Breaking in my Ninja 250

[purple]

I finally took the plunge and got a great deal on a new ninja from Red Baron (ask for Nick! - he was great) here in Auckland. I was looking forward to having a great ride this weekend when I wa told that I need to break the engine in ?? What!

So, I can't/shouldn't exceed 4,000 rpm. Well that means I can't travel on the motorway then - anything above 65km/hour means that I am above 4,000rpm.
Not looking forward to travellling 800 ks at 65km/hour.

Surely this 4,000 rpm is not that precious is it?

Why don't bike manufacturers break in the engine at the factory? They could easily put each one on a dyno and have them running for x hours in order to bed them in.

[ital916]

I finally took the plunge and got a great deal on a new ninja from Red Baron (ask for Nick! - he was great) here in Auckland. I was looking forward to having a great ride this weekend when I wa told that I need to break the engine in ?? What!

So, I can't/shouldn't exceed 4,000 rpm. Well that means I can't travel on the motorway then - anything above 65km/hour means that I am above 4,000rpm.
Not looking forward to travellling 800 ks at 65km/hour.

Surely this 4,000 rpm is not that precious is it?

Why don't bike manufacturers break in the engine at the factory? They could easily put each one on a dyno and have them running for x hours in order to bed them in.

Mate, as long as you warm her up properly whenever you are gonna ride her and don't redline it or load the engine up too heavily i.e chugging up a hill in far too high a gear the engine will be sweet. They wont break. Again warm her up, dont be scared to rev it *you have to to get places you know haha* dont bounce it off the limiter and dont excessively load it up for the first 600-thousand ks and you should be swet.

The procedure labelled in the manual is a cover for the manufacturers, a get out of jail free card as one would say.

[Pwalo]

Visit the Ninja 250 site. They have enough information on the little kawasaki to keep you happy for many hours, and cover break in methods. Nice little bike.

[FJRider]

If you dont inteend keeping it for long... go ahead and thrash it. The next owner will suffer though. Your bike now... but if you don't do as they ask, it may void any warranty... your choice.

[t3mp0r4ry nzr]

engines are robust. my maiden ride the sv650 was qualification for f2 at the race track (only hit the rev limit once)! you wont break it. dont get carried away with warming it up either. 10-30 sec. is all you need to get some temp into the oil.

[phaedrus]

If you dont inteend keeping it for long... go ahead and thrash it. The next owner will suffer though. Your bike now... but if you don't do as they ask, it may void any warranty... your choice.

following the break in procedure is listed as one of the owner's obligations in my warranty, i imagine that the 250 would not be that different. I would expect that it would void it, and that my bikes ecu will rat me out if questioned.

[McDuck]

I finally took the plunge and got a great deal on a new ninja from Red Baron (ask for Nick! - he was great) here in Auckland. I was looking forward to having a great ride this weekend when I wa told that I need to break the engine in ?? What!

So, I can't/shouldn't exceed 4,000 rpm. Well that means I can't travel on the motorway then - anything above 65km/hour means that I am above 4,000rpm.
Not looking forward to travellling 800 ks at 65km/hour.

Surely this 4,000 rpm is not that precious is it?

Why don't bike manufacturers break in the engine at the factory? They could easily put each one on a dyno and have them running for x hours in order to bed them in.


i would do around 100kms at under 4000, then do about 5000kms without thrashing it.

[disenfranchised]

4000?? That sounds quite low to me.

The Ninja is using the same engine from the GPX and ZZR of old isn't it.
My wife's ZZR makes almost no power below 5000rpm and really kicks in around 9000.

When I got my bike (also from Red Baron) I was told to keep it below 7000, and not to let the engine bog down....which meant keeping it above 3000...preferabley above 4000 even.

With the difference with the Hyo engine compared to the Ninja, I'd expect you to need to keep the engine in the 5-8krpm range....Also don't open the throttle more than 3/4...just let the speed build a bit more gradually.

But just to be safe you might want to re-check with Red Baron..go and visit Mike down in the workshop and ask his advice.

[3L4NS1R]

i was told by numerous sources that you need to vary the rev's a lot, don't keep it in the high ranges for long periods of time, and don't lug the engine...

[Pogo2]

New bike, open road and fine weekend!

I was in the same boat - don't exceed 4000 rpm for the first 600 miles. Had to pottle around at 55 kph for a little while. Mind you being an auto meant no bogging down. One bonus I guess. Enjoy your new ride

[Howsie]

There are two views on how to break in engines. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations or run it hard but carefully.

I was of the opinion that you take it easy on new engines. Until i read the link below i realised that the theory behind that was wrong.

Just a few points:

You cannot break the engine
I broke in my Ninja this way
The next guy will most likely thank you

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

Happy Reading!

[Howsie]

my bikes ecu will rat me out if questioned.

Highly HIGHLY unlikely

[TimeOut]

There are two views on how to break in engines. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations or run it hard but carefully.

I was of the opinion that you take it easy on new engines. Until i read the link below i realised that the theory behind that was wrong.

Just a few points:

You cannot break the engine
I broke in my Ninja this way
The next guy will most likely thank you

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

Happy Reading!

+ 1 for this method

Give it plenty of work in the mid rev range, vary the revs, don't over or under rev.
And do warm it up.

I have glazed two Honda TRX's bores by running them in too gently both needing new rings by 12000km's one needing two sets.
I was told by the dealer to run in hard and haven't had any problems since.

