GS1000 full choke RPM?

[Big T]

Yeah, but how often did you go riding in 40 degree temps?

Also, the GS will run for 5 miles with no oil in it and keep running for another 40k miles. AMHIK

[Spyder]

Mine would start up (with the "choke" on) and ramp up to around 3500. I would immediately adjust it down to around 2000. While gearing up (gloves, helmet, zip, etc), I would have to adjust a couple times as the rpm's will keep climbing as it warms up. By the time I was ready to climb on, it was ready to go without "choke"... My GSXR is about the same.

[Rijko]

Where's this going guys ?

T, Chuck, it is starting to sound like you advocate warming up a stone cold engine at 3000-4000 RPM ... Really ?

[rphillips]

I don't think it's going anywhere except to show it really doesn't matter how we do it. Whatever works for you seems fine.

[Doug VK]

Personally, I'd never warm up my '79 GS1000 at 3,000 rpm's. If the carb's pilot circuits are reasonably clean, why would you have to pull the choke up that high to keep it running? I realize "pulling the choke all the way out " as Doug says, can result in varying rpm's because of choke cable adjustment and outside temperature. I suppose I could see pulling it up that much for the purpose of starting just for a couple seconds then immediately lower the rpm's to no more than 2,000 and that much rpm's should only be needed in very cold weather. I just don't know why you would subject a cold engine to that much rpm's as a routine, when, for example, my 1000 might need the choke pulled up high enough that the moment it starts, the rpm's can hit 3,000 but I immediately lower the rpm's to about 1,800 in cold weather. I also turn off the choke as soon as I can. This motor has some very small oil passages and the oil pressure I believe is only about 6-8 PSI. Cold 10W40 oil is too thick to flow well at 3,000 rpm's.
The factory owners manual for the '79 1000 states "to try to limit the rpm's to 2,500" and I was surprised it said that high. Maybe I just "baby" my GS too much. My reply also focuses on Doug saying his bike wants to kill if the choke is closed about 1/2 way. Again, cable adjustment and outside temp's factor in. I just want to add that the bike may be relying too much on the choke because the pilot circuit may not be operating as it should.

Keith, some good logical thoughts here that I will use in my start up regime. Getting to know the bike. Doug

[Big T]

Where's this going guys ?

T, Chuck, it is starting to sound like you advocate warming up a stone cold engine at 3000-4000 RPM ... Really ?

Rijko,

I'm not advocating it. I'm merely giving my 40 years of experience with my GS 1000. It has always been cold blooded on start up, the enrichener makes it rev to 3000 rpm, and that in no way harms the engine.
Any of the members who have ridden with me would tell you my GS motor is still quite healthy.

Can you, or any other poster here, tell me how the cold start up on their 78-79 GS 1000 has made their motor fail prematurely?

[chuck hahn]

See rphillips post. One would think if it were a OH MY GOD IT WILL BLOW UP MY ENGINE kind of thing Suzuki would have addressed it and limited the rev to a lower rpm

[Rob S.]

Can you, or any other poster here, tell me how the cold start up on their 78-79 GS 1000 has made their motor fail prematurely?

A lot of guys poo-poo the official recommended procedures in the owner's manual, particularly break in and cold start procedures ("ride it like you stole it", etc).

Cycle World put it this way: Who's got the most to lose if a new, waranteed engine fails? The manufacturer. Therefore it's in their interest to communicate the ways that will make it least likely an engine fails. It's a numbers game.

[Rijko]

Rijko,

I'm not advocating it. I'm merely giving my 40 years of experience with my GS 1000. It has always been cold blooded on start up, the enrichener makes it rev to 3000 rpm, and that in no way harms the engine.
Any of the members who have ridden with me would tell you my GS motor is still quite healthy.

Can you, or any other poster here, tell me how the cold start up on their 78-79 GS 1000 has made their motor fail prematurely?

Maybe it's just me, being over cautious.
When starting my bikes, all of them, i stand next to the bike.
Most of them have a habit of starting low-rev, and after a short while jump to much
higher revs. (usually this happens twice in the first 1-2 minutes)
I will be with my hand on the choke anticipating that, and feathering it down gently
so it will not go past 2000.

I cannot tell you that warming up consistently at 4000 RPM will kill your bike or shorten it's lifespan.
In my 30-year experience with these bikes i did however develop the preference of gently warming up a bike.
A warm bike, in my opinion, can be ridden "like you stole it".
I have several friends with GS bikes that had head gasket failures, they do warm up their bike at higher
revs than me, and those failures did happen at winter.
Who knows, that may be coincidence.

[Rijko]

Cycle World put it this way: Who's got the most to lose if a new, waranteed engine fails? The manufacturer. Therefore it's in their interest to communicate the ways that will make it least likely an engine fails. It's a numbers game.

exactly my point.

