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[Striker]

Finally, [smiley=1syellow1.gif]after 3 weeks of waiting on my gear set to arrive, I will pick up my bike on Friday.  All of my bikes in the past have been used, so this is my first new bike since 1966.  I am picking it up 90 miles from home, with interstate all the way, so I have decided to take a round about way through the mountain passes, and drive about 175 mi home.  Figured this would allow me to vary the speed, and control the RPM's.  Anyone got any suggestions on how much I have to vary my speeds, RPM's etc. for the first 1000 miles?

[110tHunDer]

Striker, the long-time service manager at my dealer says after about the first 50 miles, whatever break-in that's going to happen has happened and tells everyone going out the door with a new bike to ride it like they're going to ride it after that brief period.  His reasoning is the tolerances on the Twin Cams are so much tighter than what they were back in the day, that a long break-in is no longer required.  With the 103 basically taunting me to wind it out a bit, I basically followed that advice and while I didn't start abusing it after 50 miles, I did run it up to the redline occasionally not far after that point, but I also did not set the cruise control and maintain any steady speeds up until around 500 miles.  I think that varying the rpm is one of the most critical things during the break-in since, IMHO, the rings need the compression breaking to seat properly.  From the standpoint of my bike uses zero oil, I guess I must not have done too bad a job.

Others will swear by doing the break-in by the book, but some of what it says about the speeds and rpm you are not supposed to exceed are going to be impractical for the type of ride home you have.

[pappy2]

I picked mine up on the Friday the 13th - scary eh? I rode the first 50-60 miles shifting up and down and fairly easily giving and taking power away.  After that I put about 300 miles on it primarily on the highway only staying at one speed for a couple of minutes and dropping down to 50 (40-60 depending on traffic) letting the engine drag and hitting it pretty hard to get back up to 80.  I got off every 50 miles or so and ran it pretty hard through the gears.  The rest of the trip I rode it generrally pretty hard and used the cruise control a fair bit as well.  Overall the rings seemed to seat pretty well this way and I did not use a drop of oil in the last 300 miles or so including some miles after I got home.  I personally think that taking it real easy for 500 miles with synthetic oil in it runs the risk of getting some glazing that would translate into oil usage and generally lackluster performance.  The dealer I picked it up at also reinforced the first 50 being fairly easy up and down the gears and generally staying away from any one speed for more than a few minutes in the first 500 miles or so.  Just my 1.5 cents.  Enjoy the ride and be safe.  JP

[MAVERICK]

RIDE IT LIKE YOU STOLD IT [/size] [/b]

For the first fifty miles I would ride the bike 20 minutes and let the engine cool off. I varied the rpm not going over 3000 rpm and tried to stay on side streets with a few short freeway runs. After that it was a mixture of freeway miles and side streets not allowing the bike to get too hot. I broke my bike in at the end of January and early March.
From 100 to 400 miles I would run the bike through the gears and not take it over 4000 rpm. At 450 miles I had the fuel injection mapped on the Dyno so it was run up to red line a few times during the 2 hr mapping session. After that I started taking the bike to 5000 rpm and running up to 100 mph.  [smiley=shocked2.gif] [smiley=xyxthumbs.gif]
 

[Striker]

The opinions you guys are expressing here is very much like I felt in the first place. I figured after the first 100 miles of up and down throttle, through the pass, that the rings would have had a pretty good chance to seat.  The idea of stopping for 20 min - 1/2 hour to cool it off for the first 50 sounds like good advice.  I followed the advice of my mechanic when we built up my evo, and burned a hole in the piston in 500 miles.
At what RPM is that 103 lugging on the SEEG???
Hey, by the way, thanks for the input, built up bikes that I bought used for the past 40 years, so buying new is a little weird for me.

[JCZ]

I broke mine in pretty much the same way 103tHunDer did.  I was also told the same thing........that the first fifty miles are the most critical due to closer tolerances but after that, I still never got on it hard till after the 500 miles.  My bike uses just a tiny amount of oil between changes and it's got over 7000 miles on it and I ride the hell out of it now.

