Warm up procedure in the manual seems vague.

[ducleaner]

As far as I can tell, it doesn't give any concrete guidelines for when the oil is warm enough to ride. I feel guilty letting it idle in front of my neighbors houses for too long so I want to roll off asap. I use the turn off the fast idle as soon as it will idle steady without it. By then, it's still showing STATUS 2 (1 bar) on the oil temp gauge. Should I wait until it's on 3 or 4? Can I ride off easy and let it warm up on the fly?

Thanks.

PS: of course I started with a search. If it's been discussed, I can't find the right search words. Sorry.

[jclin]

As far as I know, it's best to get the motorcycle up to operating temperature as fast as possible. Therefore, I start riding as soon as possible, but keep it really easy... < 4k rpm. Sometimes, in the winter, that means I'm only going 55 mph on the freeway, which sucks. Still, I feel better if I keep it under 4k until the temp reads 130F.

[CairnsDuc]

This is one of those things that always raises a lot of Debate, A Ducati Mechanic I have a lot of respect for (with 25 years experience) has always told his customers, from cold let them Idle for a couple of mins, I normally start my bike with the cold start lever and then finish putting in my Ear plugs, put on the Helmet, gloves and then wheel it out of the Garage and ride off. I take it easy on the engine until the "LO" signal stops flashing, and I really don't hook into it until I have an Oil Temp of 70+ Degrees (Celsius) on the Gauge.

[z0mb1e_DUC]

I'm assuming by your description of the temp gauge & fast idle lever, we are talking 696?  If so, I leave it on the fast idle until it's at 2 bars.  I find that the bike is prone to stalling prior to that.  I know others have commented on the same thing.  I'd consider 3-4 bars a normal operating temp.  I usually take it easy for the first few minutes, tho.

[Howie]

A lot of the warm up mumbo jumbo is just that.  Once the bike has a stable idle with the choke or fast idle lever off and there is no fear of stalling the bike can be ridden moderately until it comes up to temperature.

[Bladecutter]

As far as I can tell, it doesn't give any concrete guidelines for when the oil is warm enough to ride. I feel guilty letting it idle in front of my neighbors houses for too long so I want to roll off asap. I use the turn off the fast idle as soon as it will idle steady without it. By then, it's still showing STATUS 2 (1 bar) on the oil temp gauge. Should I wait until it's on 3 or 4? Can I ride off easy and let it warm up on the fly?

Thanks.

PS: of course I started with a search. If it's been discussed, I can't find the right search words. Sorry.

The great thing about the 696 is that your "choke" lever is just, in fact, a fast idle lever.
All it does is turn the throttle cam on the throttle bodies a bit, as if you were holding the throttle open yourself.

You can honestly, set the lever until you have an idle of 1500 - 2000 rpms, and ride off as soon as you want.
I would recommend, in the warmer summer weather, to start riding after a minute of idling, and in the colder winter weather, 2 minutes of idle time, tops.

The sooner you are moving with the bike, the sooner the engine can actually get up to actual temp.

BC.

[RavnMonster]

My 05 S4R has the "LO" flash until it reaches 103 degrees and then the actual temp is shown. Once that has taken place I'll ride. Usually by the time I get my gear on. 

[Triple J]

I let mine warm up while I put my earplugs, helmet, and gloves on...maybe 2 minutes max. Waiting for an oil temp. reading is overkill IMO...and takes forever.

[DrDesmo]

From Sigma Performance - they know a thing or two about Ducs:

In a typical modern four-cylinder engine, car or bike, the cams press down on a bucket and shim adjustment system. This system usually has a pool of oil surrounding it, so halfway though its first rotation a cam will get a liberal coating of motor oil. With a Ducati there is no oil pool, the Desmo system doesn't allow it (except perhaps in the front cylinder head where the exhaust cam sits). The result is that when the motor sits unused the oil in the lines drains away and depending on the temperature and the vicosity of the oil can take quite a few seconds to get to the rockers and cams; oil delvery remains very restricted until the oil is warm. One solution is to use very thin oil; to get the stuff to the critical areas as fast as possible, but the reason for the thicker oil is to maintain the oil film on the fairly highly stressed big end shells.

