[busmec]

I usually ride on New Year Day , but the low is going to be somewhere below 0 and the high will be 8 degrees. I have a 2011 B5 what I was wanting to know has anybody rode one of the UCE engines in cold weather? I've rode down to 30 degrees with out any problem, but 8 degrees is a lot colder than 30 degrees. I know, a lot of people are reading this and saying 30 degrees is cold weather , but what I'm asking is anybody rode down around 0 and if they had any problems? Beside the bike not wanting to start.

  Thanks Dan

[AmBraCol]

Way back when I resided in a part of the world where it got that cold, year 'round riding was the way I got around - as long as the bike would fire up.  And at that temp, starting the bike was a no go.  Not enough power from the battery and the kick starter wouldn't spin it fast enough either.  This was a Honda 500 Four, not a Royal Enfield, but if you don't keep it in a heated garage it's doubtful you'll get it to fire up.  Once it's running, there should be no issues due to cold weather, it's the whole getting it running that would probably be problematic.

There's a sure fire way to find out!

[busmec]

  AmBraCol-There's a sure fire way to find out!
       I went out to the garage which is unheated and it is 20 degrees outside, but i do have a battery tender hooked up kicked the bike over about ten time not trying to start it, then turned key on 4 times to get a little squirt of gas each time hit the starter & it started right up. went for a short ride alittle more than a mile, I quickly realized I needed to add more layers to what I had on because it got cold quick. The B5 ran great. So unless it snows I should be good to go New Years Day.

[Rattlebattle]

I don’t know what the fuss is about starting the engine at that kind of temperature to be honest. My C5 hadn’t run for over three weeks so I decided to run the engine for a few minutes. Although it’s kept in a garage, the garage isn’t heated. Nor do I keep the battery permanently connect e to a charger; I just charge the battery once a month with my Optimate 4 smart charger. A quick tickle of the carb (I have a carb conversion on mine), whip in the clutch lever and press the starter. The engine immediately fires and runs as usual, though I hold open the throttle a little as it won’t idle until warm. I’d be upset if any of my vehicles wouldn’t start normally at temperatures down to, say, -10 degrees C. Going for a ride at 0 degrees C or less is a different matter. Too high a risk of coming across black ice for me. I did the all year riding thing as a young man, apart from which salt plays havoc with alloy and chrome.

[johno]

I've ridden my B5 in -5degC (23F)
but 0Deg F is -17 deg C which I wouldn't recommend! although I know a couple of guys who rode in Siberia in winter, they wrapped the batteries in metalised foil then over wrapped with foam as insulation, but always kick started their bikes if they ever shut the engines down, which they didn't very often.

[Fragman]

I run my 2013 C5 year round but as soon as temps get below 60F, I use a fan driven ceramic heater to warm the engine & oil up to around 80F on the 1000 watt setting. This takes about an hour on days when temps are down to zero C.

Starting is dead easy with this method, usually taking one kick & the idle settles in nicely within a minute or so. The decompressor kicks out pretty much immediately on start up to boot. My garage is unheated so this be the route that works best fer me. I plug my battery into the smart charger every 5 days to top it off.

When I ride to me friend's or business places on winter days, I tend to not stay for more than 45 minutes or so as the motor chills down fairly quick. These motors have a plastic oil pump gear, so it's best to warm the engine & oil with forced hot air to ease the strain on this and other parts of the motor to aid long term reliability.

When the Alaska Pipeline was being constructed, the easiest way for a heavy equipment operator to get fired over was to shut down his unit to go do whatever. Minus 60F meant an unusable unit inside of 30 minutes.

[Rattlebattle]

I should perhaps have added that last winter I noticed that it took a fair few kicks with the clutch lever pulled in before the clutch plates would free off. If possible I always free off the clutch in this way for the first start of the day as it reduces the risk of first gear not being selected smoothly. I therefore decided to change the oil viscosity from 15/50 to 10/50. This winter the clutch has freed off straight away. Equally in summer the engine is still reasonably quiet because  the oil is thicker when hot than it would be with 10/40. I use the same grade in my Hinckey Triumph, which is also air-cooled.

[Carlsberg Wordsworth]

I've also made the switch to a 10/50 albeit a different brand to the one you use RB.

I've found though, that my B5 take a while to tick over well in sub 10c temps. and that can be coming from an unheated garage to sitting in a works car park all day.

As my current commute is around 6 miles each way, I'm thinking of an electric bicycle (hills!) or a 125cc liquid cooled scooter. Although I've also thought about an Xmax 300 with more storage and leave the RE as a Sunny Sunday Rider. Sorry, waffling on ......

[Guaire]

Gerbings makes heated gear that runs on a self contained battery. Put windbreaking shell on top and your core will stay warmed.

[Rattlebattle]

I've also made the switch to a 10/50 albeit a different brand to the one you use RB.

I've found though, that my B5 take a while to tick over well in sub 10c temps. and that can be coming from an unheated garage to sitting in a works car park all day.

As my current commute is around 6 miles each way, I'm thinking of an electric bicycle (hills!) or a 125cc liquid cooled scooter. Although I've also thought about an Xmax 300 with more storage and leave the RE as a Sunny Sunday Rider. Sorry, waffling on ......

