Cold R Quirk?

[rockbottom]

I had a strange experience today: I backed out of my parking spot at work heading out for lunch. When I applied power to turn away, the bike stalled and I nearly dropped it.

That struck me as peculiar since I haven't stalled for a couple of years, when I first began riding. Then it occurred to me that this was the first time I'd ridden my R1200R, which I bought in July, with a cold engine (it was in the low 40s). I've done a couple of rides when it was cold, but the bike had been in garage. So I concluded from this that the thing can be a little cantankerous when cold--something I didn't experience with my previous bike, an F.

For you experienced hands, is this a correct conclusion or do I need an adjustment? (And, more importantly, does the bike need an adjustment?)

[TAG-Caver]

Mine gets ridden until the roads get salted and I've never had a problem in cool weather. If anything it seems to run better.

[rockbottom]

Mine was OK after a mile or so, but just jerky until then. I work on a military base where the speed limit is 15. Usually I just cruise in 1st, but it was really jerky this time so I had to feather the clutch. It was OK when I left in the afternoon.

[ka5ysy]

I generally will start my engine on very cold days and let it idle for a couple of minutes and it seems happier to get the oil moving and warm. Since I have a lot of experience flying 4 and 6 cyl Continental and Lycoming engines, I tend to use the aircraft warmup technique on the boxer given its aircraft lineage.

Besides warming up the engine a bit, I will be getting ATGATT and that takes 3 minutes or so anyway, so nothing lost in ride time.

[JimS]

My Bike will do that also. I think its a result of lean fuel injection at idle and a cold engine. Try giving it a couple of minutes to warm up at idle before riding off in cold weather. First time it happened to me I also thought I had a fuel map problem but after reviewing other comments on this board I decided it was normal for this bike.

[xprof]

Mine does the same thing occasionally. Now I watch for it, and give it a bit more throttle/clutchslip when it's cold. My old carbureted Suzuki did it too, and even dumped me once, so I wasn't too surprised.

[spoonyfork]

I'm just north of Detroit and we get some cold days (<30F) too. I've noticed the same behavior but usually before I pop it into gear. I always rev the engine of any bike in neutral before riding off to get a vibe of how it is running. From what I can remember this is where I've noticed it on cold days.

[tinytrains]

Same here. It needs to idle at least 60 seconds in the morning before riding. Otherwise it stalls.

Scott