free website stats program frequent short rides | Page 2 | Harley Davidson Forums

frequent short rides

hdrocks said:
I take my bike to the train station daily, which is about 10min away. I try to put some long miles on the weekend, but i am just wondering these short rides can not be good for the engine, especially when it's got about 600 miles on it now and also now that the weather is about to get cold. What are you experts' opinions?
Click to expand...


Why dont you leave 10 minutes earlier and have a BETTER start to the day?When i used to commute by bike-about a 10 minute run-i used to make a detour ,purely for the purpose of making sure everything was up to temp,and condensation had a chance to evaporate.(this was on a Ducati 860,a Suzuki GS1000 and a Honda CB 900fa.)The Duke and the Honda certainly had a rep for rusting pipes;although mine never did.
 
biscuit said:
Why dont you leave 10 minutes earlier and have a BETTER start to the day?When i used to commute by bike-about a 10 minute run-i used to make a detour ,purely for the purpose of making sure everything was up to temp,and condensation had a chance to evaporate.(this was on a Ducati 860,a Suzuki GS1000 and a Honda CB 900fa.)The Duke and the Honda certainly had a rep for rusting pipes;although mine never did.
Click to expand...

you know what? i actually did that coming home yesterday. insteading of getting home in 10mins from the train station, it took me good 30mins...
 
If you are gonna use the bike for your primary transportation, and the distance to the train station is short, I suggest getting up 45 min. earlier and taking a bit of a scenic trip to the train station adding 30-45 min. of riding time to your commute. As Hoop mentioned above, it is the oil temp in the tank that is the key here. You want to bring THAT up to operating temp in order to drive off the condensation water. Besides, if you pick the right sort of a scenic route, it may make you a happier camper when you get to work! Same thing on the way home.

TQ
 
Watch for water in your oil milky color and change the oil more often and you will be fine
 
While short trips are hard on the V-Twin, I still ride it preferred over my truck or SUV. That said, I change the fluids more often at 3K miles or 6 months for the engine oil and at 6K miles do the oil and trans-chaincase-clutch. No problems...just consider this "rough service" for my daily short commute vehicle...still beats 4 wheeler any day. :D
 
They make them to ride:D. Just change the oil a little more often and enjoy the ride to work. (if you must go)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top