kgdykes@watbun.UUCP (10/18/85)
> From: rakon@aluxe.UUCP (kohler) > ...but on cold mornings I have trouble getting my '79 honda CX500 > started. Anyone have any tricks or suggestions to keep me from saying > heck with it and driving every day. Oh, one problem is no garage. > I ride ALL winter up here in Ontario,Canada (near Toronto). Well, actually, there's about 6 weeks from mid-January to end-Feb that are a total write-off, but I never "put the bike away". I've done this for about 4 years now. The following is some of the things I do for winter riding: - Change oil !!!!! If you use an extra-heavy weight oil (say: 20w50) back-off to a lighter-weight (10w30?). On cold days that oil is thick as semi-dry mud and doesn't flow-around for a couple miles (oh yes, never race or drive-hard for the first couple miles after starting) - get/do a lube job -- cables, bearings, etc. - On my two-stroker (rz350 and old rd350) I change spark plugs to one heat- range hotter (eg (rz350): instead of summer b8es I use b7es NGK plugs) At least CHANGE the plugs to new ones anyway. - If you are rich, or haven't done one in ages, get a Tune-Up - increase idle speed (a little THUMB screw) and if you have multi-barrel carbs (more than one THUMB screw) make sure they are EVENly increased (count the turns) On really cold days you will have to crank this right up. Change whenever the temperature changes a lot. - increase your idle RICHness (a little slot-screw?) but only just a WEE bit (eg: quarter-turn only) - be aware of your tire pressures, air expands and shrinks with the weather (some say that higher pressure helps Cut-through snow and lower pressure provides better traction on ice.... ...but WE would never ride in those sort of conditions :-) :-) - Ken Dykes Software Development Group, U. of Waterloo {ihnp4,decvax,allegra,utzoo}!watmath!watbun!kgdykes
roland@inmet.UUCP (10/23/85)
Ken Dykes' suggestions are all very good ones.
The only thing I can think of that he left out was the battery.
Almost no motorcycle battery is strong enough to hold a charge
and supply starting voltage and assuredly not cranking power
to start a bike in sub-freezing conditions (or even not yet
sub-freezing). I solved my problems by mounting an auxiliary
battery on my luggage rack and running extra long cables
(make sure they're heavy enough!). I used a Sears DieHard
out of my dead Oldsmobile but that was overkill - but it
worked all the time!
One other thought; early /5 BMWs had
a component in the starter protection relay which was
temperature sensitive. The symptom was that the relay
simply clicked rapidly as it tried to draw power. The fix
was to replace the component with an equivalent which was
not temperature sensitive. BMW owners with this problem
can contact me or BMWMOA about the details; others might check
with their dealers or owners groups.
Roland Crowl
{ima,ihnp4}!inmet!roland