Triumphrat

rodneybrown · 03-12-2006

Mr. Dolson,
I go along with a lot of what you say but not all. One point I agree on is that 500 miles is too early to go full synthetic on Triumphs. Let's make a point here, Triumph recommends going to full synthetic Mobil 1 4T Racing at 500 miles. On my next bike I will dump the oil and filter at about 100 miles and put more "breakin oil" until at least 1000 miles, maybe even a bit more. That I would do for the rings to "lap in" but as far as the rest of the engine I'm not sure I buy all that you say. First, remember the days of "blue printing" engines. Don't hear much about that anymore do you? Also, you used to hear about breaking in to knock off the burrs. Don't hear much about that either. I am NOT saying to bury it in the red from day one, but machine tolerances are MUCH, MUCH better now. (Anyone out there have a 1965 BSA Lighting Rocket or T120 with a 100K miles and original main bearings?) In your discussion of valve springs I think you may have touched on something else besides the lapping in. The engine needs to get heat treated just like a spring or a good knife. Whether it is hardening or anealing, metal parts of an engine do heat treat themselves during breakin to some degree. All I know is I have babied engines during the breakin period on too many vehicles and the results were less than what I expected. I ran both my RS and ST incrementally harder from first start and they both ran well. No matter what you do, I believe applying common sense tempered with a bit of mechanical aptitude, is the best path rather than absolute application of a manufacturer's decree who may have other motives in mind rather than giving you a strong, long lived motor.

[ This message was edited by: rodneybrown on 2006-03-12 14:50 ]