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Is it safe to drive with the choke on?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
Just like the title says. In August I am moving to an apartment complex where the other residents wouldn't like my V&H pipe singing at 3-4K RPM for 10 mins before I go riding. So is it safe to ride with the choke still on?
 
Re: Is it safe to drive with the choke on?

It will not hurt a thing to run with the choke on to put some distance between you and your apartment complex. :-) About the worst that will happen is you may soot the plugs a bit, but that will burn off in a couple miles.

Earl

mattdez said:
Just like the title says. In August I am moving to an apartment complex where the other residents wouldn't like my V&H pipe singing at 3-4K RPM for 10 mins before I go riding. So is it safe to ride with the choke still on?
 
Why 10 minutes of warmup? I start mine, get the gear on then ride off taking it easy for the first few miles. Choke on equals rich mixture, washing oil off bores, contaminating oil etc. If you need to ride with a little choke to make it rideable.
 
I ride with a little choke till the bike gets warm then off she goes and Off i go spinning well over 7k 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O
 
It is not the choke being on that will cause problems but stressing the engine before the parts are warm and expanded to their operating dimensions...taking it easy as you ride and let the bike warm up is perfectly ok...doing a burnout while the engine is cold is not! :?

Hap
 
The ideal situation is to get the motor up to normal operating temperature in the shortest possible time, with the least amount of stress on the moving parts. Labouring a cold engine while the clearances are big will cause excessive wear, and leaving the choke on longer than necessary will as Saaz say's wash the film of oil off the cylinder walls. I start my bike on full choke, ride away within thirty seconds, knock off the choke and take it easy for the first 5-6 miles.
 
Your bike is 83 so I assume you've got CV carbs. The choke is not really a choke, it is an enrichening circuit that only works at low throttle openings. It operates on the differential air pressure front and back of the butterfly. As you open the throttle this differential equalises and stops drawing extra fuel up the starter circuit.

The result of this is that you run rich at low throttle, such as sitting there waming up, but it gets back to normal as you open up and ride away. Leaving your choke on when you are on highway speeds has almost no effect on fuel consumption as the jet hardly operates at all (except on overun deceleration).

You should not need 3k to 4k idle, try to keep it no more than 2k. It is cold starts and high revs that do your top end to death.

It depends on how your bike is jetted and tuned whether it prefers lots of choke or is happy with minimal choke. If it is a "cold-blooded" tuning it will be set up lean and need lots of choke. If it is jetted and tuned richer on the idle circuit it will not need lots of choke to get it running from cold. Either way, avoid revving the engine too much until it is properly warm.

Kim
 
If your bike starts up easily with choke, but stalls right after taking the choke off, then I can see why you drive with the choke on for a little while.

BUT if your bike starts easily , and don`t stop when you take off the choke, then just start your bike, and let it run (should only take a few seconds) till the engine reach normal rpm. (usually it runs alittle higher with the choke on, when starting a cold engine).


Driving with the choke on isn`t the best thing to do.
 
a word of warning, on some models of GS's a small or light setting (just a bit of choke) on the choke can be dangerous.
some early CV type carbs used large hex head screws for the throttle linkage synchronizing adjusters and when the choke is set to just the right position the throttle can turn pass 1/3rd open but hang on the choke linkage when the throttle is released causing a runaway condition.
it took two years before I experienced this first hand so it is a rare occurrence, but it can happen!!

be very carefull when riding with partial choke, learn from my mistake and pain. (high sides are not fun)
 
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