickmart to get a little gas and some oil, I only had time to pour in some oil with the gas and shake my bike around a bit and didn't get a chance to properly mix it until I got to work a few miles later. What are the chances of badly mixed gas like this blowing a hole in your engine?
 
Quadanar, I'm sure you went to the oil-heavy side of your estimation, in which case you may not notice any problems on a short run, but may foul your plugs sooner than later if you do it alot. You may seize if you are running with very little oil, but you can't really go wrong I'd think with slathering it up with some excess oil if needed.
 
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