"Motoman" Rough Break In

A google search of the terms "engine break in" will yield many results. The following two are from the most trustworthy sources I could find from the first page..

http://www.airpowerinc.com/downloads/PDFs/TCMEngineBreakInFlightTips.pdf
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/saturday-mechanic-blog/how-to-break-in-a-new-car

I have used this on three bikes now all new out of the box.

DL650 2007 98K miles, still uses less than 1/3 of a quart of oil every 5K miles when I do an oil change

07 KTM 990 18K miles burns no oil at all, change it every 3K miles cause all mileage on this bike is mostly off road dirt stuff

2004 DRZ400 8K miles when sold, same change interval as the 990. Never burned a drop of oil.

I measure the amount of oil I take out of the bike when I do an oil change to see how much has been lost, I always expect a small amount lost due to retention in the filter.

I dont go crazy with my break-in's. I have a long steep windy road here that ride up and down a few time about 50 miles worth. The entire time I am either on or off the throttle, never to redline but up in the RPM's.

The idea behind his theory is to keep pressure on the rings so they fully seat against the bore. That is what this riding does since the bike is either on or off the throttle. When off I am using compression braking, when on it is acceleration.

All I can say is it works for me so there is my .02

The Popular Mechanics writer pretty much echoes the Motoman method.

Yup. All of which adds up to: don't abuse the bike, but don't baby it either.

Pretty much what I think too...

Here's the catch... Many new (tech-advanced, higher end) bikes automatically keep computer records. The dealership will know how you broke it in if they look into it. While dealerships and manufactures vary some, don't expect any of them to bend over backwards to help you if you do happen to have engine problems.

*citation needed

Tiger 800 Owner's Manual, p. 53:
During first 500 miles:
* Do not use full throttle.
* Avoid high engine speeds at all times
* Avoid riding at one constant engine speed[...]
* Avoid aggressie starts, stops [etc]
* Do not ride at speeds greater than 3/4 of maximum engine speed

During 500 to 1000 miles:
* Engine speed can gradually be increased to the rev limit for short periods.

Both during and after breaking-in has been completed:
* Do not over-rev the engine when cold.
* Do not lug the engine. [...]
* Do not ride with engine speed unnecessarily high [...]

So, really, the big difference is that MotoMan suggests an organized programmed run at slightly higher revs than the factory, and changing the oil sooner.

Will note that having done this on the FJR, the first oil change was clean... and had tiny sparkly bits in it. Seeing that, I went ahead and changed the final drive oil at the same time. That was FULL of sparkly bits. 67k miles later, the FJR doesn't use oil and I don't exactly ride it easy. (most recently, 250 miles of trackday style flogging.)

I can't remember the last big bike I had engine issues with that I could trace to break in procedures.
Race bikes, get a couple of laps if they are lucky at reduced rpms but still significantly higher than road bikes.
But then during a season they will do 4 races a weekend of 7 miles or so once a month.
Then pulled apart - which is completely different.

The ring sealing thing I can buy into.

Here ya go motorman.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eypazq5xphw

That's soooo AWESOME a post! The Intelligence is just dripping off the edges! I'm scrapping it off the screen and putting it in my coffee! Internet Inventor Intelligence in my coffee!! There may be hope yet!

.

I've done this (deliberately) with every one of my bikes -- DR-Z, SV1000, R6, Husaberg, S10 -- and I've never had any kind of issue with them. It works, period.

I sat and talked to my bike mechanic when I brought my S10 in for the first oil change (at ~35 miles) and he said he couldn't believe how much of the crap -- metal chips/assembly lube/etc. -- came out in the oil after just a few miles.

That wasn't him.

Just drove a new 150cc single cylinder out of the shop- warmed it up first, drove it pretty slow in 1 and 2 gear around a few blocks, cooled down for 15 minutes or so and then took it outta town for 40km, varied gears between 2-4 a lot and gave it some 1/2, 3/4 and almost full throttle for a few seconds with down-shfting. Up to 80kmh max. in 4th gear, maybe 60kmh in 3rd. About half way home I noticed a knocking/clacking sound and thought it might be a bolt or something that didn't get tightened. When I got home, I gave it a close look/listen and it sounds pretty much like its coming from the engine. It happens at idle and every rpm. Seems to run well, but sounds not awesome. This is basically my first bike and I'm not a mechanic. Could this be from riding it too hard at the beginning? Everything I've read points to "no", but I'm still worried that I f-ed it up. It's got a 1 year warranty, but I can see them in the shop givin' me a hell of a time. Any advice, suggestions, what to check, would be greatly appreciated?

Make sure it has proper oil level and return it to the shop. Do not tolerate any bullshit, unless you've left something out, this is warranty.

Slipknot's right.

Kobermeyer, there's nothing wrong with what you did. You're looking at a manufacturer defect there. It's warranty service time.

back in the day, the 60's and 70's, before the machine tolerances were as good as they are today, my father drove race cars for some very important teams, one or two of which had "unofficial" sponsorship from Chevrolet. They used to go to the proving grounds in Michigan to break in the new batch of race engines by doing almost the very same thing the motorman recommends.

1. let the motor idle until the temperature is up to normal.

2. out onto the track, full throttle from idle to red line in first gear, then decelerate with no throttle until back down to idle, repeat this until the car has completed a full lap, into the pits, shut down!

3. change the oil and filter.

The engine is race ready!

I've been breaking in car, truck, motorcycle, and go kart motors since then using this technique and have never had a single motor problem.