[.OrgOwner]

Running in a new motorcycle or not running it in can make a big difference to the reliability and overall life and perfomance of the engine. So I wanted to get some feedback from the members on what is best practice for a sportsbike. I've been doing some research and found tons of conflicting advice on the subject. Here are a just a few points

From new change the oil after just 20 miles regardless of what the manufacturer says.

V-Twins require a different run in than inline engines

Don't use synthetic oil during run in.

You should always stick to the manufacturers break in procedure

Run your motorcycle in as you are going to ride it

Run your motorcycle in hard

don't load your engine during break in

vary the engine speed constantly during break in.

And so the advice is conflicting, maybe engine break in is a total myth.

[exit90a]

Here is a link to a page which claims to be the Holy Grail of How to break in an engine. It is the method I used with no ill effects. Bike has over 3000 miles and uses no oil while making great power. I'm sure some of you have seen this before. Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

[.OrgOwner]

Can you povide us with an outline of the method rather than a link?

[exit90a]

Sure. The idea is that a factory recommended break in is not agressive enough to create a proper seal between rings and cylinder wall. You should start by allowing the bike to reach full operating temp. Once you begin your break in you should alternate between short bursts of acceleration and deceleration while progressively raising the RPM. Allowing the bike to "engine brake" or slow on its own is also important. It is suggested that the first 20 miles are of extreme importance(80% of break in) and that the engine is fully broken in by the 1500 mile mark when using this method. You should change your oil at 20 miles. Use conventional motor oil, not synthetic, during break in. That is it in a nut shell. I still recommend reading the link as it is 15 pages and I condensed it to a paragraph.

[ghbzorro]

Absolutely agree with exit90a (and Motoman, author of recommendation).

[MCR001]

I see lots of these posts and questions.
My old man is a motor mech of old school, Retired now. and I took his advice - I ride as though I would ride it normally without racing the moto, and change the oil at 1000 km's - touch wood 28 years on bikes + cars and not one engine problem, no need to change that Philosophy.

[Evil R]

Ive read the hard break in strategy before, and ive also heard the contradiction that that procedure works great for racers and people that go extremely hard on their engines because they have to rebuild them after a couple thousand miles anyway. That being said, ive never had to break in a bike (buy used and make sure everything works haha)

[sheepofblue]

I did the RR as Honda recommended but don't think it matters much. I can remember slapping bikes together starting them once then loading them for the track. One advantage of break in is if you fail it limits damage if you are not WOT. As to the synthetic , if I follow they tell you to use a lower quality oil when on a fresh engine.

[Sideshow bob]

I was always told to run allway to red line, as long as you don't put the engine under heavy load it'll be fine......
never had a problem... but then again I've only ever had to break in 3 bikes

Originally Posted by sheepofblue

One advantage of break in is if you fail it limits damage

....think you maybe right sheepoblue,
The only time I came across any problems was picking up a bike for a mate...
He wouldn't ride it from shop becouse he'd never ridden on road, so I collected it for him, on way back gearbox seized.. turned out a washer had dropped into bottom of gearbox in factory and It decided the best time to pronounce it presence was on a bend at 60

[Twincam]

Ive always been told to run in any engine nice and easy, not go over a certain revs or speed (told to me by my tutor - the person I watched over when learning)

My Hornet has just over 2000 miles, she has been sweet as a nut ever since I got her. I don't redline my bikes when Im breaking them in (am I supposed to?), but I make sure it goes through the rev range through-out all the gears...

[Sideshow bob]

Originally Posted by Twincam

not go over a certain revs or speed
.

I was told they recomend this becouse most drivers don't know what a heavy load is?

I don't redline my bikes when Im breaking them in (am I supposed to?)

I do, did with my van last year too.. was told to use ALL rev range, so I do .. but I'm sure someone will say you shouldn't... don't think there is a definative answer

[Twincam]

I think its what the user is suited to. My company van was red-lined all through-out its running in stage, feels very free and loose (sort of speak) compared to my collegue's van.

I do like exploring the rev ranges when running them in, I may once or twice hit red-line but thats after a good few hundred miles.

Some people say take it easy, some say thrash it to hell and back - I think its down to you personally...