...

Now lets think about this, a typical Japanese DOHC engine will have nice little buckets over the valves; a pool of oil sits in a pocket above the bucket and the cam runs directly in the pool, oil is therefore present from the first second of running.  With a Ducati Quattro Valvole, especially after it has sat around for a while, oil can take up to 90 seconds to arrive. The Ducati oil delivery system has no one way valve so as the bike sits unused the oil retreats slowly to the sump.  When you start the engine the oil has to come all the way back up the long oil lines, it is not going to get there appreciably quicker if you rev it. The cams will not notice any difference if you are sitting 'off load' or are trying to ride it; but you do have some choices that will make life easier for the valve gear.

The first choice is the number of revs the engine suffers while the rockers wait for their oil supply. The engine can tick over at 1200 rpm and bash the rocker surface 900 times in 90 seconds while the oil comes up.  Or you can run it at 4000 rpm; and the rockers will get bashed 3000 times, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that the cam follower is going to prefer the lesser of the two evils. (as an aside when I warm up my 'street' ST4 it always seems to get to about 90 seconds before the flashing 'LO' sign on the digital display is replaced with a temperature reading, I doubt it is a coincidence).

http://www.sigmaperformance.com/rockers.html

They call for a 90 second (or, not "LO") in a lot of their articles... So that's what I do 

Cheers,
Adam

[Triple J]

From Sigma Performance - they know a thing or two about Ducs:

Cheers,
Adam

Keep in mind...he mentions waiting for the flashing "LO" to disappear on his ST4...this is measuring coolant temperature. It takes considerably longer for the air cooled bikes to register a temperature, as they are measuring oil temperature.

On my 848 I would wait for a temp...and I usually had one by the time I had my plugs, helmet, and gloves on. On the Multi it is several miles down the road before I get a temp. reading...and that's after a 2-minute or so warm up.

[DrDesmo]

Keep in mind...he mentions waiting for the flashing "LO" to disappear on his ST4...this is measuring coolant temperature. It takes considerably longer for the air cooled bikes to register a temperature, as they are measuring oil temperature.

On my 848 I would wait for a temp...and I usually had one by the time I had my plugs, helmet, and gloves on. On the Multi it is several miles down the road before I get a temp. reading...and that's after a 2-minute or so warm up.

True ... But then, I don't run an air cooled bike 

On any bike I have / have had, I wait for a temp to register before I start riding ... No problems yet 

Adam

[Triple J]

On any bike I have / have had, I wait for a temp to register before I start riding ... No problems yet 

That's one way to handle it (overly conservative IMO). 

Another way is to consider that if you're comfortable riding off after your water cooled bikes reads a temp (coolant)...say after 2 min. warm-up...then you should be equally comfortable riding you air-cooled bike off after the same 2 min. warm up, even if there isn't a temp (oil) registered yet. In both cases the oil has had the same amount of time to warm up and reach all the moving parts. 

[ArguZ]

I will not waste fuel and piss of my neighbors by idling around in the backyard...
The moments shes on, she rolling...
No 4k rpm before she drops the LO sign.
I think that whole warming up stuff is from the 80s and carburetor bikes.

[MendoDave]

I let it idle until it runs good enough to ride, say 30 seconds or so, then take it easy for the next few minutes before mashing on the gas. The old two strokes worked well that that way. The pistons & rings needed a little bit of warm up time before everything was seated and piston blowby stopped. You could tell when they started running right that they were nearly warmed up enough for full throttle operations. 

I treat the 4 bangers the same way.

[Dave R]

I let mine warm up while I put my earplugs, helmet, and gloves on...maybe 2 minutes max. Waiting for an oil temp. reading is overkill IMO...and takes forever.

+1

90 seconds minimum is what we recommend..