[Luke Ale]

Hi, guys. When the bike is started up and revving high, do you guys lose engine braking?

Whenever I start my bike up I have no engine braking in first gear... in fact, if I have the clutch out (and no throttle) the bike will start moving of its own accord.. enough to get me up reasonably steep hills. Once the bike is warmed up the engine braking in first returns. Is this something that is common to all z650s?

Also, I've noticed that my bike can sometimes lurch when it's not warmed up. Like, if I hold the throttle open near the on/off boundary the bike will sometimes lurch heavily (i.e. continually accelerate and then decelerate).

Any help would be greatly appreciated, guys!

 

[mpskowski88]

I don't think you 'lose' engine braking. But with the engine naturally running at a higher RPM, the level of engine braking you'll feel can be significantly decreased as the engine isn't slowing it's revolutions down far enough to cause any braking.

This isn't a bike-specific thing either, this would be the case with any engine while it's warming up if it's programmed to run higher idle until the engine reaches a certain temperature.

 

[Luke Ale]

Yeah, thanks mate. I know it’s the high idle that causes it but mine just seems so pronounced... like I said, with absolutely no throttle (just an opened clutch) my bike will power over a hill at about 20km/h.

I’ve owned a few bikes and never experienced anything like it, and the other bikes also had high isles on start up. Once warmed up and back to about 1300 rpm and it settles. I suppose it’s just a Z650 thing...

 

[mpskowski88]

It's a relatively low revving bike, so even a 1k RPM boost can have pronounced effects on it. Not like a 12k redline supersport or something that 1k won't even be noticed.

 

[Ziggy]

Hi, guys. When the bike is started up and revving high, do you guys lose engine braking?

Whenever I start my bike up I have no engine braking in first gear... in fact, if I have the clutch out (and no throttle) the bike will start moving of its own accord.. enough to get me up reasonably steep hills. Once the bike is warmed up the engine braking in first returns. Is this something that is common to all z650s?

Also, I've noticed that my bike can sometimes lurch when it's not warmed up. Like, if I hold the throttle open near the on/off boundary the bike will sometimes lurch heavily (i.e. continually accelerate and then decelerate).

Any help would be greatly appreciated, guys!

I have experienced this as well. I don’t have anything scientific to support this, but I believe it has to do with the high RPM at idle when the engine is cold. Once the engine reaches operating temperature, the idle RPM drops therefore causing the dynamic you are describing.