[StrumminRonin]

Originally Posted by Sideshow bob;704151[FONT=Comic Sans MS

The only time I came across any problems was picking up a bike for a mate... on way back gearbox seized.. turned out a washer had dropped into bottom of gearbox in factory and It decided the best time to pronounce it presence was on a bend at 60 [/font]

[Sideshow bob]

Originally Posted by StrumminRonin

Don't worry strummin...

that was way back in the 80's, in them days bikes were manufactured out of wood, had square wheels & ran on good old leaded petrol*

*leaded petrol weighed twice as much as unleaded so bikes were slower

[themidget2k6]

When i was getting a bike and considering new, i talked to my buddy whos a motorcycle mechanic and got second opinions from a couple guys who have ridden for 20+ years and all broke in new bikes.
Only one said differently than this...
Ride it like you stole it, if your going to break it in, break the thing in hard, just as you will ride it later.
That being said, the mechanic also said change the oil pretty much when you get home and vary the throttle going any distance. A good tactic is to 'jackrabbit' the lights. Find stretch of road that has lots of lights, and little traffic. When the light turns green, run your bike hard to the next one, using the engine to brake yourself before the next stop line. If it turns green before you come to a stop or are close the the stop line, run up to higher gears and give her a work out.
The other guy said keep the bike under half-redline rpms, and under 90km/h till 1000km. Dont accelerate hard and dont engine brake. Pretty much baby the thing. I think hes cracked.

But... all ride bikes with no engine problems or bike problems in general. except the mechanic, he used to race and had a tendancy to break the bike and himself. He didnt consider it a race season if he walked away without casts on a few major limbs.

[NorthSide]

As far as i'm concerned, battering a brand new engine like that is totally insane! As with any machined surface, engine internals have very slight surface imperfections. These need to be worked against eachother to produce wear patterns. These wear patterns dictate how well the components will seat together for the rest of their service life.
People get confused with all the conflicting advice, most of which comes from a lack of knowledge.
The main problem with taking it too easy for the first 300 miles or so is, modern oil is so good now and resists friction so well that it is sometimes difficult to cause enough wear and the surface glazes, and never creates a good seal.
The trick is to give it enough revs to produce enough pressure to force the piston rings against the bores but not too much so as cause overheating- Before good wear patterns are established, high revs cause more friction in places (known as troughs and peaks) which in turn cause hot spots that will deform alloy parts/seals/piston rings etc.
Sorry to be a bore, but I work in the engineering/manufacturing industry and see the effects of so called experts abusing machinery all the time and it drives me mad!
The best cause of action for running in modern engines is to take it fairly easy for 300 miles or so, then gradually increase revs. The worst thing you can do is labour an engine or hold it at set revs for long periods. Just vary your engine speed, and build it up gradually.
Agree with you on the oil chang after 300-500 miles though.

[Stick]

I suggest following the Manufactures recommendations. A freshly built never b4 run motor requires a STRICT break in. This many rpms for x amount of time under y load, followed by 2x amount of rpms for a diff period of time under z load, and what not. Usually ranging from 500-2000 miles. At least in automotive engines. If you plan to rebuild it fequently i.e. race motors, break in is less of a concern. Mostly break-in is seating your rings and internal bearings, and stress tests for longevity or early part failure. ALL new car motors have been broken in prior to maken it out of the factory. Not sure if this is true on bikes or what. I can almost bet every new bike motor has a good number of hours on it already when new at 0 miles. Listen to the guys that engineered the product. They usually have the 411 on what happens inside their motor. rebuilds DO NOT APPLY!



OH and the lower grade oil theory is correct. A slightly rougher oil which allows a little more heat and friction between your surfaces will mate them much faster than if they where sliding easier with thanks to superior lubricant tech. But again this is on never run b4 motors. ALWAYS follow Manufacture recomendations.

[Stick]

Originally Posted by NorthSide

As far as i'm concerned, battering a brand new engine like that is totally insane! As with any machined surface, engine internals have very slight surface imperfections. These need to be worked against eachother to produce wear patterns. These wear patterns dictate how well the components will seat together for the rest of their service life.

The main problem with taking it too easy for the first 300 miles or so is, modern oil is so good now and resists friction so well that it is sometimes difficult to cause enough wear and the surface glazes, and never creates a good seal.

Signed

[08silvercbr]

After reading all this back and forth stuff I'd like to ask something....I've had several vehicles, and motorcycles. Some new, some used. I've never had a vehicle that burned oil or didn't make it to several several thousand miles. No matter how you break in a motorcycle does anyone have any problems with the way their stuff performs, or problems with burning oil? Although my bike doesn't burn oil I believe there is a small % of people with the new 1000's having an issuse. I don't think its a break in issue, but an issue with Honda. (I'm sure they will fix it for next year) Anyway, my 98' 900 was rode like a red headed step child for 24,000 miles and didn't burn a drop, and still dynoed at more horsepower then claimed by SportRider. Soooo how many people have problems? How many people don't? I'd like to see some testamonies with high mileage bikes and how they still perform. Does anyone have a bike with like 100,000 miles on it that runs good?

[FTP_929]

now when they say change the oil,is it oil AND filter? or just drain the oil and put new one in?

[exit90a]

Originally Posted by FTP_929

now when they say change the oil,is it oil AND filter? or just drain the oil and put new one in?

