Running-in fun?

[Edbear]

Just got back from a ride to visit friends as an excuse to do some running-in on the new bike. Now has 485km on the clock and I never thought running-in would be so much fun!

The Owner's Handbook says only half throttle for the first 1,000km. Meh! That's 130km/h!

Anyway, took it easy, varying load, speed and throttle and just getting used to a very different riding style from the GSX-F. Had no trouble keeping up with traffic but did discover that cruisers are not sportbikes. You know, if you try taking 35k corners at 80k, you get this very loud and initially startling noise and lots of sparks? Mmmm! Maybe try next one at 60km/h... better

UNfortunately, had to set off home today in light drizzle, and as you know, rain and roadworks equals DIRTY BIKE!!!!

Never knew there were so many nooks and crannies on a bike without a nice full fairing to cover the dirty bits... And SOOO much chrome!

Upshot, is... I LOVE the C50T! So did my friends, who were talking about how much they could get for a '96 Bandit 1200S as I was leaving....

How many C50, C50T owners on here? Like to hear your comments.

PS. 5.62 l/100k or 17.8km/l or 50mpg in the old money, easy!

[bmz2]

nice bike dude, good model, you will be able to ride so far and you won,t even know you have been riding at all

[Nasty]

Sounds lovely ... I like the sound of riding in a new bike now ...

[Pwalo]

Nice bike, and very 'shiny'. I'm not sure that I could cope with all that chrome to keep polished, but it doesn't look to shabby at all.

There seems to be a lot of Suzuki cruisers on the road.

[magicfairy]

I have an S50 - the slimmer and less bling version of the C, has a carb. Absolutely love it, had it for a couple of months. Not as flash as the C but perfect for commuting, slipping between the traffic. Which is is now a complete F*$# up in Wellington, because Transit seem to find a new way each week to bring the city to a standstill.

Totally agree about how fast you can go round corners...(not that fast) and the amount of chrome there is to clean.
Autosol is your friend.

Only problem I have had, brakes got very squeaky, sorted by Wellington Motorcycle last week free of charge.

[fridsy]

...ain't so hot....don't get me wrong I love the bike,nice and cruise, and love riding...but shit...

...having to keep the revs on the lower half of the spectrum don't let you go to quick, take off is a little slow, and your sittin' just under 7k rpm doing 90 kph... this is understandable as the bike is 170kg and I'm over 150kg...soooo 320kg gettin' moved around by a 250cc Korean bike...

just a few questions. tho...

just running around lower hut and some of the hills is OK, your varying your speed all the time.... so the question is, riding on the highway at 90kph...doing 7k rpm for say 30 min is this gonna hurt the running in process?

and cornering....I'm finding it hard to trust the bike (or myself) all the time, have read a few threads about cornering but they nearly all seem to be riding sport bikes....anyone got tips for a cruiser?

Cheers Fridsy

[Dafe]

Have just finished the running in distance on my Sv1000.
Although, I actually finished running it in after about 250 kilometres instead of the suggested 1600 off kilometres.
Even after 20 Kilometers I was frequently revving 8-9,000 rpms.

Point your friend at this. Then tell him why his bike goes like a nanas bike.

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

Yes, Riding in is alot of fun!
My favourite part is starting up a brand new bike and riding upto the first set of lights and watching all the smoke pour out from around the engine/headers. Watching all the car drivers heads turning thinking your bikes about to explode.

[Edbear]

Nice bike, and very 'shiny'. I'm not sure that I could cope with all that chrome to keep polished, but it doesn't look to shabby at all.

There seems to be a lot of Suzuki cruisers on the road.

Yup! Thanks for all the positive comments! Interesting site, too, Dafe! I confess to a squirt of about 3/4 throttle and didn't particularly ride gently. The site makes interesting reading and I agree with him over all, however the whole bike needs to be "run-in", wheel bearings, tyres, gearbox, diff, etc, so running too hard for too long is not good either. As I mentioned I varied speed, load and throttle for the trip to give a mix that should benefit the bike in the long run. Interesting comment about early oil-change, I'll ask the shop what they think. However the bikes have a car-type filter, not just the gauze in the pick-up and that should catch everything.

Gone are the days when you used White Spirit to start the engine after a recon, 'cause petrol didn't have enough kick to turn over the tight motor, eh?

I do see a lot of Suzuki cruisers, my mate in Whangarei traded his Marauder on the new C90T and he and his Missus are currently touring the SI on it. My Bro-in-Law in Wellsford got a new C90 and they love it too! Now the other Bro-in-Law, who'd just bought a '97 Softail is wishing he'd got a C90T, or C50T after seeing mine! Especially as he paid a couple grand more for the ten year old Softail!

Fridsy it won't hurt to use a few more revs, labouring the motor is the worst thing next to over-revving it while running-in. Let it sing out easy every so often it will thank you for it.

[fridsy]

.....Fridsy it won't hurt to use a few more revs, laboring the motor is the worst thing next to over-revving it while running-in. Let it sing out easy every so often it will thank you for it.

Yea thats what I thought, spoke to the mechanic at TSS, where I got the bike...he said ride it like you normally would...as its done 700K.

Went round the block....ngarunga gorge, Haywood's doing what he said....was a shit load more fun and felt comfortable...didn't under rev and went up the hill better ...felt like it had more gutts...

