Extreme Cold starting

Anyone ever have trouble starting their WR in extremely cold weather conditions (aka. below 20 degrees f)? I have a '13 model and it just seemed to want to crank and crank, but no starting. Never had any trouble with it before. Has about 6500 miles on it. Thanks!

xeril wrote:

Anyone ever have trouble starting their WR in extremely cold weather conditions (aka. below 20 degrees f)? I have a '13 model and it just seemed to want to crank and crank, but no starting. Never had any trouble with it before. Has about 6500 miles on it. Thanks!

Do you have and use a battery tender when bike sits for more than a few days in those conditions?

I don't keep it on a battery tender (yet), but I do ride it a couple times weekly. It does seem to crank slower in real cold weather, but the battery seems plenty healthy. Maybe the stock battery is lacking the CCA to push it in these temps? It started fine when it was 28 out a few days ago. In the 12-15 degree temps of today, it just wanted to crank forever and not turn over. I was just wondering if anyones experienced similar issues (as its still covered under warranty if it is a REAL problem.)

Extreme cold and teeny tiny batteries don't like each other.

Plus - these bikes are notorious for needing a very specific amount of juice to operate.

If the battery is starting to get weak due to the cold - the bike will struggle to start.

I have a 2008 with original battery. The battery tender is on it constantly when weather gets cold.

Today it's about 11 F here.

I'll try to start mine when I get home from work.

Is oil weight a factor?

I hadn't thought about that. The oil I'm running is 10-40 yamalube so it should be viable, though on the lower limits, of this weather.

A little update: the temperature outside today has risen to a toasty 30f and the WR started up on half a crank - almost immediately. I guess my bike doesn't like the extremely cold weather (not that I can really blame it.) The weather is supposed to be around 5f next monday so I'll probably give it another shot and see if she refuses to start.

My 2012 WRR is slow to start on the days it approaches 0 degrees F (about -18 Celcius). Maybe four or five seconds of cranking but she has always started. Mine has about 4500 miles on the original battery.

Only one time did my bike ever threaten not to start, I had left it parked in deep snow for 4 hours while I went on a hike. It turned over a little slower than normal about 5 times, I paused, said a little prayer, and then it started right up.

I'm wondering if I should replace the battery every two years just in case. You can't push start a bike like this in the snow...

xeril wrote:

Anyone ever have trouble starting their WR in extremely cold weather conditions (aka. below 20 degrees f)? I have a '13 model and it just seemed to want to crank and crank, but no starting. Never had any trouble with it before. Has about 6500 miles on it. Thanks!

Mine '12 with ~6000 miles on it started fine today.  It was slow to crank but started on the 2nd or 3rd crank as usual.  It was 7F/13F respectively.  I suspect your battery is weak or you need a tender. Mine is kept on a tender off and on depending on how often I'm riding it.

-morgan