How should I break my bike in?

[Swoop]

You will have new tyres on it. Scrub them in before getting silly with it.

[Katman]

Many years ago a mate and I each bought brand new 550 Katanas.

He thrashed his from day 1 while I was determined to follow the manufacturers run-in procedure to the letter. His bike always felt like it had more power and spun up far more readily than mine.

However, (if I hadn't written mine off a year later) I'm sure mine would have lasted considerably longer than his would have.

[Maki]

Many years ago a mate and I each bought brand new 550 Katanas.

He thrashed his from day 1 while I was determined to follow the manufacturers run-in procedure to the letter. His bike always felt like it had more power and spun up far more readily than mine.

However, (if I hadn't written mine off a year later) I'm sure mine would have lasted considerably longer than his would have.

His bike had more power because he broke it in correctly.

[PrincessBandit]

His bike had more power because he broke it in correctly.

Possibly, but when looking at longevity of your engine short term power gain might be outweighed by crapping it out earlier than someone who has ridden it not quite so hard in the early days.

But then I could be wrong.....

[CookMySock]

His bike had more power because he broke it in correctly.

You are right, and you are wrong.

If that's what you WANT from it, then do it. If it's not your bike, suggest you ask first. If it's a modern learner bike, suggest you might be more concerned that it starts easily hot or cold, doesn't quit when idling, doesn't smoke after 12 months, and doesn't quickly become a rattly piece of crap with limited resale value, all for the sake of a few more horsepower.

Steve

[Maki]

I can think of some things that will shorten the lifetime of an engine but correct break in is not one of them.

1. Revving hard when the engine is cold. This will wear out your engine prematurely.

2. Old oil.

3. Old coolant. Yes, if your engine is water cooled make sure to change the coolant before it gets too old. It should say when in the manual. Otherwise risk internal corrosion.

[paddy]

Let me prefix this post by saying that I am neither a mechanic nor engineer and that I don't actually know that much about engines; however, as I pilot I am aware that we have to treat freshly overhauled engines in a very specific manner (minimal low power operations) and use specific oils during the break-in/run-in (depending on how you spell colour) period. So I had a dig around and came up with these links. At the very least they are an interesting read:

http://www.flightsafety.org/amb/amb_jan-feb95.pdf
http://www.mattituck.com/articles/engbrkin.htm

[TygerTung]

I have run in a few engines now, and I have run them in using the correct procedure.

I start it up, don't let it idle, keep the revs reasonably high, and ride off basically as soon as I can. Let it get oil pressure to the bearings and stuff first. I actually usually often disconnect the ignition lead and turn it over until it gets a bit of oil pressure. Obviously in some applications this isn't practicle.

Anyway once it's going ride off. Don't let it run slowly, and don't lug it in low gears. Remember at low revs your oil pressure is much lower, often around only 20-30 psi if it's cold and at idle it can drop under 20 psi when it's hot.

For the first 10-15 minutes I don't rev it too high, like I mean up to the redline, but after that, it's pretty much run in. You can redline it as much as you want, and give it heaps. Don't change to synthetic oil until at least 1000 kilometres, and I would recomend changing the oil as soon as you get home. I'd probably change it at 300 k's too, then maybe 600? Once you are at over 1000 k's you could change to synthetic.

[F5 Dave]

Whilst everyone imagines their virginal engine coming to life in peace & harmony do be aware that as Maki pointed out earlier manufacturers test all their bikes on rolling road on the assembly line, right through to redline several times & through the gears. This is to check the engine etc & also to help promote ring bed in. Don't be thinking that bearings need to run in either.

[Devil]

This topic has come up multiple times, Vifferman has it in a nutshell.

Dont thrash it and dont labour it. Read what is in the manual.

Ignore those who say run it full tit to get maximum horsepower, it is not a racebike. Dont baby or labour it as this is not good for the rings either.

[steve_t]

Worth a read

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

[johan]

Worth a read...

http://www.dezmo.com/breakin.html

[Maki]

Worth a read

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

Q: What is the most common cause of engine problems ???
A: Failure to:
Warm the engine up completely before running it hard !!!

Q: What is the second most common cause of engine problems ???
A: An easy break in !!!

************************************************** ****

Please share your experiences if you broke your new engine in yourself. Did you do it very softly, hard or somewhere in between? Did your bike ever overheat? Does your bike use a significant amount of oil? Does the oil get dirty before you think it should?

I'll go first. I have run in 2 new bikes, making sure to get to high revs, both accelarating and using engine braking, from day 1. The bikes have never overheated. The bikes did not use any oil as far as I could see and the oil looks never looked dirty. I change the oil according to manufactureres recommendations.

[Devil]

I've run 3 new machines in. All using varying revs. No labouring, no high revs, essentially keeping it around the middle 1/3rd of the tacho.
None have used any oil and all put out decent power.
I sold the Triumph (Speed Four) at 70,000km and I believe it's around 80k now with the new owner. Didn't use any oil, no smoke, never any engine issues.

[hospitalfood]

i like to break them in by crashing them slowly to start with, once they get used to it and have a few scuffs you can move on to the bigger stuff like t-boning cars at 60 km/h and going off the road at 100 km/h