Topic: What's the coldest temp you've ever started your CB?

[Prospect]

That time of year is coming again. What's the coldest temperature you've successfully started your SOHC CB? I'll start...

6C/42F

[Mantree]

Use to be I don't try beow 50 but I did get it to start at 45 a few days ago  ut it was short lived and I started it in a sheltered place so no wind chill.

[Don R]

 I used to ride to work down to 40*F. Below that it's too easy to get caught on ice.

[Deltarider]

-3 C^o (= freezing) one winterday in the early 80s. We went skating that day somewhere near Broek in Waterland. Skating on ice (canals and lakes) is very popular in the Netherlands and is - besides cycling - my favourite sport. It's the best way to see the country. Alas, not every winter, but when there is ice, everybody is in a festive mood. I was less festive though, having to massage certain bodyparts on arrival.

[pjlogue]

I used to ride my 750 in college and I would ride it to campus.  Quite a few times it would be in the mid 20's F.  Wasn't a long trip, ~15-20 min. but I was darn cold!  I only rode it when I knew the roads were clear/dry but one time I got caught off guard and ended up riding home in slush, going real slow. 

Coldest long haul I did was about 5hrs.  The day started out fine and in the low 70's but after an hour the cold front came through, temps dropped into the upper 40's with mist.  (Instant weather forecasts and internet were still 30 years in the future ) All I had was a water proof wind breaker.  By the time I got to my destination I could barely move.  I think it took me two days to stop shivering.

These days I stick to above 60F and make sure there is no chance of rain. I'm getting soft in my old age. 

-P.

[andy750]

I used to ride to work (4 miles) in the winter. 25F was not uncommon. Typically around 32F. As long as the roads were dry it was fine. Coldest ride on any bike - picking up an XR650L in January and riding it 1.5 hrs back to Boston in 15F. Hands were like a block of ice at the end as I made the mistake of filling up for gas half-way home.

[Prospect]

Any tricks to getting the bike started in cold weather? Magnetic block heaters, winter oil etc?

[Deltarider]

Just the extreme cold starting procedure described in the Owner's Manual.

[Flyin900]

It was 5 degrees Celsius for a 70 klm highway speed ride; bike started and ran fine. Me not so much; I was frozen even with the proper gear. 

IMO - Unless you plan on riding it a decent distance the amount of condensate with nasty chemicals in that stew is also no good for the exhaust system. It takes real heat to burn that off and Honda pipes/mufflers tend to rot anywhere this material pools over time. The factory supplied drain holes on low point areas in the exhausts, yet these are mostly rusted shut now. Out of sight out of mind.

[Tim2005]

I ride my 400F to work all year round, only 10 miles or so, it's usually ok though one cold morning 2 or 3 years ago the throttle kept sticking open- turned out there was some water in the cables which was freezing.

Cold starting is aok, though I always felt a bit guilty at one place I worked, it was next to the main highway/bypass and I would leave off on a cold evening, brush the frost off the seat, start it up and within less than a minute be doing  7000rpm in top along the bypass. 10 years later that motor is still fine.

[MauiK3]

Oh gee, in the dead of winter here I actually got it to start right up one morning, I think it was 78 degrees F or so. That’s cool for Maui.
But seriously, when I was riding mine years ago in N California I would take it to work when it was in the high 40’s. Took some choke.

[HondaMan]

I rode only my 750 in winter 1972-1973 because my POS El Camino was constantly in the Chevy shop (it was brand-new in 8/72, too...). In 1/73 I had to ride from Macomb, IL to Chicago on a weekend (to sign some important papers) which never saw more than -3 degrees at the highest that whole round trip. Most of those 2 days it was -15 to -8 (F) according to the thermometer I taped onto the Vetter for the trip. I changed the oil I ran that winter to the Castrol 10w50 XLR (not available anymore, too bad) so I could start it with the electric start more easily: with the 20w50 it would struggle to turn over and wouldn't fire up, had to kick it (and kick it...). In IL that winter between December and February it was below zero more than 30 days during that stretch of time while Chevy tried to fix my brand-new POS El Camino...I learned to really hate ice at stopsigns with the bike that winter, spooky riding!

But, the bike ran fine, it never fouled a plug, didn't have any troulbes other than the first morning startup being tougher than normal. The engine was torn down in 3/73 to repair the broken cylinder fins, after I got the El Camino back. I ported the head and reassembled it after that and rode to over 50k miles afterward with no issues.

Without the Vetter fairing and lowers, I doubt it would have happened: the Hippo Hands came out in 3/73, too late to help me that winter.

[Prospect]

I've been on the hunt for hippo hands! I bet those Vetter lowers really make a difference. I have a set uninstalled.

For those wondering here is the cold starting procedure from the operators manual. Looks like the manual is saying to kick it over with the ignition switch off and throttle open and choke closed.  Then after several kicks use the regular starting procedure.

[ofreen]

Before the days of salt and mag chloride I would ride the 750 to work as long as the roads were dry and the forecast led me to believe it would still be that way when I got off work.  That was when I lived on the Kenai Peninsula and later here in southwestern Idaho.  I rode down into the teens a lot.  The Windjammer made it bearable and the rides were about 20 minutes.  But later on I would not ride if I knew that temps were going to be below 25F when it came time to go home.  Starting air cooled motors at those temps and below are hard on them, and it is tough to listen to the engine if you have any mechanical sympathy at all.  Even at 25 degrees it will rattle like a bucket of bolts until warmed up.  There is a reason why they preheat airplane engines before starting in cold weather.  And there is another thing.  With temps in mid-20s and below, you can ride a CB750 for an hour at highway speeds, come to a stop and hold your bare hand on the rocker cover without it being uncomfortably hot.  In fact it feels good. You can guess how I know.  But the fact that the engine doesn't warm up much means the oil isn't getting up to temperature which isn't great for a lot of reasons.

