Break in period

[skiergirl]

I did what most do, kinda follow the recommendations. I rode it like normal but made sure it was hill country riding, no constant RPM's went through all the gears, never red lined and changed the oil at 500 miles, after that it was at the track before it had 1000 miles on it and at over 11,000 so far it still runs perfectly.

[fasternyou929]

Originally Posted by RedRider2k2

I've argued this a thousand times and I still stand by that link. It's way closer to what you should be doing than what's in the manual.

Not looking to recreate an old debate, but if beating the piss out of a new motor were the way to go, why would manufacturers have a break-in period versus saying "here's your new bike, go ride it"?

[askmrjesus]

Turn the key.

Break in period over.

JC

[CasterTroy]

I used this on the TLR and the CBR (when rebuilt)

You can follow the directions in your owner's manual, or you can read the following and form your own opinion. Many of us subscribe to the belief that the owner's manual method just doesn't do the job...
"The best way to "break-in" any new piston engine is to NOT "baby it" by keeping the RPM under some manufacturer's "magical limit". Have you ever heard the line "if you don't break it in hard, it will never run hard?" Well, there IS quite a bit of merit to this statement once all the reasons are fully understood.
I'm sure that we can all agree that THE ONLY WAY any piston engine "breaks in" is by "wearing off" and "polishing" any and all the "high spots" to make a perfect, custom, low friction fit between all the important parts. Time alone at reduced RPM WILL NOT ACCOMPLISH THIS! It takes MAX RPM for all the parts to make contact that would NOT normally contact and "wear-in" at some reduced RPM level. The best method for this to occur is to run the engine right up to the manufacturers listed "red line", BUT with the LEAST LOAD POSSIBLE (remember load = heat and NEW pistons DO NOT like excessive heat!).
How do you do this? Well, with any vehicle that has a gearbox, it's real easy. When the bike/vehicle is brand new, you begin a series of "low load", HIGH RPM runs (right up to red line), but ONLY in FIRST GEAR. This gives the VERY necessary "high RPM wear-in" for the pistons and max "gas pressure" on the rings to press them into the cylinder wall so they can seat WITHOUT high load/heat. This first gear high RPM blast will only last a second or so max. DO NOT be tempted to run through all the gears on a new bike - WAY TOO MUCH LOAD = HEAT! In fact, it's well known that if you DO hold WOT on your new bike in top gear, the piston-to-wall clearance can actually approach a PRESS FIT!!! As the mileage rolls up on your bike/vehicle, you can create higher load by simply going UP into the next gear and grab WOT, to your max RPM "redline". What I normally suggest is that you perform a "WOT first gear blast" about every 20 miles or so until you reach 100 to 150 miles. "Second gear WOT blasts" will obviously take longer (about 2 seconds) because of the taller gear and more load and should be performed at about the same intervals as the "first gear runs" and continued until around 500 miles. Continuing with the above WOT and "next highest gear" scenario is pretty much up to the individual and is not completely written in stone as to how fast to progress through all the gears, but completion of all 5 or 6 "WOT gear runs" should be within 1500 to 2000 miles (very subjective here).
An occasional COMPLETE COOLING OFF about every 100 miles or so is very important to help "heat cycle" and "season" the various high temp engine components. If you want to know the WORST WAY to break in an engine, just follow the manufacturers suggestions "TO THE LETTER" by keeping your engine under some "magical RPM limit" and continue to upshift all the way into 5th or 6th to prevent exceeding this "contrived RPM limit" while adding a little more throttle to keep up the pace with traffic (or your buddies!). You can easily see that you will eventually begin to "lug" the engine which is ABSOLUTELY THE WORST THING you could do to your new ride. With this scenario, you will quickly get into that "operational press fit" situation I described above - possibly damaging your engine. So - LET IT REV!!! (within the above guide lines of course)."

[Homeslice]

Originally Posted by fasternyou929

Not looking to recreate an old debate, but if beating the piss out of a new motor were the way to go, why would manufacturers have a break-in period versus saying "here's your new bike, go ride it"?

Simple:

1) They don't know/don't care which method is best -- they simply chose the one that is less likely to break something and cause warranty claims.

2) They know that a large % of bike purchases are newbies, and they want to avoid the lawsuits & bad publicity caused by new riders riding too fast too soon and crashing.

[Gas Man]

Originally Posted by Rider

I rode them normally. After a few hundred miles I'd stretch their legs and take it up close to redline.

I'm the same way. I dont beat the piss out of it. I dont rev it too high for the first 1k. But I will give it some go go juice. Just no WOT.

Oh and NO NO NO lugging.

[Tmall]

Don't they run all their engines to redline upon assembly?

[pauldun170]

I keep my vehicles a long time so I follow the manufacturers recommendation.

[the chi]

I stay mostly within the guidelines. Im no engineer or tested bike manufacturer, so I'd rather follow their advice than what someone tells me or I read on the internet. I am highly suspect of anyone that tells me to completely ignore my owners manual and do it their way.

[askmrjesus]

Originally Posted by pauldun170

I keep my vehicles a long time so I follow the manufacturers recommendation.

Pussy.

JC