Striker you're going to love this ride and it's already beyond your imagination.  A very comfortable bike that is also very quick........those two used to be an oxymoron.

[UltraCVO]

100 miles take it easy, to bed in tyres,brakes and transmission.

Do not let it lug below 2000 rpm on the Seeg it is a heavy bike.

After 100 or so miles, drive as you would use it for life with the proviso of some heat cycles and max rpm regularly.

I do this from Ferraris to Harleys it always get the best out of them. [smiley=6.gif]

[ridefar]

I followed the advice of Joe Minton, V-Tech column in American Rider magazine as seen in May/June 2004  issue: "Almost all parts run in roller bearings, which need no break-in. Harley engine break-in consists mostly of seating the piston rings. You can do this in about 10 minutes and three or four miles. Start up and ride. Get into third gear and up to 30mph. Point yourself in a safe direction on a long road and apply full throttle. When you reach 60mph, close throttle and let the bike coast to 30mph. Do it again 10 times. You have just seated the rings." He goes on to say that you will need to keep the heat down and not top end the engine for 300 or so miles of normal street riding, but the engine can be used in a day to day manner immediately. I did this and varied engine rpm as much as possible for first 500miles no lugging. I have zero oil consumption betwen changes. Motor is very smooth at idle gets mid 40's+ mileage. My buddie broke in his '03 Ultra 95" by the HD book and it took several thousand miles to attain the results I had almost immediately. I got the first oil change done at about 500miles also. Get the assembly gook out of that motor!

[JR]

Ridefar, that was so good I read it again! [smiley=huepfenlol2.gif] [smiley=beerchug.gif]

                                              JR [smiley=laugh.gif]

[ridefar]

Thanks man, not sure how that happened. I'll get the hang of these newfangled gadgets one of these days.

[Striker]

Rideafar, you didn't mention the RPM range when you would run up to 60 mph.  Did you mean to keep it under 3500 rpm's or were you running it up in the same gear.
Thanks

[shovelhead71]

have personally seen guys get a new bike and without any miles on it - start wicking the throttle - kiss them pistons and jugs goodbye  [smiley=smilie_daumenneg.gif] bad idea - have used break in method of taking a 250 mile run - run an hour on freeway - vary speed under 3000 rpms - no wicking -  varying rpm's and speed not under 22 rpm's no lugging - up hills is crucial - back off throttle and slowly rolling on and you can hear the pulling without going over the 3000 range - after hour - stop let totally cool off - back out again - after every hour stop/cool/ride and end of this run bring up rpm's and speed and find those hills to make er work without lugging - 500 miles - dump the engine oil - until 500 miles keep the wicking with the clutch in out of your vocabulary and habit to try it - same as a heavy duty truck after engine rebuild - set truck on dyno and go thru its paces - wala - broke in - wanna wick the throttle with clutch in and rev - you will eventually see the results - or your mechanic of choice will - used a little more oil on break in ? little more blowby ?? remember seeing this somewhere in engine school - aluminum gets 30 times its own size when HOT

[Striker]

thanks shovelhead, can you tell me what you mean by "wicking"?  New term for me.

[shovelhead71]

just got outa 2nd job - wicking is by pulling in your clutch and wrap throttle just to hear that loud "rap" of the pipes - usually occurs on ones that have stage 1 mod's cause it "sounds" cool - on new engines its detremental - rings not seated and flex easily in pistons - thus allows rings to pull into pistons and allows piston to rev however high they have gone and scores jugs (cylinders) both assemblies now history - wick is do this really fast - you've probably seen this by evolution engine owners - don;t let them warm up properly before taking off or wrapping throttle before all oil is circulated or parts warmed properly when they were new - scoring is not as easily acomplished after rings are properly seated and "matched" to cylinder walls - if I did not explain this properly correct me as I am really tired and headed to bed for going back to 1st job really soon [smiley=snore.gif]

[Striker]

Nope shovelhead, you did a fine job, I have been guilty of that with my drag pipes on my chopper, thanks