[Uncle Bob]

What do you believe is the best procedure, babying it and following owners manual or getting the revs up ( once the engine is warm and oil has circulated )?

 

[Freakinout]

What do you believe is the best procedure, babying it and following owners manual or getting the revs up ( once the engine is warm and oil has circulated )?

play nice, let everything get some miles on it before you rip the road a new one.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Strangely I adhere to this method.


http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

 

[Freakinout]

Strangely I adhere to this method.


http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

I'm going to have to try this if I ever get a chance to buy a new bike.

 

[jetedawg]

thats what i did with my tiburon... i got it with 17 miles and couldnt resist beating the crap out of it, so i went out to the highway and got it up to 122 the first day i had it. after that, it seemed to always run well and pull strong compared with other tiburon's i'd driven... very interesting theory.

 

[bikeaholic]

re

this is an excellent article- this is exactly how i break in bikes as well and always have.
i have never broke a bike in easy-the method of using short wot burst in lower gears has been a very effective way for me.never have i had complications for running an engine this way- i would absolutley agree that the biggest mistake people make when breaking in is the failure to warm the bike up first.like any motor the first few minutes of operation without oil in the upper cylinders is the most crirical.if you wanna ruin the motor then load it up while its cold.and true most sportbikes are revved more than cruisers and my service manager says that this is why he works on more v-twins than rockets because the v-twin owners are too easy on the bikes when they are new.this is debatable, but i do see what the shop works on.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Could be because they sell twice as many cruisers as sportsbikes.

 

[triplesecman]

When I broke in my 04 Ninja 500, the dealer told me to keep the RPM's under 4000 for the first 500 miles, then 6000 for the next 500 miles. I'm guessin it worked fine.

 

[Freakinout]

When I broke in my 04 Ninja 500, the dealer told me to keep the RPM's under 4000 for the first 500 miles, then 6000 for the next 500 miles. I'm guessin it worked fine.

but then again you didn't really listen to the dealer did you?

 

[triplesecman]

I did for a most part. :lol:

 

[Uncle Bob]

We'll find out for sure in another 5,000 miles.

 

[theroyz71]

What about 2 stroke engines like in the kdx50 I just bought for my son? The article said all 4 stroke engines but made no mention of 2 strokes that I saw. Has anyone followed this procedure on a 2 stroke dirt bike? If so, what were the results?

 

[rfrench102]

A few years ago I purchased a new Honda 600 F4I. The dealer told me: "Don't hit redline" "Don't stay the same speed for long" for the first 500 miles. "Other than that... enjoy". I did a search on this topic this morning because I'm picking up my new ZX1200R in a few hours and was wondering how others here were breaking in their rides.

 

[yagiska]

The best method is to alternate between short bursts of hard acceleration and deceleration.

That's from the mototuneusa article. There's no mention in that article (that I saw) of a minimum RPM you need to achieve.

Calamarichris has posted a link to a really good break-in article several times, http://www.chrisandlisachan.com/break-in-game.htm , that explains alot about what's going on during a break-in.

The way I've been breaking in my bike is following the factory recommended RPM limit and constantly accelerating and decelerating within that RPM limit, as well as heat-cycling the engine.

 

[Calamarichris]

Thanks for the tips guys. I will keep this thread in mind in the future, in case I ever have to buy a used bike from someone. The first question I'll have for the seller will certainly be, "Did you break it in hard, like you're s'posed-ta?" :wink:
-CCinC

 

[QKENUF4U]

from what ive seen
BEAT IT FROM DAY ONE and you will have a bike that makes a few more HP up top BUT used oil sooner
BREAK IT IN ACCORDING TO THE BOOK and you will have a bike down a few HP but not use oil as soon.
couple general rules of break in
1. DONT LUG IT
2. DONT CRUISE AT THE SAME RPM FOR MILES
3. DONT BEAT THE **** OUT OF IT 24/7
4. DONT USE SYNTHETIC TILL 3k or more (i changed at 2500 in my ZRX (my first one) and ended up using a bit of oil so i waited till 5k this time (second ZRX) and its not using any oil what-so-ever)

 

[T-man]

My 2 cents is follow the OEM recommendations. They designed the **** thing, they know what's best. From my mechanical engineering background, even with today's modern machining methods, they are microscopic high spots in mating parts whether they are rotating or sliding parts. During break-in, these high spots will make metal-metal contact despite the hydrodynamic boundary layer of oil designed to keep the parts apart. With the high amount of metal-metal contact, high speeds and loads can cause excessive tearing of the metal that would have been smoothed out if lighter loading would have been applied during this period.

As for the higher HP, sure, by flogging the motor one will "loosen" the engine up sooner and you should see less frictional losses in the early life of the motor, hence, higher HP figures when new. But, I bet 20,000 miles later the same engine won't compare with a properly broken-in engine.

My 23,000 mile 1500 FI oil level does not budge in the sight window from oil change to oil change. I broke it in per factory RPM recommendations, never lug the motor, and change oil and filter every 2500 miles using the factory lube and filter (check the screen every other oil change). Also, prefill the filter as much as possible for a horizontal spin-on type. I have done this for 35 years for my cars and never had an oil burner.

Hmmm...maybe that was 3 cents worth??

 

[Calamarichris]

Hmmm...maybe that was 3 cents worth??

T'sall-good T. In fact, your 3 cents worth buys a lot of pesos in this misinformation wasteland. Mighty glad to see an engineer in here to raise the mean-IQ.
-CCinC

 

[grunt]

Here's another ME opinion.

They designed the **** thing, they know what's best.[/qoute] If they gave me a 10 year, 100k warranty, then I would say they know best. 12months, 12k, no way. I just bought a new truck and they recommend 5w-30 oil. Thats to keep their gas mileage rating up. It will make it through the warranty period, 36 months, 36,000 miles.

They also say I can go 100k miles without changing sparkplugs. Thats probably true, but the truck has aluminum heads and I will probably ruin the threads trying to change them at that time.

The mototune procedure maybe o.k. if you use the dyno method. But, I would never drive the bike hard with new tires. Brake pads do not like that kind of break in either.

I keep the rpms around 4,000 for the first 500 miles. Always keep it between 2,000 - 3,000 rpm, when riding.

If you beat me, it's not how you broke it in, it's how you drove it.

 

[ispeed77]

If you beat me, it's not how you broke it in, it's how you drove it.

now that i will definitely agree with, but i am not taking sides on the break-in procedure !