New Motorcycle Break-in's
- Thread starter aphire
- Start date
-
- Tags
- motorcycle new new motorcycle
dandoolittle
Site owner, lovely and adorable
Not once have a stuck to the manual !
Ride it, enjoy it and oil changes - job done
P.s hard break in has way better benefits
P.s.s - engineering is so good these days, breaking in process is more about legal coverage than anything actually going wrong
Ride it, enjoy it and oil changes - job done
P.s hard break in has way better benefits
P.s.s - engineering is so good these days, breaking in process is more about legal coverage than anything actually going wrong
jthomas
jthomas1310
I have always done so to some extent, as most do say not to go above a certain rpm for an "excessive time" so taking off flat out isn't being in that range for "excessive time". However be wary as oils used to run in a motor are much thinner and working a motor hard with thin oil can cause damage. My bike ran a thinner oil from new and was changed to a heavier oil at its first change of 1000kms. But as Dan said, it is mostly legal cover, so what they state in the manual for run in would most likely be over compensated to cover their arse.
Leon Loco
Roar at things.
I've been wrenching on bikes and building engines for 20+ years. My method of braking in new engines is thus:
For new engines delivered from the factory (e.g. have been run in slightly at factory)
- Start up, warm fluids with throttle blips from 1-2k rpm for a few minutes.
- Ride (or dyno) immediately with increasing load/rpm. I do ten or so pulls from ~2k revs to ~5k at half throttle, ten more at 3k-7k at 3/4 throttle, final ten at ~5k to redline at WOT, allowing for a brief cool down between series runs. Obviously you want to do this somewhere safe where you can do a WOT pull without spamming youself or going to jail. Dyno is best if you have access to one.
- Immediately dump oil as soon as runs are complete, refill and ride normally. It's as broken in as it's getting. Check oil levels every ride for ~500 miles.
For new freshly rebuilt engines that have not been started:
- Fill with quality break-in oil. I use Amsoil 30w break-in, which is the best I've used.
- Start and hold at ~2,500 rpm for ~5-10 min until coolant and oil is up to temp (bikes vary quite a lot as to how long this takes. 160+F coolant and 140+F oil is good to go)
- Shut down and check level, for leaks, etc. If nothing is suspect, break in as above.
The "go gentle with it for x miles" owners manual stuff is largely warranty mitigation nonsense. If something is going to blow up, it's going to blow up pretty quick, and going easy on it isn't really going to change that outcome. If not, braking it in as above will yield a much better ring seal and hence more power and less oil consumption than babying it. This is true for pretty much any 4-stroke piston-based engine. (2-smokes are a bit different as you have to pay more attention to cylinder temp)
Note that after ~20 miles of riding, it's as broken in as it's getting. The x thousand miles of x type of riding/driving is nonsense.
For new engines delivered from the factory (e.g. have been run in slightly at factory)
- Start up, warm fluids with throttle blips from 1-2k rpm for a few minutes.
- Ride (or dyno) immediately with increasing load/rpm. I do ten or so pulls from ~2k revs to ~5k at half throttle, ten more at 3k-7k at 3/4 throttle, final ten at ~5k to redline at WOT, allowing for a brief cool down between series runs. Obviously you want to do this somewhere safe where you can do a WOT pull without spamming youself or going to jail. Dyno is best if you have access to one.
- Immediately dump oil as soon as runs are complete, refill and ride normally. It's as broken in as it's getting. Check oil levels every ride for ~500 miles.
For new freshly rebuilt engines that have not been started:
- Fill with quality break-in oil. I use Amsoil 30w break-in, which is the best I've used.
- Start and hold at ~2,500 rpm for ~5-10 min until coolant and oil is up to temp (bikes vary quite a lot as to how long this takes. 160+F coolant and 140+F oil is good to go)
- Shut down and check level, for leaks, etc. If nothing is suspect, break in as above.
The "go gentle with it for x miles" owners manual stuff is largely warranty mitigation nonsense. If something is going to blow up, it's going to blow up pretty quick, and going easy on it isn't really going to change that outcome. If not, braking it in as above will yield a much better ring seal and hence more power and less oil consumption than babying it. This is true for pretty much any 4-stroke piston-based engine. (2-smokes are a bit different as you have to pay more attention to cylinder temp)
Note that after ~20 miles of riding, it's as broken in as it's getting. The x thousand miles of x type of riding/driving is nonsense.
JohnnyGrom
Wannabie Member
I was careful with it the first 40 miles then I went crazy.
Clint Love
It doesn't say CUNT, dammit!
I had a friend who worked at a Harley shop during the AMF days. He said when they got the bikes, they would first change all the major gaskets, so the bikes wouldn't leak oil on the showroom floor (apparently this was an issue with the AMF Harleys) and then they would take it out on the highway and run it for a while at about 80mph. The logic was if something was going to break that would pretty much make it happen.
SighBored
@thesighbored
I used the hard break-in method. Not to be confused with "get crazy and bounce all up and down the rev limiter" break-in method.
If you would like to learn more:
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
If you would like to learn more:
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
MiGlyRides
Geordie-Aussie
I ride hard and to red line normally, the only thing I'll do differently for the first little bit is vary the revs when I'm cruising at the speed limit.
RoadSprock
Original Vlogs
Believe the S1000 series shares this!
RiderInRed
The guy who rides in red
How can you figure out if your bike has a rev limiter at all? I mean sure you could punch it up the red zone but if there's no rev limiter, wouldn't this hurt the engine then?
Top Posters Past 30 days
-
15 -
14 -
12 -
11 -
6 -
5 -
3 -
1