breakin' it in.
#11
02-17-2008, 09:40 PM
RE: breakin' it in.
Two years ago with the wife's brand new 2005 Sportster 883 Low I read on a web site about the "virtues" of running the hell out of the engine (my words) in a specific pattern during the first twenty miles. This was to be the end all - do all for engine break in. I went for it! I have owned five Harleys, three Hondas and one Yamaha.All the bikes were purchased new and The ONLY bike I have ever had to burn oil was the Sportster (AND it burned the oil visibly before it had 2000 miles on the odometer!). The wife has now been through two additional bikes, an 06 Lowrider andcurrentlyan 07 Deluxe broken-in by the manual and with no problems. Follow the manual!
#12
02-17-2008, 10:17 PM
RE: breakin' it in.
Doesn't matter you will always find people that will say the opposite. I bet you can find people that say "read the manual and you will leak oil" . I say ride it hard if that is what you bought it to do. I did it to my Sportster and it doesn't burn oil. Guess I got lucky right.
#13
02-18-2008, 12:07 PM
RE: breakin' it in.
ORIGINAL: Teek
I'm somewhere in between the "follow the manual" and ride it hard schools of thought. The oil change at 20 miles is only if you use the "damn the torpedoes" technique. that means make sure the bike is fully at it's operating temperature, make sure there are no cops around and precious little traffic....and romp on the sonuvabitch! Do that for 20 miles and then change the oil. Dino oil. In theory that gets the vast majority of the metal deposits out of the cylinder, and creates a nice ring seal quickly. I'm leery about that, but I think that method is certainly better than babying it, and keeping steady speeds for the first 500 miles.
My .02? Ride it normally in stop and go traffic until it is warmed up. Then find you a nice highway with plenty of exits/on ramps and a decent access road alongside of it. At 25-30 kick it into 2d gear, and change gears every 10-15 mph after that up to around 75 in 5th. See how quickly you can do that. Get off a couple of exits down, and repeat. That way you are working the engine without over revving it, promoting good heat cycling and piston ring sealing, and having fun in the process, going JUST slow enough not to get pulled over by the authorities. Essentially, it's "by the manual". Don't get above 5k rpm and vary engine speed. Change oil at 500 miles, and then again with the 1k service. After 1k I switched to synthetic, but some suggest 2k.
Teek
I'm somewhere in between the "follow the manual" and ride it hard schools of thought. The oil change at 20 miles is only if you use the "damn the torpedoes" technique. that means make sure the bike is fully at it's operating temperature, make sure there are no cops around and precious little traffic....and romp on the sonuvabitch! Do that for 20 miles and then change the oil. Dino oil. In theory that gets the vast majority of the metal deposits out of the cylinder, and creates a nice ring seal quickly. I'm leery about that, but I think that method is certainly better than babying it, and keeping steady speeds for the first 500 miles.
My .02? Ride it normally in stop and go traffic until it is warmed up. Then find you a nice highway with plenty of exits/on ramps and a decent access road alongside of it. At 25-30 kick it into 2d gear, and change gears every 10-15 mph after that up to around 75 in 5th. See how quickly you can do that. Get off a couple of exits down, and repeat. That way you are working the engine without over revving it, promoting good heat cycling and piston ring sealing, and having fun in the process, going JUST slow enough not to get pulled over by the authorities. Essentially, it's "by the manual". Don't get above 5k rpm and vary engine speed. Change oil at 500 miles, and then again with the 1k service. After 1k I switched to synthetic, but some suggest 2k.
Teek
#14
02-18-2008, 12:45 PM
RE: breakin' it in.
Yeah.......no need to baby it.Don't be afriad to ride it.Probably the worst thing you can do during beak in is lug the motor or baby it too much.For the first 50- 100 miles rollinto thethrottlethrough each geartrying not tomaintain the same RPM for too long and don't lug it.In other words "rollercoaster" your RPM's up and downand don't be afraid to get into some higher RPM's(BUT NEVER TOO LOW).After about 100 miles the rings are usually seated and you can ride it the way you want to.This is howI was taught to break in a motorand it's worked well for me.Babying it will not increase the longevity of the motor and if you baby it too much it may do more harm than good.As far as changing the oil......I've always done it at 50-250-1000 and then regular changes.This may be a bit overkill but it can't hurt either.Get out there and RIDE that thing.........be safe and have fun
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