loss of power in cold

[dan_]

"Ran perfectly" also means that you had no trouble getting it down off the "choke" without uneven idle and/or a bit of stumbling ?? If that is true, and you are bone stock, then it appears that your are lucky indeed.

I've ridin' in the 20's as well. As long as I give my bike around 6 or 7 minutes to warm up about 1/2 choke then 1/4 choke after 3 minutes. Mine will run perfectly too.

[alanmcorcoran]

Don't want to spoil my new role as the "kick me" guy for all of you mechanical (and medical) geniuses, but, for the record, I did not always live in California. I spent seven very cold winters in Ithaca New York, (yes, -30 in February!)

I also have not always been able to pay other people to fix my vehicles. One of those winters I drove my brother's '68 Ford Fairlane as taxi. For some reason, the Fairlane had trouble warming up, (no heat!) At one point, I bypassed the heat transfer box and connected the radiator water directly to the heater core. (Didn't help, BTW.) I put chains on it whenever it snowed, which was like every other day in the winter. The leaf springs broke, I crunched the hood, dealt with shorts in the distributor cap, alternator problems, belt problems, hose problems, battery problems, pumps, wires, plugs, carb cleaning, air filters, oil changes, frozen locks, stuck in snowplow snowbanks, etc. No engine rebuilds or head gaskets, or anything you couldn't tackle with several trips to the auto parts store (I didn't replace the leaf springs or the hood myself, but I went to the junk yard to get them.)

I got into some legal and financial trouble and for three years my only transportation was one of two 50cc mopeds, which at that time did not require insurance. Rode them in the cold, and the snow and, since I had no money, kept them running as well (the first one was pretty nice, a Peugeut - it got stolen. The second one was an American made POS.)

Also, dumbasses, it's not 70 degrees everywhere in California. We have these things called mountains. Last week, it was 16 degrees at one less than 70 miles from my house (and three feet of snow!) And yes, I have ridden the GZ up there. (Not in snow...yet. But in the high thirties.) Also, it was in the low 40's at some points on my trip to Joshua Tree. Ask BusyWeb, I will bet you he has frozen his ass off of some of his rides.

I'm aware that, overall it's a lot colder in the Midwest (I've spent a lot of time there, too) but just because I ask a lot of questions and I'm new to the world of motorcycling doesn't preclude me from offering some basic diagnostic questions.

You may now resume your high falutin' mechanical chat. Sniff...

[alanmcorcoran]

Originally Posted by dan_

Although I've had my "stalling on warm-up" problems lately, my experience is also that the GZ will run fine in cold temperatures (at least down to high 30's) and, I did not notice any drop off in power or rough running at high altitudes (5-6K.)

Mine is stock as well.

[mrlmd1]

AC - Don't cry (sniff) and don't take this all as a personal attack, ribbing you is a sign of affection, from all of us. If we didn't care, you'd get no attention at all. And if we don't rib you, we'd get ribbed. OK? (A joke - right?)
I personally admire how you've jumped into this motorcycle thing so vigorously, as a primary mode of transportation, as a recreational pastime, and have logged so many miles in the 8 months since you've started. You are a "real biker", even if you do come from California. You are somewhat of a computer pro, but a mechanical genius? Not. Not compared to a number of others on here who know much more than most of us, and the rest of us do listen to their advice.
We all love your prose and writing style. The only thing I personally didn't care about, regarding you, was what I myself considered your foolhardy behavior one foggy night but let's not all rehash that again. Nobody on here wants anyone else to get hurt.
So accept your role on the GZ250 forum, you've earned it, and everyone on here (almost) likes to poke and jab somebody else if it's legitimate and deserved. Just part of all being friends. If it seems that much more impersonal that's because we're all separated by distance, but if we all met somewhere once a week to party or anything similar, the same thing would happen, we'd all be acting the same. So there, feel better. We still love (?) you.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by dan_

I would certainly hope so! :roll:
In 7 minutes, I could be at my destination for many of my trips to town for an errand.

I will admit that mine FINALLY did run pretty good.......after about 1/2 hour of riding and screwing with the choke and idle stop. Had I waited 5-10 minutes for it to get hot, I might not have had so much trouble; just another reason I won't be riding in the cold any time soon.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

Also, dumbasses, it's not 70 degrees everywhere in California.

No, really ?? <shock and horror> :crackup

[Water Warrior 2]

Alan asked if they changed oil. Well they had to drain it no matter what. If the oil was topped up over the full mark this could lead to some problems.

[alanmcorcoran]

Easy,

Yours is kind of running like mine was when I took it in for the 3K (and then got it back, and then effed with it, and then took it back again.)

Mine is supposedly "Ready." They called me back yesterday to pick it up. Unfortunately, my chauffeur, is out of town this weekend so I'll have to wait until tues or wed to get it. I asked the guy that called what they did with it. Didn't seem like he knew, but he read something off the sheet that sounded like "Cleaned the emissions" (??) I'll let you know if A) It's any better and B) if it is, what they did.

Like yours, mine runs okay after about 10 minutes, but until it's fully warmed up (hot) it's all over the map.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

Like yours, mine runs okay after about 10 minutes, but until it's fully warmed up (hot) it's all over the map.

Well you know, some things are just TOO embarassing.
I think I would NOT have had near the problem I did if I had NOT ignored all of my OWN advice and instead ff'ed with it at the wrong time. Sigh!

Are you going to start it up and ride around the lot (block) a bit before you let you chauffer leave ?? :??:

[alanmcorcoran]

Yeah. with the choke off!