cold blooded

[james250ninja]

why are the ninja 250 so cold blooded to start ,I know they are carbureted, but are the carbs cheaply made...

whats the best way to warm it if it really cold out and how long u let it warm up befor riding

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by james250ninja

.........whats the best way to warm it if it really cold out and how long u let it warm up befor riding

These carbs are not cheap.

Please, read these:
http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Intake

[csmith12]

No, not cheap and no matter the conditions, let it warm until up it will accept throttle and run properly without stuttering or dying. Be best way is to warm the engine under load.

[alex.s]

what i do is i start it, rev it to about 4K until it feels smooth (3 to 5 seconds), blip it a few times and then go.

[jackliu239]

Since we are on topic of warm up, I'm think I read a while ago that once the engine is warmed up, you need to ride it for 20 minutes or more, otherwise it would hurt the engine life? Is this true? Because I plan to take this bike to work, and the distance between my home and my work place is only 5 miles or 10-15 minutes away.

Is this bad for my pregen Ninja?

[BikersPOV]

Originally Posted by jackliu239

Since we are on topic of warm up, I'm think I read a while ago that once the engine is warmed up, you need to ride it for 20 minutes or more, otherwise it would hurt the engine life? Is this true? Because I plan to take this bike to work, and the distance between my home and my work place is only 5 miles or 10-15 minutes away.

Is this bad for my pregen Ninja?

It cannot be a big threat. I have heard this claim before and I do not get it.
If you ride 5 miles and stop - you have used your engine a bit.
If you ride 5 miles and than continue for another 5 miles - you have used your engine to the same extent for the first 5 miles and than a bit more for another 5 (although maybe now it is warm and is getting less damage for the rest of the journey).

Yes it is better to run a bike in the optimal conditions but it is never perfect and you have the bike to ride it.
What is the point of having it if you don't use it?
Besides - do you plan to ride it till one of you dies?

[skbrent]

Originally Posted by BikersPOV

It cannot be a big threat. I have heard this claim before and I do not get it.
If you ride 5 miles and stop - you have used your engine a bit.
If you ride 5 miles and than continue for another 5 miles - you have used your engine to the same extent for the first 5 miles and than a bit more for another 5 (although maybe now it is warm and is getting less damage for the rest of the journey).

Yes it is better to run a bike in the optimal conditions but it is never perfect and you have the bike to ride it.
What is the point of having it if you don't use it?
Besides - do you plan to ride it till one of you dies?

Here's what my boyfriend said when I asked him:

1. When the engine is cold, the oil is cold and therefore not flowing at the optimal flow that the engine is designed for.
2. If there is any water (dew, condensation etc) it may not evaporate completely on very short trips.

During the warm up period, there is more wear on the components, same as in a car. However, once your bike gets up to regular operating temp (he says within about 5 minutes) it's all good.

If you have 10,000 miles on your bike and you got those 10,000 miles from 5,000 two mile trips as opposed to 10 one thousand mile trips then yes, I suppose it could shorten the life of the engine because more of those 10,000 miles are when the engine is cold. The same would be true for a car engine so you might as well "damage" your (probably) much cheaper bike, spend less on gas and have more fun, right?

[agentbad]

For mine it takes about half choke to keep her idling then I just ride like that for a few miles or less and turn it off. I go easy on the throttle until the engine gets warm.

[greg737]

Unfortunately the bottom line on carbs is that cold start-up is difficult.

The only real and complete solution to carb cold start difficulty is fuel injection.

Anything else you might do is just a "band aid" effort to mitigate a situation you can't fix or overcome because it's a design limitation.

The truth is that when the EX-250s carbs are in absolutely perfect operating condition the bike starts pretty well. However, the work required to keep them in that perfect state is well beyond most people's daily give-a-**** level. We're just too busy to lavish attention and effort on a little motorcycle that really only amounts to an occasional pleasant diversion in life.

[Lychee]

Originally Posted by greg737

We're just too busy to lavish attention and effort on a little motorcycle that really only amounts to an occasional pleasant diversion in life.

[greg737]

Yep, that's what I said. So you can suck it.

[agentbad]

My bike is my primary transportation weather permitting so I guess it's more immersion then diversion in life for me.

[Lychee]

I feel that all you have to do to keep the carburetor in good shape is to not allow the fuel to settle. That is, simply continue to ride the bike.

Actually, I agree with that EFI is a more efficient method of fuel delivery, especially when cold. Carbs are cold blooded and are barely ever at 100%. However, I am surprised a simple little diversion from life is worth 939 posts on a forum dedicated to it. Can you really say that is all your ninjette is to you? If you can, I suppose you might be speaking for yourself.

[greg737]

Are you trying to say that every single EX-250 owner is enthusiastically posting on this or another Ninja 250 website? Pretty sure that's not the case, instead I'd bet that the whole group of EX-250 owners who regularly post on enthusiast websites only amounts to a very, very small percentage of the overall EX-250 owner population.

I'd also bet that most EX-250s are sitting in the garages of people who drive a car as their primary mode of transportation. These people have jobs, families and a long list of other interests, responsibilities and obligations, most of which take precedence over the motorcycle.

So yes, while most EX-250 owners do love and enjoy their motorcycles, the bottom line is that when you look at the issue from a broad, total-owner-group perspective, it is just a "pleasant occasional diversion."

[Lychee]

No, I am saying that you in particular post enthusiastically in a forum dedicated to something which you consider to be a pleasant occasional diversion.

[greg737]

and that's why I told you, in particular, to suck it.

[Lychee]

No sir, I will not. But thank you for your kind offer.

[Alex]

[Kokosun]

Originally Posted by james250ninja

why are the ninja 250 so cold blooded to start ,I know they are carbureted, but are the carbs cheaply made...

whats the best way to warm it if it really cold out and how long u let it warm up befor riding

To go back to James' original question ... I don't have any problems with my Ninjette. Typically, in cold weather it'll need choke to start. I give it full choke and start it up. It'll usually rev at 2,000rpm for maybe 5-10 seconds, and then start going up to 4,000rpm. That's when I go to half choke, get onboard, and start riding, gently. After another 45-60 seconds I remove choke, and by then the bike's usually running well. I try to avoid hard acceleration for the next 1-2 minutes as I watch the temp come up. It's typically in 'normal' operating temp about 3-5 minutes after start-up.

But, I've never ridden the bike in REALLY cold weather. I'll ride down to about 0C, but no lower (unless I absolutely have to).

[j98sprint]

These bikes are not hard to start, they are not cold blooded and the answer certainly is not fuel injection.

These Keihin carbs are very good carbs. These same carbs in different sizes are used on many motorcycles. When the passages are not varnished up (they won't gum up if ridden), the float height is properly set, they are in sync.....

.....and here is the key, the air screws are turned out 2.5 turns from lightly seated the bike will start easily, warm up quickly, idle fine and return great MPG.

This is not hear say. My last 5 bikes have had these carbs. They all started, idled, warmed up and ran great. And they are not difficult to set up yourself. That other Ninja 250 web site has a really good "How to" section if you are not familiar with these carbs (good for the whole bike actually).

j98sprint