F800GS Break-in question?

I just had my 1000k running-in check done today. Nothing exceptional to report. No recalls, and no bulletins

They changed the oil and filter, and did their checks. One funny thing that I noticed was that they didn't put it on the computer.

I asked the mechanic about changing options for the alarm, but he clearly did know about it

Anyone know if the GS-911 will change alarm options?

I can really feel the bike starting to come alive. I don't know if it is a real feeling or if I am just not babying it anymore, but now it is time to have some fun

The check was $155.67 CDN, and they charged 1.1 hrs labor.

I spent 30mins with the mechanic at Atlantic Motoplex and he showed me the GT1 and went over the options I wanted and changed the alarm. I'm sure the GS911 will come out with it in the future but not yet. Might be something to request....

On the Break in topic, I am breaking mine in like I ride it and I have had it up to almost redline in pretty much every gear as the engine needs to be loaded up for proper breakin. I believe the 1st 100 miles or there abouts is the most inportant for breakin. You MUST load and unload the engine during this period for the most power potential from the engine. Change the oil and filter then, again at 1000kms and then regular intervals according to what you believe in. I believe oil is cheap insurance for a motorcycle and I change it more often then most. I'm at 400 Kms now and the engine is strong and will only get better. If you labour the engine and don't rev the engine most of the time during its life span and then later on rev the shit out of it you could do some damage to the engine as it isn't use to revving near redline and putting stess on the engine it's not accustom too. It's like never working out all your life and then hittin the gym hard or just walking most of the time and then putting stress on your heart by running fast. Your heart isn't going to respond well to that stress and may break!!!
If your body is use to being stressed from time to time then no biggie!

That' s my take on it as weird as it may sound....

Not exactly.

If you never went above 3k rpms for 50k miles, then whacked redline a couple times, I'm pretty sure your bike isn't going to burst into flames.

Have you tried it??? I doubt it very much. If you put 50,000 miles on a bike at 3000rpm and held it wide open for not just a couple of times but sustained WOT you may be surprised at the outcome...Grenade!!

Ever wonder why factory race bikes don't need a 600 or 1800 mile break in time to achieve full power?
It's because they get built precisely one at a time by master mechanics.
Production bikes on the other hand are mass produced by assemblers and while some are assembled very well, most are not assembled to the same level of quality and precision that the race bikes are. So what's a manufacturer to do? They specify a longer "break-in" so that parts that may fall at the wrong end of their mfg. tolerances have a chance to wear in to each other and if a horrible assembly error happened, the gradual increase in stress (slowly increasing speed and load as mileage goes up) will give the new owner a chance to report the problem before the engine hand grenades.

This is a good read.
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

It would probably run just fine. We're talking about subtleties of break-in in this thread, strategies for getting the absolute best power, the longest engine life, and the lowest oil consumption. The idea that not following some regimen exposed by whomever will cause your engine to "grenade" is ridiculous.

As anyone who has rented cars their entire lives (which receive no special break-in whatsoever) without a single one "grenading" will tell you, 95% of engines will break-in exactly the same no matter what you do. The other 5% probably would benefit in slightly better running and lower oil consumption from not being overheated, being warmed up reasonably, not being lugged, seeing a range of loads, getting an early oil change, etc., but overall, new engines are extremely tolerant of all kinds of break-in strategies. If you are worried about it, I'd go for the middle ground - don't beat on it, but don't baby it either. Probably the most important thing is to avoid idling and keep it out of heavy traffic.

- Mark

<table id="post1832151" class="tborder" width="100%" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td class="alt1" id="td_post_1832151" style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102);">Hi... I ran mine as per dealer info, sub 5k varying the rev range.... however it still went bang!! mine died almost instantly... 1 year old almost to the day - 5400miles on the clock!
filled up with juice, 26 miles b4 hand, sounded fine... 25 miles later started to loose power, wouldn't rev past 5k.. started to sound like a bag of nails being rattled .. pulled over - oil light blinking on idle.. got recovered to home from oxford to mk.

Had a great ride that weekend though, popped to a mate's in Somerset took the long way home,, nearly hit Southampton with the diversion I took to get home & kerbang, clatter, rattle... thank god for the SV1000 hiding in the garage! better change the insurance to more than 2k a year I think....

3 wks later still waiting for the dealer to tell me what went wrong.... unhappy GS rider who thinks maybe 10 yrs trouble free years with Suzuki was a good omen!!



