… and that they can be a little rough at first. Not that they require more than 5 minutes with the choke open per se, but that they can still run a little rough at stops etc. for the first minute or two. I have never owned one, so not sure how true or not that is.
I own a Triumph Bonneville. I find with that bike that generally speaking, by the time I have given it a once over, put my jacket, helmet and gloves on, I push in the choke and its idling smooth and ready to go. As I said, generally 3-5 minutes depending on how long it has been sitting and how cold.
There was only one brief period in which I found the carbs to be a pain. The bike is an ’07 and the neutral switch went out on it in December. Due to the switch going out if you dropped the stand it would cut the engine even when in neutral. Apparently, at least on the Triumphs, the Neutral Switch and the side stand work together. Maybe thats true of all bikes, I don’t know as this is my first one. But if the switch doesn’t tell the side stand it is in neutral it assumes it is in gear even if it really isn’t.
So, the only way to warm it up before heading out was to pull up the stand and actually sit on it for 3-5 minutes while it was warming up. It took me like 2 weeks to get the switch replaced, so it was really only a minor inconvenience, but to correct my earlier statement, I guess there was a 2 week period where maybe FI would have been handy
On the bright side, I purchased it used from a dealer and bought the extended warranty. That covered the parts and labor for the switch