Is running the engine without riding harmful?

You have to live in a 4 season region to appreciate the questions and answers. As Mikaw stated, I have always been on the fence on starting the bikes or my SS in the winter. A very long time ago it was explained and shown to me what happens when you start a bike in the winter and let it warm up without riding it. This was demonstrated on a Sportster with the side oil tank. The bike ran for probably 15 to 20 mins more or less at idle after which we opened the oil cap and there was a very definite film of water on top of the oil and the oil was much cooler than I would have thought. The guy that showed me this was an engineer at Harley and his point in this exercise was that the oil will never reach the proper temperature to get rid of the water by just sitting still. As a result of this I never let my bikes run for more than just a minute or two just to circulate the oil and put some fresh gas in the system. On carbureted bikes I run the bike with the gas off until it stalls out, but I worry if left too long without gas in the carbs that they will corrode/gum up which is why I will start the bike up occasionally in the winter. Fuel injected bikes tend to not be good candidates for shutting off the gas from the source to run the system dry, so those I just put stabilizer in and walk three times around the bike in a circle while reciting an indian chant for good fortune while smoking a ceremonial pipe. Like many things I don't believe there is any ONE GOOD WAY to do a long term shutdown and you have to follow common sense. Did I mention that I absolutely, positively HATE winter??? And ed650, where do you live that you get that much snow piled up? Buffalo? I would love to move somewhere like Texas or Arizona, but my wife refuses all attempts due to having grand kids now.

Rick H.

Hi Rick,

I live in Maryland. That snow was unusually deep. Ed

Rick H. wrote: so those I just put stabilizer in and walk three times around the bike in a circle while reciting an indian chant for good fortune while smoking a ceremonial pipe.
Rick H.

Hahahaha love it...!!!