As my bike has a carb fitted it would tick over ok with the choke on at low temperatures, at least partially. However, I prefer not to do this because a rich mixture washes the oil from the cylinder bore. With the choke this happens at the worst possible time when the engine is cold and the oil isn't yet warmed up and wear is at its highest point. I prefer to hold the throttle open just above idle, which is enough to keep the motor running until I ride off. If I were you I'd get a winter hack of some sort on which to commute. Although back in the day I wouldn't be seen dead on a scooter, these days the modern ones have a lot to commend them - ease of use, storage capacity etc and are a lot easier to keep clean than an RE. I can't help thinking that, having "downsized" from large and powerful sports tourers to modern classics (C5 and Triumph Thruxton 865), the next stage will either be a super scoot (T Max or Burger Van etc) or one of the 750cc Honda twins with the fancy automatic transmission. Hopefully I've still got a few years left before I need to do that, but there are a lot of smaller Chinese bikes on the market these days that will suit ageing old gits like me as well as new riders eg Mash, Herald etc. FWIW I don't consider the current REs to be new rider bikes; they simply aren't reliable enough left to their own devices and/or the ministrations of modern bike dealers. I suspect that this will change with the new twins, which appear to be in a different league altogether in terms of conventional design and modern practice. The UCE bikes remain charming anachronisms that we love, but they do require a degree of mechanical and electrical understanding is expensive visits to dealers are to be avoided.

[GSS]

Minus 18F (-28C) with a wind chill of -40F (-40C) this morning in tropical Minnesota.....not good for any sort of riding. 

BTW, my nice 12V Gerbing riding glove batteries no longer hold a charge and company doesn’t make these anymore....would anyone know of a vendor that makes a compatible 12V rechargeable battery?

On a related note, any pointers on the best battery heated gloves currently available?  I want the ones with built in batteries as my greatest use is for snow shoveling 

[busmec]

Happy New Year all just got back from short ride just a little over 2 mile, the B5 ran great. I'm live in IL about 60  miles north of St louis Air temperature was 7 degrees with a wind chill of -8 degrees Fahrenheit. It's a nice sunny day looking out the window, one wouldn't think it was that cold, till you go outside and the reality hits you. I got my traditional New Year Day ride in. Usually the high temperature is around 40 for a high and the lows are mid 20's. Hope all have a good year.     
        Dan

[mattsz]

I went out to the garage which is unheated and it is 20 degrees outside, but i do have a battery tender hooked up kicked the bike over about ten time not trying to start it, then turned key on 4 times to get a little squirt of gas each time hit the starter & it started right up.

FYI... someone may (will!) correct me if I'm wrong, but I think just turning on the key doesn't squirt any gas - the injector doesn't open if the engine isn't turning.  You'll hear the pump pressurize the system each time, but no gas enters the chamber unless you turn the engine over...

[Rattlebattle]

That's my understanding too. Wouldn't work on mine though: I have a carb fitted. Anyway, isn't that what the awful bi-starter contraption is supposed to be used for i.e enriching the mixture for a cold start?

[Desi Bike]

I have made it three years in a row for my new years day ride.
This one was the coldest one. The air temperature was -27c or -16f for the foreigners. The ride was short as the roads still had some ice patches that hadn't yet evaporated.
I don't plug in my bike but do ride it on and off through the winter. Starting up can be a chore with lots of kicks and profanity. Once it gets up,  I'll let it idle for a few minutes until the EFI settles down.
The cooler dense air seems to be great to ride in from the engine standpoint. Tires on the other hand are stiff like hockey pucks so high speed cornering is out.

[ROVERMAN]

I rode twice in the first few weeks of December, brrr, too cold for me. We had -16 f last week and it hasn't been over 15 deg since. Spring here yet?
Roverman.
P.S. Got a new years day present yesterday, my well froze up!

[Guaire]

Minus 18F (-28C) with a wind chill of -40F (-40C) this morning in tropical Minnesota.....not good for any sort of riding. 

BTW, my nice 12V Gerbing riding glove batteries no longer hold a charge and company doesn’t make these anymore....would anyone know of a vendor that makes a compatible 12V rechargeable battery?

On a related note, any pointers on the best battery heated gloves currently available?  I want the ones with built in batteries as my greatest use is for snow shoveling 

Have you looked at the warmingstore.com for a replacement battery?
  Gordon Gerbings sold his company. This is what he is doing now. They have a lifetime warranty.

https://gordonsheated.com/index.php/deer-hide-gloves

Cheers,
Bill

[Arizoni]

Mattsz has it right.
Turning on the key only starts the fuel pump to get the system up to pressure.
The crankshaft has to turn to trigger the fuel injector to squirt in some gasoline.  When it does, you'll hear the fuel pump run for a second or so to pump up the system pressure again.

The Bi-starter opens a little air passage past the throttle plate.  The inlet pressure sensor notices the extra air in the manifold and sends this information to the ECU which in turn causes the fuel injector to squirt some additional fuel into the engine.

The oil temperature sensor reading is sent to the ECU so it knows how cold it is and whether a richer mixture is needed.

[GSS]

Have you looked at the warmingstore.com for a replacement battery?
  Gordon Gerbings sold his company. This is what he is doing now. They have a lifetime warranty.

https://gordonsheated.com/index.php/deer-hide-gloves

Cheers,
Bill

Thanks.  I had been looking at that site as well...might have to do a hack job to match the connectors