[scottly]

A guy I knew was a bush pilot in Alaska, and he told me how he would dilute the engine oil with fuel to thin it for starting, then as the engine warmed up the fuel would boil off. He swore this was an FAA approved procedure... I have also used the valve cover as a hand-warmer, but never in sub-freezing temperatures.    

[ofreen]

A guy I knew was a bush pilot in Alaska, and he told me how he would dilute the engine oil with fuel to thin it for starting, then as the engine warmed up the fuel would boil off. He swore this was an FAA approved procedure...

It is a thing, all right, and oil dilution is the term used.  But what I saw more commonly is they will wrap the cowl with a cowl blanket and before starting will run hot air through a hose from a Herman Nelson or other portable heater.  It gets them pretty toasty, even 30 or 40 below.  The other problem getting the power plant to crank is the battery is cold and typically a long way from from the engine bay.  Alaskan bush pilots get adept at hand propping.

[scottly]

My first experience with real cold, other than winter family visits to Colorado, was on a trip to White Horse, Canada, in the winter of 1980. When picking up the rental car at the airport, they handed me an ice scraper, which I understood, but what was I supposed to do with the electric extension cord???

[Don R]

 I had a windjammer but no lowers, when I got to work it took a bit to get my knees working.

[TwoTired]

California Bay Area doesn’t get all that cold.  But, for a time I had a 5 am 40 mile commute to work.  It did get into the 20s F at that time of night during winter.  The garage I kept the 550 (using 10w40 oil) in Didn’t get quite that low, but it was unheated, and not all that much warmer on cold mornings.  After 3 mornings, new Bates gauntlets replaced the Navy leather gloves being used, along with very thick warm socks.  This abated the stumps for limbs effect of the ride somewhat.  Then a fleece lined bomber jacket and wool scarf.  After a week or two, a Vetter fairing was installed.  Then came the zip on insulated snow pants.  After that, I could still feel I had limbs when I got to work and could make hot coffee to normalize.  It was years latter when I found some lowers that I could adapt to my Vetter.  After five minutes of ride, heat from the motor fins bathed my legs and full front in warmth when moving behind that Vetter shield. What a difference!  Even my face was warmer.  Only the wind curling around and pressing at my back was cool.  In the spring, I didn’t need the ski pants, even a 5 am. The morning start often needed the kick start due to weak battery on those cold mornings.  Other than that, the bike never complained.

Cheers,

[Don R]

 Feet on the back pegs will divert a little engine heat up towards your body, it lingers behind the windjammer and feels pretty good when you get it right. I even took the oil tank cover off to soak some warmth off of it. It was about a 15 mile commute.

[HondaMan]

I lso had (have? Don't know where...) the special "Fork Air Blocker" pad, which fits down onto the bottom of the fork ears, snapping around the fork legs, to block the updraft from the steering area inside the Vetter. I wished I'd had it during that one particular trip to Chicago that winter, but it didn't come out until 1974. I've used it MANY times when commuting in cold weather, as the lack of upward airflow past the steering stem pulls the engine heat straight up behind the Vetter. Nice and toasty! Downright hot in summer when you left it on last winter and then fired up to ride to work the following Spring.

[Deltarider]

Couldn't resist to dig up this coat from the basement. I inherited it many years ago from an uncle. Long before riding a motorcycle bacame fashionable, even long before the mods and the rockers, the motorcycle was a poor mans vehicle for transportation. They wore these kinds of coats to shield themselves against the cold. This one has extreme thick leather and weighs 4,5 Kilo's.

[jakec]

Snow is falling in the pic so must be about 32*, didn't make any difference for starting

[scottly]

California Bay Area doesn’t get all that cold.  But, for a time I had a 5 am 40 mile commute to work.  It did get into the 20s F at that time of night during winter.

I've got to call you on that Lloyd. You are correct, the Bay Area doesn't get that cold, and certainly not into the 20s F. I lived in Sunnyvale, which was only 10 miles or so from Milpitas, and I commuted on my bike at all hours of the night and day, with only a quarter fairing. I never had a problem starting my engine, regardless of the temps, sometimes as low as 35*F.

[TwoTired]

California Bay Area doesn’t get all that cold.  But, for a time I had a 5 am 40 mile commute to work.  It did get into the 20s F at that time of night during winter.

I've got to call you on that Lloyd. You are correct, the Bay Area doesn't get that cold, and certainly not into the 20s F. I lived in Sunnyvale, which was only 10 miles or so from Milpitas, and I commuted on my bike at all hours of the night and day, with only a quarter fairing. I never had a problem starting my engine, regardless of the temps, sometimes as low as 35*F.

https://www.currentresults.com/Yearly-Weather/USA/CA/San-Jose/extreme-annual-san-jose-low-temperature.php

Historical records aren’t that hard to find.  I lived there 45 years. It is recorded as low as 19F December 1990,.  And records show frequent temps in the 20s if you bother to look. Now the average temp is more like 35F, sure.  Doesn’t mean that temps don’t dip below 30 a many times per year on a work day  We even had snow stick on the ground a few hours, a couple times in my time there.  Snowmen were made. You sure you lived there?  There was a lot of weed available to be found in the 70s, and probably still is.