So apparently warming up a bike below 2000 RPM makes engine failure less likely.
Therefore Suzuki put just that in the owners manual.

And being a numbers game .... who knows.
1 in 100 ? 1 in 1000 ? Let me be on the safe side and warm up the bike gently is all i am doing.

[greg78gs750]

i think we are talking across each other here.....i suspect most of us monitor it during warm-up and moderate the enrichener to limit rpms. The initial jump to 3or 4k is no big deal, I don't think most of us let it idle there. The choke isnt an on/off thing, it can be feathered.....

[Gorminrider]

A lot of guys poo-poo the official recommended procedures in the owner's manual, particularly break in and cold start procedures ("ride it like you stole it", etc).

Cycle World put it this way: Who's got the most to lose if a new, waranteed engine fails? The manufacturer. Therefore it's in their interest to communicate the ways that will make it least likely an engine fails. It's a numbers game.

Yes, I wonder why anyone would consider that the owner's manual is ...what? Fake news?
"After the engine starts, try to limit the engine rpm to approximately 2,000 by varying the choke lever position"

(1982 GS650G owner's manual page 15)
If the people that built the engine don't understand it, I've got the wrong bike.

It's a feature of older carburetted engines that they tend to over-gas the engine at warm-up. The various attempts at controlling the choke with bimetal springs were certainly problematic! and I think they contributed to engine wear.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

No one's going to agree with others if their warmup routine has no obvious consequences. If it works for them, it works.
Anyone with just average knowledge knows that oil won't flow as well when it's cold. It won't lubricate the parts as well. Compromised lubrication equals accelerated wear. The only thing you can do to minimize the accelerated wear is to lower the rpm's. If you argue that, then you're alone. If you don't care enough to change your warm up routine, it's your bike.
But will warming up your bike at higher rpm's than NECESSARY result in an obvious oil related problem? Something that is definite proof? No. The average owner could never conduct a "warm up" test of two bikes over time and have accurate results. But yes, a motor that's warmed up at higher rpm's than another motor at lower rpm's does wear faster. Will this very small amount of extra wear times the amount of cold starts ever result in a problem that you can with 100% certainty blame on faster warm ups? Not likely. The key word here is "necessary". Why would you warm up a bike at 3,000 rpm's or more, when the bike will warm up well at much lower rpm's? And if it won't warm up well at lower rpm's then it suggests your pilot circuit isn't operating as it should and so you need more choke. I understand that everyone here is going to warm up their bikes at whatever rpm's it takes to keep it running, even if it isn't the best way to do it.
It's also basic knowledge that when motor parts expand faster, "heat related" problems increase. Higher rpm's equal faster expansion. Faster expansion, though you may never realize a problem, isn't ideal for the motor parts. Head gaskets are especially pointed out here.
Warming up with more choke than necessary also means you're flowing more unburned gas. This creates "soot" deposits that collect in the head, valvetrain and on the piston crowns. There are other potential problems but I'm not the one to explain them. The things I've mentioned are enough for me.
You should also consider that the factories state to limit the rpm's. The "2,500" in my '79 GS1000 owner's manual is the highest rpm's stated that I know of. My '07 ZX14, even with FI and computerized everything, automatically begins the warm up at about 1,200 rpm's and slowly climbs to a maximum of 1,700 rpm's before settling down.
To each their own. I agree that those who choose to warm up their motor's faster than necessary may never have a problem that they are positive can be blamed on those faster warm ups, but don't try to tell me the accelerated parts wear, wasted oil and fuel, extra soot deposits and occasional parts failures don't exist.

[Big T]

I love this place, always learning something. Is there a reason to let them warm up under higher RPM's? Is there a disadvantage to keeping them under 1500 while warming up?

The advantage is that they stay running. The slide carbs will stumble at lower rpm's when cold and stop running, as the OP noted

For the rest of you, I can start my bike at 35 degrees * without any choke, but it doesn't like that either.

So, please, we're discussing a quirk of the 78-79 1000s, and really don't need your treatises on oil and wear. Go back and read the first post.

*
Because after 40 years, my carbs are really clean and Ive figured out how to tune and sync them.

[rphillips]

There are all different scenarios, but one I've never seen is a GS that would start at 35 degrees, unless the pilots jets have been changed, with no choke. Suzuki always tuned the GS's lean on the pilot circuit, always heard it had to do with EPA regs. Also I never had issues with slide carbs, they always started fine with choke, as warmed up, rpm would rise, a little less choke rpm would fall, a little warmer rpm rise again then a little less choke & rpm lower again till all warmed up, then no choke. I never remember the stumbling unless I lowered the choke too much, but keeping up to 1500 rpm, smooth as silk. But again, back to the OP, whatever works for you will be fine.