Quote:
Originally Posted by dcj13
Everything true about bike commute length is also true for car commute length.
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This is absolutely true. However, I tend to interpret it more as you should try to run your car's engine in ideal conditions too, rather than saying that since you abuse your car you can also abuse your bike.
Also, every modern car I'm aware of has a bypass loop in the coolant system. When the engine is cold, the thermostat excludes the radiator leg, but the coolant still flows around a loop. Once it heats up, the thermostat opens and the coolant flows through the radiator leg to dump heat.
On our bikes, it's a single loop, where the thermostat simply controls all flow. When the thermostat is cold, the coolant in the engine stays in the engine getting hotter, and the coolant in the radiator stays in the radiator getting colder. This means the engine will be hotter than the thermostat, and when enough heat finally gets to the thermostat (since the only flow is via the bleed hole), you can get a surge of cold water into the engine (it's actually possible to get a large enough surge of cold water all the way through the engine to cause the thermostat to close again).
The
Thermo-Bob converts the cooling system to work like a car's, so the coolant is continuously flowing in a loop through the engine and thermostat (resulting in a more uniform temperature), and the radiator leg is opened up for cooling once it hits the thermostat temp. Obviously many bikes go their whole lives without this change, but I think it's one more cheap-out that leads to less than ideal conditions.