Enjoy your ride

[phaedrus]

Highly HIGHLY unlikely

why?, running the bike in according to the manual is a condition of the warranty. how are they to know if you did? the ecu knows everything about how the bike is being ridden, storage is cheap i see no reason why a 'was not run in as specified in the manual' flag would not exist. (i'd put one in there)

[fishb8nz]

I'd change the engine oil and filter at 500 km, 1000, then about 2500. Oil is an engine's life blood and those 3 changes will make more difference than how it's run it in.

[marty]

don't fuck it in the arse on the first date. then it will always come back for more :0

[Howsie]

why?, running the bike in according to the manual is a condition of the warranty. how are they to know if you did? the ecu knows everything about how the bike is being ridden, storage is cheap i see no reason why a 'was not run in as specified in the manual' flag would not exist. (i'd put one in there)

Point noted. Thats a lot of data for a bike to record over its lifetime. You would have to have a digital speedo, rpm counter, angle/lean sensor, air/fuel ratio, throttle position, millage counter as well as time and date to accurately depict how the bike was being ridden. I think that might be too much for the manufacturer to put in "just on case" someone doesnt break it to their specs. Would need a terabyte of space at least to record that:laugh:

As stated above, the logic behind the slow break in ends up costing you more in the long run and doesnt make sense from a mechanical perspective.

[Howsie]

+ 1 for this method

Give it plenty of work in the mid rev range, vary the revs, don't over or under rev.
And do warm it up.

I have glazed two Honda TRX's bores by running them in too gently both needing new rings by 12000km's one needing two sets.
I was told by the dealer to run in hard and haven't had any problems since.

Enjoy your ride

YAY someone who agrees with this method:jerry:

[phaedrus]

Point noted. Thats a lot of data for a bike to record over its lifetime. You would have to have a digital speedo, rpm counter, angle/lean sensor, air/fuel ratio, throttle position, millage counter as well as time and date to accurately depict how the bike was being ridden. I think that might be too much for the manufacturer to put in "just on case" someone doesnt break it to their specs. Would need a terabyte of space at least to record that:laugh:

As stated above, the logic behind the slow break in ends up costing you more in the long run and doesnt make sense from a mechanical perspective.

what, a marker saying 'exceeded threshold' and recording the current state once would take over a terabyte? you don't need to record the whole life. just that the warranty has been voided.

[McWild]

I'm curious - does the aforementioned "Go hard" running in procedure work only on 4 strokes or 2 strokes as well?

If so/not, how come?

[Howsie]

what, a marker saying 'exceeded threshold' and recording the current state once would take over a terabyte? you don't need to record the whole life. just that the warranty has been voided.

Im exaggerating with the terabyte but what exactly is "the threshold"? In order for the warranty to be voided you would need to know the; rpm, millage, speed, gear position, time and date at the very minimum to provide sufficient evidence to claim that the warranty was voided.

If the "exceeded threshold" marker was based solely on rpm, a quick blip of the throttle would be all thats needed.

And really, have you heard of a manufacturer that has used the ECU as evidence for a voided warranty claim? :Offtopic:

[Howsie]

I'm curious - does the aforementioned "Go hard" running in procedure work only on 4 strokes or 2 strokes as well?

If so/not, how come?

I would say yes because when you run it in "hard" you are sealing the rings on the piston bore to get a good even seal. I would imagine that it would give an ever better result in engine performance and wear on a 2smoker. This break in would apply to all engines as they all work the same way, but im not an expert like motoman :D

[phaedrus]

If the "exceeded threshold" marker was based solely on rpm, a quick blip of the throttle would be all thats needed.

And really, have you heard of a manufacturer that has used the ECU as evidence for a voided warranty claim? :Offtopic:

mileage, it's got the odometer (either in it or availalble - 'tis all electronic these days) as with speedo, gear can be calculated with the rpm and speed (be a shitty ecu that doesn't know rpm. I don't think date and would be neccaccery

and you would do the calculations based on sustained actions so that the blips would be ignored

and, no i haven't heard of it so i'll shut up now.

'tis just what i would have done for use in cases where the bike was flogged to death and the person who did it was insisting on warranty.

[Howsie]

mileage, it's got the odometer (either in it or availalble - 'tis all electronic these days) as with speedo, gear can be calculated with the rpm and speed (be a shitty ecu that doesn't know rpm. I don't think date and would be neccaccery

and you would do the calculations based on sustained actions so that the blips would be ignored

and, no i haven't heard of it so i'll shut up now.

'tis just what i would have done for use in cases where the bike was flogged to death and the person who did it was insisting on warranty.

mileage, ha damn spellcheck! good point on all the above :niceone

i agree, i would put in something like that for checking break in procedure (my new ninja is all analogue) but the reality is that you would have to dismantle the engine to verify it. Busted rings, worn bottom end or something similar??

If i had the money i would experiment with 2 new bikes, break one in gently and the other hard then dyno at 2000km and see which has the higher horsepower.

[Slyer]

Yeah, make sure you don't use synthetic until it's broken in as well.

[Brooke]

Hey fellow Ninja owner! I baught my Ninja new too. I took it easy for the first 1000 kms, always warm it up and varied the load through gears etc. These bikes love to be ridden and the guy from the shop told me if you nana it, you'll get on one that has been ridden as it should and they will be two completley different bikes.

I certianly ride mine but I look after it all the same. I think getting their services at the mentioned time is also a good thing.

I hope you love your Ninja as much as me! Enjoy

[Maki]

Ride it like you stole it, but service it according to the manual. If you run your bike in too gently the piston rings will not seal properly and your bike will be slower than it should be.