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Is it just me, or don't factory race engines get rebuilt way more often? :huh

100km done at MotoInter in Montreal.
1.5 hours , 191$ tax in.
Redline here we come.

So... Ride it like you stole it?

What if you stole it in one state and rode it like I stole it to another state to stash it...

I am taking delivery on a new 2010 next Saturday at Bogart's in Birmingham, AL and I planned on riding it home to Mississippi. A little over a 3 hour ride. Given that it's a new bike would it be good for it's first ride to be a 70mph, relatively steady RPM run to the house on the highway? From what I am gathering here it might not be the best thing. I could trailer it home and have it's first miles around town, varying speed and RPM more.

I've got Monday, Prez Day off so I definitely want to put it in the wind on that day.

Any thoughts?

You'll be fine. Just avoid the steady state stuff. Why not pull up the map and find some nice secondary roads back and do the trip in 5 hours instead of a boring interstate 3?

The key is just not to let the bike remain at one rpm for an extended time. Accelerate and then let it come down through engine braking to allow the pistons, rings, seats, bearing surfaces to be loaded differently to allow oil to get in there and cool off some stuff.

Have fun and ride it like you stole it!!!

Break in is pretty hard to screw up these days, so almost any reasonable strategy should be fine. By reasonable, that means not to run it a very high power for very long (e.g., 100+ mph cruise), vary loads if you can (and you want occasional full throttle to establish working tolerances between the rings and cylinders), avoid idling/traffic, use a wide range of engine speeds, and vary your speed a bit at cruise. Up/down, winding country roads are ideal. If you must cruise on the interstate, just wind it up and down a bit every now and then.

But as the other person said, why would you want to do such a thing if there are more interesting two-lane alternatives that are better for the bike?

- Mark

Ooo, both of you are right... getting the maps out.

steady speed & hiways bad, varying speed/rpm on backroads (preferably hilly so you can use engine braking on the down sides) good.

I bought mine in Nashville & rode it to Memphis for the first 200 miles at a mostly steady speed of 70mph with only occasional accelerations while passing.

I almost always slow down by gearing down but I also like to put in in 6 very early on (at 35-40 mph) because I enjoy seeing it get better gas mileage. Is this a bad idea?

Hopefully this will not have bad effects. The only thing my dealer told me was to not go above 5500 rpm during the break in, however this does not seem congruent with what everyone here is saying (?)

Questions:

The manual says to not exceed the engine run in speeds however does not say what these speeds are in a way I can understand, what is the max run in speed?

When you say 'load the bike while going up hills' you mean go up hills in a low gear at a high rpm?

The other way around. They are referring to lugging the engine - a high gear at low RPM's. In other words, when in doubt, shift down.

On discussion of break-in, between my father and I, we've broken in the last 9 bikes or so with the Motoman method and have never had a problem. The huge benefit is that you can have fun right away instead of waiting that painful first interval without going into the 'happy' RPMs.

Nonsense.

Factory race teams have an unlimited supply of parts and those engines are set up much differently than machines made for road use. Also, they get rebuilt every 1000 miles or less.

Most warranty failures are for materials not workmanship.

Proper bedding in of an engine provides some assurance of long life. Actually, I am more concerned about running gear (transmissions, clutches, chains, shafts, etc.) than the engine. These days, engines rarely, as you say, hand grenade. I have only seen one broken rod in a BMW in my lifetime. It was due to owner abuse. I bought that busted BMW, repaired it and rode it 100,000 miles without a single breakdown.

you must run the engine through it's paces and full spectrum of engine speeds and engine breaking in order to 'set the rings'

running at a steady pace is like sharpening a knife one side.

Engine rings/cylinder walls are bedded in after only a few miles of operation. Extended engine break-in takes place in rotating bearings and other surfaces like cam lobes and lifters. It is very rare to find engine cylinders/rings not well seated after 2-3 hours of operation.

You are correct, engine speeds should be varied during the first few hours of operation in order to eliminate localized heat, the engine's enemy during early engine life.

Most oil consumption during early miles is due to heat, not the oil finding its way into the combustion chamber...check your spark plugs in your new engine...you'll likely find them clean and without oil deposits. I have the original plugs in my boxer engine...at 40,000 miles+, they are still showing no deposits from oil.