Greetings,

In a recent discussion on cold weather starting (Honda forum) someone stated that wind chill doesn't affect ATVs. On the surface this is true given that machines don't "feel" the cold like people do. But I submit that wind does have a chilling effect on ATVs. The wind flowing across your engine pulls heat away faster than if the air were still -- I believe the term is "heat transfer." Also, wind increases evaporative cooling (hence the army's long standing use of canvas water bags, or the old canvas-bag-on-the-front-grill trick for desert crossings). So wind should have an impact especially during starting and warm-up.

Comments? Corrections?

 

I live in Houston, where we basically have no seasons. Over the weekend I was in Dallas visiting my brother. The temp was 28 degrees and the wind chill was 4 degrees. I needed my choke to get it started. But just a few seconds of getting it started I took the choke off and did not run into any problems.

 

Well, technically speaking, windchill does not affect anything on your ATV. Windchill will only affect living bodies.

Main Entry: wind·chill
Pronunciation: 'win(d)-"chil
Function: noun
Date: 1939
: a still-air temperature that would have the same cooling effect on exposed human skin as a given combination of temperature and wind speed -- called also chill factor, windchill factor, windchill index

Since your ATV has no skin as you pointed out, it will not be affected by winschill. Technically that is.
However, I cannot argue that the wind does not play a role in engine performance during start up and warmup. I have never seen a study on this.

 

Lurch is correct. Wind-chill does not affect mechanical equipment, including batteries. Only living beings. As for the old canvas-bag-on-the-front-grill trick for desert crossings. I haven't a clue. I don't live in the desert. But I can honestly tell you that some form of blockage of a radiator does not improve the efficiency in which your car or truck will warm up. Wind will still find a path and cool your engine regardless. In my opinion, grille covers are just a gimmick. At least for cold weather.

 

Greetings,

Just to be clear, the old canvas bag trick was to provide additional cooling effect for the engine. You can still see it in the National Geographic or on some adventure TV shows. They fill a flat canvas bag with water and hang it over the front of the grill to provide a source of cooler air through the radiator. Same idea as the swamp coolers you see in the southwest.

 

When I crossed the dessert back in 57 the reason that we had the bag on front was to refill the raditor with water after it overflowed.
The cold will afect the runnning of you engine. I have run some cross country races in snow and when we got done the carb was covered in ice and the cyclinder was very hot. You have to change your jeting because of the cold. You also must have handgrauds to keep your fingers from freezing. When you are riding in the woods you can not fell the cold as much as in open areas.

 

If your bike is air cooled, I believe it does. Here is my reasoning.
Haven't you ever driven with the wind in the summer. You know, when you are going almost exactly the same speed as the wind. Did you ever notice how hot the engine feels? It is because there isn't much air flow over the engine.
Conversely, when it is cold, a wind blowing over the engine will allow more air to come into contact with the cooling fins, making it run cooler. I think it will be especially noticeable if you park it in the wind, it will cool off much faster than in the calm.

 

Wind might affect heat loss on an engine only when parked or at slow speeds.
Here in WI we ice ride a lot. My R will run the same weather the wind is 0 or 20 mph.
ERIC

 

Retro is correct. Here is a litte Explanation:

Wind Chill is the term used to describe the rate of heat loss on the human body resulting from the combined effect of low temperature and wind. As winds increase, heat is carried away from the body at a faster rate, driving down both the skin temperature and eventually the internal body temperature. While exposure to low wind chills can be life threatening to both humans and animals alike. The only effect that wind chill has on inanimate objects, such as vehicles, is that it shortens the time that it takes the object to cool to the actual air temperature (it cannot cool the object down below that temperature).

 

That is correct. If it is 20 degrees out, with a windchill of 5 degrees, the coldest that engine will get is 20 degrees. The windchill is a percieved temperature, it is not actual.