How does cold/hot weather affect motorcycle?

Question

is one better than the other? mechanically, not wether you ride or not.

Answer 1

Cold weather (not just cool) does effect air cooled bikes significantly.  One problem is that the oil never gets warmed up, let alone hot enough to boil off any condensation moisture.  One January I took off for  Florida in 25 degree weather.  I put on 500 miles the first day and the high temp was 42 degrees.  I had an oil temperature gauge on my air cooled KZ1000 and the needle never got off of the 140 degree mark.  And I even had a piece of cardboard on front of the engine behind the header pipes to warm things up.  I made that 1200 mile winter trip for many years and the fuel mileage goes down when the engine isn't sufficiently warm.

If you really want to see the mileage drop, see what happens when you're riding in the rain.  The oil temp gauge drops like a rock until it hits the peg and the fuel gauge needle drops almost as quickly because so much heat is being lost as the water evaporates on the hot engine.

Air cooled bike engines don't like slow or no go conditions in hot weather.  Pinging is usually a good sign that things are getting pretty hot.

I also have a water cooled bike and wet weather riding doesn't affect the fuel consumption because as things cool down, the thermostat reduces water flow through the radiator, keeping the engine temp constant.        

Answer 2

i was riding in -40 degree temps this past (canadian) spring,bike ran great untill i blew the base gaskets out of my sporty,(from rapid temp changes)will have to give it longer warm ups next spring (if im not locked up)

Answer 3

My air cooled loves the cold.  Once it's warmed up, it runs much better than in the heat.

Answer 4

Cold weather is better and worse at the same time. I ride less when it is cold but I it is to bars so I drink more also. Less wear on the engine but more wear on the side covers and forks.

Answer 5

All engine make more power when the ambient air temp drops, due to increased density.