ABSTRACT This paper presents a study on the performance and emission characteristics of a currently used motorcycle fueled with either gasoline or ethanol at cold starting and idling condition. The engine’s fuel system was modified by extending the injection pulse width to allow it to operate with pure ethanol or gasoline. The ethanol-fueled engine required three to four cranking times to achieve success starting at an ambient temperature between 15°C and 20°C. In cold idling conditions, the ethanol-fueled engine operated at a high coefficient of variation of speed (COVspeed) of 1.20% to 2.49% at an ambient temperature of 17°C, while a COV speed of 0.92% of the gasoline-fueled engine was observed. However, with the aid of the electric-based heating system (EHS), the ethanol-fueled engine performance was enhanced significantly as the COV speed was 0.95% at 15°C, 0.85% at 17°C, and 0.73% at 20°C in idling condition and achieved successful starting at the first time of cranking after 30 s of pre-heating. During the warm-up stage, a significant fluctuation of emission was observed with different test cases. However, with the heating system, the engine enhanced completed combustion quicker as incomplete combustion products of HC and CO were reduced rapidly in idling compared to gasoline and ethanol-fueled engine. NOx emissions increased with the aid of the heating system but were still lower compared to the gasoline-fueled engine during idling condition.