breaking it in

Read a letter about "breaking in" by the book versus riding it hard from new....in one of the latest Motorcyclist or Cycle World mags. The mag responded to the letter with the logical argument that is hard to refute...whose advice would you believe?...a few self-professed experts, or the designer/manufacturer of the machine who has the most out of anyone to lose if his product fails, is unreliable or has unacceptable performance...

[tripletango]

First 50 miles exercise the engine, don't be afraid to work it hard. Accelerate and engine braking. Don't worry about rpm too much. Don't worry about the amount of applied throttle. Just don't hold very high revs for too long, do not allow the engine to get too hot.
Change oil and filter. This gets rid of a lot of junk from running in and assembly.
For the next 1000 miles do not cruise the bike at the same rpm for long. Do not hold high rpm at high speed as the engine will get hot (not overheat). High continuous rpm on a tight engine will cause hot spots which are not good.
The engine needs heat cycles to run in but over heating is not part of it.
Used this process on 5 bike so far and have had good results.
One other thing. Use synthetic oil after the first change and use the best oil filter you can find. I use Shell Rotella synthetic T and Mobile One oil filters on my bikes.

[TM]

Fangit: Have you read Motomans article about break-in? If you have, you would probably understand that the manufacturer has nothing to lose in recommending an easy break-in. So the magazines answer is just a dismissal, there is no logical argument against Motomans specific statements.

I don't have a lot of experiance racing cycles. Playing with them, yes, but not building race engines.

I DO have a lot of experience racing outboard two-stroke boat engines. Both with steel and Nicasil/Nicom sleeves. First off, bearings don't break in - babbit or roller, they just don't work that way. Cylinder bores do need to get good ring seal. If you do not seat the rings early enough in these engines, they will never get the ring seal they should. Instead they glaze the bores - especially in Nicasil/Nicom bores. They need to be heat cycled regularly and only WOT will seat the rings hard enough to start the process correctly. Once the rings start sealing up, then return to the manufacturer's instructions.

Of this type of engine, engines run hard and/or broken in loaded on a dyno at first ALWAYS made more power and lasted longer than engines that were broken easily as per the manufacturers instructions.

Break in the engine to leak down, not miles, and you will always be happy with the results.

Just my .02, take it as you will.

[Repeater]

Some day, I will be a very wealthy and powerful man. I don't know how, but I will be.

I will then put this whole argument to rest for good. I'll buy twelve to fifteen Speed Triples, and do the easy break-in on one third of them, a moderate break-in on the second group, and the Motoman break-in on the other third. I'll then have a test battery thrown at them for 50,000 miles a piece, recording every anomaly and breakdown along the way. Last step, I'd disassemble the motors and check the condition of the valves, pistons, rings, sleeves, and all other critical engine components. Then we'll have our answer. The bikes will then, of course, be raffled off to RAT message board members.

[Diego]

> Motomans break-in procedure, this (run it hard) seems to be an widespread knowledge among people involved in motor-racing.

Yup...in racing, where engines are torn down frequently anyway. For racing, one has neither the time nor need to follow a manufacturer's recommendation.

I, however, do.

Now, when Repeater someday gets to be "a very wealthy and powerful man" and performs his tests on a statistically significant number of bikes, we'll know a lot more. Let's hope that's sooner rather than later, Repeater! But since I don't want to have to tear my engine down for at least 100K miles, I encourage running some of the test bikes for at least that long.

Repeater, why bother (apart from the fun aspect)
If you have a look through the motoman site (may need free subscription) you will find answers to all those questions and more.
The one I follow religiously is the starting of bike upright rather than on a sidestand, so there is no lateral pressure on the bearings.
Most of his stuff just makes so much sense when you look at it from a practical/commonsense view that I am suprised manufacturers aren't throwing cash at him.
:razz:

[Diego]

> Have you read Motomans article about break-in? If you have, you would probably understand that the manufacturer has nothing to lose in recommending an easy break-in. So the magazines answer is just a dismissal, there is no logical argument against Motomans specific statements.

If we're going to talk logic here, then let's look at those assertions a little further. Motorman's <u>claim</u> that manufacturers "have nothing to lose" with their recommendations is not proof of Motorman's points either. The reality is, they do have something to lose if they tell buyers something that harms their motors in the long run--not just warranty claim costs, but their reputation!

Second, most manufacturers don't recommend all that "easy" a break-in...just not to tear it apart in the first few hundred miles. The modern recommendations are a lot different from the old days.

Third, there's no proof for Motorman's specific assertions on his own page, either. No long term studies...just "common knowledge" from the racing world where the criteria for engine life are different from the street.

Here is just one instance, but I have observed it on a number of other occasions: I rode recently with two Sprints that could have been twins, except for how they were broken in. The one burning oil was <u>not</u> the one broken in by the "book" method.

So, do what you want, but I'm not going to fall for "magic" tricks.

[Diego]

> Repeater, why bother (apart from the fun aspect)
If you have a look through the motoman site (may need free subscription) you will find answers to all those questions and more.
The one I follow religiously...

All the answers, by divine revelation? Amen, brethren and sistren!

I knew it came down to a matter of religion.

Let's start the synthetic versus dino oil wars again too, shall we? The Great Prophet Motoman calls for Jihad!

:roflmoa2:



[ This message was edited by: Diego on 2005-06-23 09:50 ]

[MrEd]

I'm with diego here.
When I started this thread I hadn't opened the manual yet. All I had done was looking at the tank-sticker with the various rpm's and milages.
Now that I've read the manual though I must say it does not recomend a very easy breakin procedure.
One thing that struck me as funny was the recomendation that for the first 500 miles you do not exceed 3/4 of the vehicles top speed :-D
That ought to be around 180 km/h or somewhere around the area of 120 mph, right?
Sounds like a pretty hard break in to me.