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Tip of the Week
Start and Stop your Engine with FINE-C.
This tip, and all of our tips-of-the-week, are general
principles provided for your consideration. They are not
hard and fast rules that should be applied without thinking
in all circumstances. Always use your judgement and take all
current safety factors into account while riding.
What's The Problem?
There are several steps involved in starting your bike's engine and moving off.
Forgetting any one of them will either make starting difficult or cause you a
problem a short distance down the road. Another set of steps is important when
shutting your bike down to park.
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Many bikes have a manual fuel shut-off. Forgetting to turn it off
when parking can cause fuel to leak out. Forgetting to turn it on
when starting normally won't prevent you starting, as there will
be some fuel in the line; but you will run out of fuel and stall
a few minutes down the road - usually at an inconvenient or unsafe
time. Worse, if you pull into a gas station on the Reserve setting
and forget to turn it back to Regular, then you will have no reserve
gas the next time your bike runs low and stalls.
Your Ignition key needs to be turned on to the correct setting to
start, and completely off when shutting down. Forgetting to turn it
completely off will often leave your headlights running, quickly
killing your battery.
You should have the bike in Neutral and the clutch pulled in.
Some bikes have safety switches so they will only start in this state,
while others rely on you to remember. Having the bike in this state
minimises load on the starter motor and guarantees you will have no
surprise forward lurches when you key the starter.
The Engine Kill Switch, usually a red toggle switch near your right
thumb position, must be On. On some bikes the starter motor won't run
without this switch in the proper position, while others will crank
happily but won't let the engine start.
Your Choke or Fast Idle control must be set properly to start a cold engine.
Your Side Stand must be up. Most bikes won't start with it down; some
will start but won't go into gear. Some older bikes will do both, and
you'll crash the first time you try to turn left.
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The Solution
The solution to remembering any complex series of steps is to use a mnemonic -
some kind of easy to remember device that helps you recall the complex steps.
We use FINE-C (pronounced Fine See) for starting and its reverse,
C-ENIF, for stopping.
When starting your bike, you should say "FINE-C" to yourself, then go through
the letters one at a time and perform the corresponding steps below.
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F is for Fuel:
Ensure it's in the regular "on" position -
not off and not on reserve. Read your owner's manual carefully to learn
about these positions; on some bikes they don't apply because of some kind
of automatic shutoff. Even on a bike whose fuel you don't shut off, you
use this step to ensure it's not still in Reserve, and to remind your
muscles where the shutoff is so you can find it by feel, while moving,
should you need to switch to Reserve.
I is for Ignition:
Ensure your main ignition key switch is in the correct On position.
N is for Neutral:
Ensure your transmission is in neutral. Use the dashboard indicator
light, if you have one, as first check, but then roll the bike slightly
to be absolutely sure. This means you're testing the correctness of the
indicator light once a day as well as ensuring you're in Neutral.
E is for Engine:
Ensure your Engine Kill Switch is in the correct On position.
See below for why it would be off.
C is for Choke:
Read your owner's manual for details of when you should use the choke
on your bike. Generally you use it any time, and only, when starting
a cold engine. Skip this step if the engine is still warm from a recent run;
develop a feel for when you need the choke.
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When shutting down your bike, run through the above letters in Reverse order,
and perform the following steps.
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C is for Choke:
Hopefully the choke is off well before you stop.
Now is a good time to make sure, at least so you will know if
you forgot to turn it off and can try harder to remember next time.
E is for Engine:
Note that, since the engine is running at this point,
turning off the kill switch now actually stops the engine, and
this acts as a test of the kill switch.
Better to find out now that it has shorted and no longer kills
the engine than when you have a stuck throttle and really need it.
N is for Neutral:
Put the bike in neutral now so you're ready to start.
I is for Ignition:
Ensure it's fully off. (Not in the "parking" position some bikes have,
which leaves some of your lights on and will allow your battery to die.)
F is for Fuel:
Ensure it's off (if your bike requires it - read your manual).
Leave it alone if your
instructions say you should. In any case, check it's not still
on Reserve from your last fill-up.
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Modern Modifications
Many modern bikes don't require some of the steps mentioned above,
but the memory device is so useful that riders have invented additional
meanings for some of the letters so they still apply.
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F: If your bike has an automatic fuel shut-off you don't
need to manually move it. You should still use F to remind you to
check that you haven't left it on the Reserve setting from the last
fill-up.
In addition, why not say F is for Foot, to remind you to
put the side stand up and down?
C: If your bike uses Fuel Injection you don't have a Choke to adjust.
You may, however, have a "fast idle" control that serves a similar
purpose when starting. Call it a Choke so this handy reminder still applies.
C: C also stands for Clutch, and many riders use the C in FINE-C to
remind themselves to pull the clutch in before starting, in addition
to setting the choke.
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The MRC Tips of the Week are a collection of riding tips written by, and drawn from the riding experience of, the MRC instructors, a group with hundreds of years of cumulative riding experience. The tip changes every week. Check back to our main page every week to learn more from experienced riders.
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