Cheers
Frids

[s8306]

Yup! Thanks for all the positive comments! Interesting site, too, Dafe! I confess to a squirt of about 3/4 throttle and didn't particularly ride gently. The site makes interesting reading and I agree with him over all, however the whole bike needs to be "run-in", wheel bearings, tyres, gearbox, diff, etc, so running too hard for too long is not good either. As I mentioned I varied speed, load and throttle for the trip to give a mix that should benefit the bike in the long run. Interesting comment about early oil-change, I'll ask the shop what they think. However the bikes have a car-type filter, not just the gauze in the pick-up and that should catch everything.

Gone are the days when you used White Spirit to start the engine after a recon, 'cause petrol didn't have enough kick to turn over the tight motor, eh?

I do see a lot of Suzuki cruisers, my mate in Whangarei traded his Marauder on the new C90T and he and his Missus are currently touring the SI on it. My Bro-in-Law in Wellsford got a new C90 and they love it too! Now the other Bro-in-Law, who'd just bought a '97 Softail is wishing he'd got a C90T, or C50T after seeing mine! Especially as he paid a couple grand more for the ten year old Softail!

Fridsy it won't hurt to use a few more revs, labouring the motor is the worst thing next to over-revving it while running-in. Let it sing out easy every so often it will thank you for it.

When i bought my s83 last year the guy at Phil Turnbulls in palmerston had just come back from a tour through the suzuki factory in Japan.At the time he was there the boulevard range was in production so he was able to see one produced from scratch.At the end of the production line the bikes are secured on rollers and started up and red lined from 1st to 5th,their theory being that if it,s going to fly apart then thats when it,s likely to do it.He told me if he had,nt have seen it with his own eyes he would,nt believe it.Just ride it mate you wont hurt it but i would change the oil,i did 2 times before my 1000k service.Cheers.

[Toaster]

Nice bike Edbear. Sounds like you are enjoying it as much as I enjoy the M109R.

[Edbear]

Nice bike Edbear. Sounds like you are enjoying it as much as I enjoy the M109R.

Yeah... but am I enjoying it as much as I'd enjoy a M109R...

Interesting comment S8306! I've certainly given the bike a bit of stick on occasion. Last weekend we attended the Toy Run and had a great time! By the time we got back home the odo was reading 935km and the last leg up the Motorway was "jus' wanna get home, now!" mode so gave it a bit from Silverdale to the end of the Motorway and I do believe that on the right track or private road it would easily top 160kp/h two-up!

A few times on the trip I needed to pass so started giving it full throttle from about 70-80kp/h and it accelerated with some verve!

Just going to get in touch with Bikesport tomorrow and arrange its first service. HAs a notable vibration at 110-115 so not sure if this is normal, as the 805 motor was supposed to be a 45 degree v with 45 degree firing making it an effective 90 degree v, so should be pretty smooth I would have thought.

[crashe]

Edbear - So now you know what I'm talking about when I say it takes me 5 hours to clean my bike from top to toe.... getting into all the crooks and crannies...... with a toothbrush.... and all that chrome polishing....

Oh yeah ya have to really love ya bike to spend 5 hours washing/cleaning/polishing a bike....

But aint it worth it at the end, when you stand back and admire the nice shiney bike....

[rogson]

.....HAs a notable vibration at 110-115 so not sure if this is normal, as the 805 motor was supposed to be a 45 degree v with 45 degree firing making it an effective 90 degree v, so should be pretty smooth I would have thought.

Sorry, but the vibes are there to stay. With this engine design a 90 degree offset on the cranK-pin produces perfect primary balance.

The C50 (and M50) engine is based on the VS800 Intruder engine. This engine was designed deliberately to feel "lumpy" at low revs and vibrate at high revs in order to appeal to US (i.e Harley) riders. To my knowledge all VS800s (now S50) have the 45 degree crank-pin. From what you say it looks like the VL800/C50 also have it - and I would suspect the VZ800/M50 does too.

Suzuki did make a smoother version of the engine for non-US models of the VX800 (ie US VX800s have the 45 degree crank-pin). It has a 75 degree offset crank-pin - still not perfect, but smoother than the 45 degree engines.

Btw, I have two VX800s - one of each - and I prefer the lumpy/vibey version. Has more character.

[s8306]

Yeah... but am I enjoying it as much as I'd enjoy a M109R...

Interesting comment S8306! I've certainly given the bike a bit of stick on occasion. Last weekend we attended the Toy Run and had a great time! By the time we got back home the odo was reading 935km and the last leg up the Motorway was "jus' wanna get home, now!" mode so gave it a bit from Silverdale to the end of the Motorway and I do believe that on the right track or private road it would easily top 160kp/h two-up!

A few times on the trip I needed to pass so started giving it full throttle from about 70-80kp/h and it accelerated with some verve!

Just going to get in touch with Bikesport tomorrow and arrange its first service. HAs a notable vibration at 110-115 so not sure if this is normal, as the 805 motor was supposed to be a 45 degree v with 45 degree firing making it an effective 90 degree v, so should be pretty smooth I would have thought.

My wifes 1400 intruder had a vibration a little over a 100ks,turned out the carbs were,nt in sync.Smoothed it out a bit once carbs were set properly but still has that lumpy feeling.Just the way their designed.