riding with choke on (zx6r)

[fatneck]

hi all,

is it good/bad/right/wrong/indifferent/whatever to ride with the choke on. my kawasaki zx6r takes a while to get warmed up, and the bloke i bought it off says he used to ride the first half a mile or so with the choke on (not fully on). as i understand it its a kwakka/zx6r 'thing' to be a slow starter, and the bike is awesome once its going, but i'm impatient and hate standing around waiting for it to get up to speed.

so, thoughts please!

cheers,
fatneck

[yorkie_chris]

IMO it be right

[TSM]

yep as soon as ive gone about 30mtrs its off, it leads you into a false sence, as soon as the bike starts to warm up, its as if the choke turns itself off, but nooo, you take the choke off and it dies.

[fatneck]

so you ride for longer with it on then, and there is no harm in that? (as long as you remember to turn it off...)

also, should i be giving a handful of throttle on the cold mornings to get it started, or just fiddle with the choke until i find what the bike likes?

[ukgooner]

I always used to use the choke on my older cars until the engine was warm; I thought that that was their purpose in life?

[injury_ian]

you'll know when it 'needs' to come off as it'll bog down when accelerating.

[arenalife]

Bike chokes don't 'choke' like a butterfly car style choke anyway, they're just mixture enricheners. No harm using it for a few miles. I'd have been waiting outside my house forever if I had to wait for my GPZ to warm up.

[fatneck]

Bike chokes don't 'choke' like a butterfly car style choke anyway, they're just mixture enricheners. No harm using it for a few miles. I'd have been waiting outside my house forever if I had to wait for my GPZ to warm up.


ahh, another kwakka...i see a theme here...

[Colby]

I used to have a ZX6R J2 (2001 model) and they are known to be "cold blooded".

I used to let mine warm up til the temperature display actually starts working. I think it is at 40 or 50 degrees (although might be 30......)

At that point the choke can be turned off and away you go

Anyway, thats what I was told to do by the owners manual and members of www.mcnninjas.co.uk

[Toypop]

I have never ridden a bike with choke on. I found when set up correctly they just need a minute or two of idling/gentle revving to warm up and then you could turn it off.

Otherwise they would be bogging down by the end of my cul de sac.

I would generally speaking put it on full choke to start it and then almost as soon as it fired up back the choke right off so that it was barely on. Then after a minute or two to warm up turn it off completely and ride away.

Guess it depends on the bike though.

[jambo]

May I just say, a fantastic choice of bike and colour:D

Mine needs a decent chunk of choke to start on a cold day and I tend to fiddle the choke lever while I put my gloves on so that it stays just above 2,000 rpm, as soon as I can I set off and dial the choke out. I don't believe in letting an engine idle till it's warm, far better to use it gently according to them in the know. Get the choke off as soon as it's happy but this engine is not smooth till it's got some heat in it.

The last owner won't have hurt it doing this.;)

The temp gauge kicks in at 40c, but I tend not to thrash a bike until it's got a few miles under it's belt anyway.

[fatneck]

Ahh, a splendid choice indeed :-)

Just found the manual which says to keep it below 2500, which kind of sounds like what you do. Thanks guys, now roll on the nice weather!