Oil and Filter. Lotsa metal in there during break-in and you would not want it to get past your filter.

[NorthSide]

Yeah you ALWAYS!!!!!!! change the filter when you change the oil, running in or not!

[bettingpython]

If the bearings don't spin during the first 30 minutes of operations then the only thing left to do is seal the rings to the piston walls. How you do this will affect your performance for the rest of the motors life. Once everything is up to temp ride it like you stole it to properly seal the rings to the piston walls change the oil on a new bike as soon as you get it home run it in hard for 600 miles then change the oil again all is good.

FYI every engine gets a full power pull on an engine dyno befor it's fitted in a frame to insure everything is in spec, an engine brake dyno is a vicious test of reliability.

[saint619]

ride it like you stole it. =P, no but seriously I went to the local shop which is pretty well known in CA. Lee's Cycle. They told me its more about heat transition. they said ride the bike easy for an hour a day get it nice and hot let it cool then get it hot again. so basically and hour a day ride the bike for 10 days and then after that beat the hell out of it. They are a racing shop and Jeremy the owner and lead mechanic races professionally. Not sure if its AMA or SBK but he has been featured on super bike TV show as a tech advisor and has been a bike tester for a few mags. Ill take his word for it.

[low-rider]

well i had to go through break in period with 4 bikes...2 kawi's, 1 suzuki and now 1 honda. every bike had certain rpm's that was not recomended to go above. i have always followed recomendation on rpm's and mileage. i had problems only with first bike (kawi). it's engine blew up under me in a highway on about 125 mph. it blew up not because of wrong breaking in but because it had some serial defect from the begining. first 1000 km (about 625 miles) in the engine should be non-synthetic oil (usually it is mineral oil)because non-synthetic oil is less thick and that way it allows parts to brush more into each other and break in (not break ). because non-synthetic oils are less high temperature resistant that is why you shouldn't rev it too high. if you do then you make temperature of the oil and parts go too high and oil will be less and less thick and will loose it's abilities to moisture and cool down parts. parts will brush into each other too much and you can literally kill ur engine. there are different methods of breaking in from manufacturer to manufacturer. on kawi 636 first 800 km you shouldn't go above 4.000rpms and next 800 above 6.000rpm. on gixxer 600 first 800 km you shouldn't go above 7.000 and next 800 above 12.000 (i think, i dont remember anymore). on my blade they told me not to go above 6.000 rpm's in first 1.000 km. after first service interval (and puting synthetic oil) they told me i can ride it as i like.

so there is no need to complicate breaking in period. just follow instruction from your manual or what they told you in shop. don't be afraid of loosing power if you ride it less agressive then you think you should. today's bikes are powerfull enough and on regular roads anybody here can't use 70% of that power so they are more powerful then we can handle.

and don't rev it to fast...i mean let your rpm's go smooth. don't open throttle too fast...that is in break in period

[DaedalEVE]

Originally Posted by Stick

I suggest following the Manufactures recommendations. A freshly built never b4 run motor requires a STRICT break in. This many rpms for x amount of time under y load, followed by 2x amount of rpms for a diff period of time under z load, and what not. Usually ranging from 500-2000 miles. At least in automotive engines. If you plan to rebuild it fequently i.e. race motors, break in is less of a concern. Mostly break-in is seating your rings and internal bearings, and stress tests for longevity or early part failure. ALL new car motors have been broken in prior to maken it out of the factory. Not sure if this is true on bikes or what. I can almost bet every new bike motor has a good number of hours on it already when new at 0 miles. Listen to the guys that engineered the product. They usually have the 411 on what happens inside their motor. rebuilds DO NOT APPLY!



OH and the lower grade oil theory is correct. A slightly rougher oil which allows a little more heat and friction between your surfaces will mate them much faster than if they where sliding easier with thanks to superior lubricant tech. But again this is on never run b4 motors. ALWAYS follow Manufacture recomendations.

Pretty spot on from my 1 break in experience. I generally stayed to the manufacturers recommendations until I was about 75% through the break in. I would occasionally go above recommended rpm's, but not on purpose (I was learning to ride the bike and get a feel for the throttle response). But when I got to a certain point I started running a little higher than recommended RPM's, and even red lined it once or twice. The point was I did build up the rpms over time, with lots of stop and go traffic and engine breaking (both hard and soft).
During the break in period I got like 190-200miles out of a 4.5gal tank (running it until ~0.1 gallons were left). Now, I get about 160-180 depending on how I ride. If I keep it under 5500rpms (it's a twin BTW) I can get the high end. If I ride normal (which means 80mph commuting with the odd 100+mph sprint) I get ~160.
So all in all, I've dropped only like 4mpg. And I also don't use oil.
Talking to my mechanic I was asking him about synthetic and he recommended never switching.
They might have the better thermal propert