Break in question- riding new ST home tomorrow

[MidlifeMotor]

I could not find the discussion thread on recommended break-in driving habits for the ST. If this site is like the quad sites and the V-star sites, their will be two camps on this issue. Camp 1 will do a gentle break-in per factory recommendation. Camp 2 will be the "Ride it like you stole it" camp. Can I get some opinions from ST owners or the link to this discussion? Thanks.

I have a 90 mile ride home from Payson to Mesa, AZ.

 

[GrahamD]

Camp 1 will do a gentle break-in per factory recommendation. Camp 2 will be the "Ride it like you stole it" camp.

Same here. Pick your camp. ::024::

What I have done previously car or bike is to be gentle for the first 100km or so. dump oil and change filter, Replace oil and filter, ride the bike over a good rev range, increase the revs every 100km or so increase throttle and at about 500km I change oil again. So the load revs are gradually increased over the 1000km or so. I don't think that there is anything too magical about the 1000km mark considering the engine continues to free up over 20,000 or so Km. Some have even found that 5000Km still feels a bit rough so some may be more "long lasting" than others.

 

[la-motor]

I belong to camp 2 ::001::

 

[Bigbore4]

Pick your poison.

I did mine hard. Mostly followed this: http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

So either follow the OE recommendation, just ride it like yir gonna ride it, or do the above.

I have done a mix, and I am also a former truck mechanic. When we rebuilt an engine and we had no Dyno, she got broke in when the owner hooked it to a trailer. Put it to work in other words.

This is my 6th new Yami, 3rd broken in hard, I only have 10k miles on the XT, my FJR is closing on 50k. All I got is that when I did the valves on the FJR at 30K miles, all were within spec.

No complaints at all. I like the hard break in, you may choose otherwise. Prolly does not make a ton of difference past the fun you miss out on babying the thing for the first stretch of miles.

 

[HoebSTer]

i sort of blended the two camps. I didn't rev the shit out of it, but went up there, then back down allowing the engine braking to slow me down. I also changed the oil at 400 mile mark. I went a little over what i wanted to, but oh well.

 

[Bigbore4]

I do think the oil change is important. I bought a filter when I fetched her up. I had 100 miles on by the time I got home, and it was broke in. Changed the oil and filter after the break in and first 100 miles. Rode some more and did the 600 mile service at less than 1000 miles. Then rode it from MN to VA and back. She ran like a thief in the night.

 

[~TABASCO~]

I do think the oil change is important. I bought a filter when I fetched her up. I had 100 miles on by the time I got home, and it was broke in. Changed the oil and filter after the break in and first 100 miles. Rode some more and did the 600 mile service at less than 1000 miles. Then rode it from MN to VA and back. She ran like a thief in the night.

Same thing for me ::008:: I also "washed" out the rear Diff these first few times with Mobil 1 LS 75-90.. Got all that nasty stuff out of there best I could... I just changed the oil and rear end before my last trip.. The rear end after 5K was clean and golden... ::012::

 

[MidlifeMotor]

Thanks for the replies. I can't wait.

 

[Rasher]

Pick your poison.

I did mine hard. Mostly followed this: http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

So either follow the OE recommendation, just ride it like yir gonna ride it, or do the above.

I agree, a local tuner who used to work on my two-strokes as a lad gave me the same advice, he recommended just rolling on / off in the mid range in top to load / unload the engine - not flat out as that will cause a lot of heat.

On my new bikes I have always followed this advice, riding them fairly normally from the off but not thrashing them, and when on straight bits of road just kept rolling between 60 - 90 in various gears, last new bike was a ZZR 1400 so needed to use 4th to have meaningful revs, but I would guess top gear roll ons from 60-80 would be perfect on the ST. After a few hundred miles I consider them done.

None of the bikes I ran in this way ever had any issues or burnt a drop of oil.

I would also recommend doing an oil change as soon as you get it home (or after about 50 miles) and put in basic mineral oil for the run-in swithcing to recomended stuff at 1st service.