Ducati Monster Forum

I was wondering the time i should be letting my bike warm up during a normal summer day.  Bike is garage kept.  I usually put the lever all the way down, start, and after about 45 seconds the RPMs get to about 2,000, so i push it up towards the middle and let sit for maybe a couple more minutes and then push it all the way up and then get on my way.   Is that way to quick to start my ride.  Should i be starting my ride even before pushin the lever all the way up and maybe push the lever up after a couple minutes of riding?  Just wondering.  thanks again for all the advice to my noob questions.  again i know it will be much longer in the winter but just wondering for normal warm weather first start up rides.

one other noob question....when your at a stop sign and lets say a couple cars are in front of you.....are you using only clutch to kinda walk it forward after each car goes or  would a start from a stop using some gas too be best here. I kinda got the hang of starting from a stop(although i do tend to start off with a little more power than probably needed sometime).  i was just wondering for like in a line of traffic.  is it ok to just walk it forward until you get to the stop sign, and then do a normal start from stop process.

Not long. You could wait until the 'lo' converts to the temp bars... But you can gently ride the bike quite soon after starting. You won't want to flog the engine until the temps come up - but that'll happen pretty fast.

As far as your line of traffic question - totally depends on the situation. if it's flat land I'll probably just walk it up. But if there's an incline I might go for a bit of the 'power walk'. There's no wrote 100% way to do something like that. It's really a case by case basis.

^

I generally hit the garage clicker, fire up the bike, put on my lid and gloves (rest of the gear I put on in the house), roll the bike out, close the garage, ride away.  I take it very easy until the bike starts to show oil temp around 130ish, and don't flog it until its up to full temp (roughly 165+). If I lived where I needed to hop on the freeway immediately I'd let it warm up a bit longer before leaving the house, but I've got a few miles of slow suburban/city streets to deal with before I'll need >4k rpm.  I do the same summer or winter.

I believe its good practice to keep the idle fairly high until its a bit warmed up (I shoot for around 1500rpm) so as to help it warm more quickly and, primarily, to prevent fuel dilution of the oil.

Not to jack the thread, but what does "fuel dilution of the oil" refer to?

Some combustion byproduct passes through the piston rings.  When the engine is cold the rings don't seal as well as hot.  Also, fuel doesn't vaporize as well so you will have a less complete burn, leaving unburnt fuel.   

At a minimum, wait until the bike can idle smoothly with the idle lever disengaged, and a light application of throttle doesn't cause your RPMs to drop.  In other words, wait until the engine responds readily to the throttle.  But there's no need to wait longer than this.

Yep, the best way to warm your bike is to ride moderately as soon as it is safe to operate.

On summer mornings when it is around 60-70 degrees F I put the lever all the way down, start the bike, put my helmet on and gloves (all other riding gear is already on) and then put the lever all the way back before starting to ride. For the first 5 minutes of riding I don't go above 4k rpm.  In the winter when it is 25-35 degrees, I wait a good 5 minutes.

Start, blip to smooth blips and go. 10-20 seconds....take it easy until temp comes up.