Breaking in a new engine

[quail_imp]

First thing I did was a search on breaking in a new engine. Nothing? So now I am asking the questions to those of you that have bought a new Honda 4cyl and rode it past 50,000 miles without any engine repairs. What did you do? How did you do it? Would you do it that way again? I never bought a new bike.

I would like to keep this thread free of "thread drift" so can we please not talk about what your Uncle once told you, or how you broke in your diesel tractor back in 59.

 

[Matt F._imp]

Simple. Ride it gently for the first 600 miles. No high rpm's and try not to maintain a constant speed for miles and miles. Change the oil then ride it like you stole it! Follow the owners manual on maintenance schedule and you'll be fine...

By the way, I didn't break my tractor in until '62. At least that's what my uncle told me

 

[the Ferret]

Quail, you are not going to find many owners that put over 50,000 miles on the same motorcycle. They get the wantsies for a new one long before they reach that plateau. Since the average motorcycle owner rides 1900 miles a year that would take close to 25 years. And to complicate matters, most of the bikes that are "beat on" for lack of a better term are liquid cooled bikes, not air cooled like the CB.

As long as you don't take a cold motor and run it at redline for a sustained period, or not change the oil and filter at the recommended times, I doubt you could hurt this motor just riding it.

Personally I break mine in fairly easy, just like I ride, and change the oil and filter every 4,000 miles. I have 71,000 miles on my ST with no issues, but again, it's a liquid cooled motor. I have 20,000 on my CB and don't anticipate any issues in the next 80,000 miles. Hondas are well designed, well manufactured, of good materials. Honda has a lot of experience building reliable motorcycles. Barring something wierd, I wouldn't expect any problems for basically my lifetime. Don't know that you could wear one of these out. Suppose it's possible, but highly unlikely.

 

[CIP57_imp]

You will get different opinions on break in. Most will follow manufactures recommendations. Some track bikes go straight to the dyno out of the box for a few pulls, drop the oil and bike is what they consider broken in.

I break mine in the way I ride. careful the first 20mi on new rubber and brakes than varying high & low rpm's with a few red-lines and drop the oil @ 300-400 miles.

Break it in the way you plan on riding the bike.

 

[quail_imp]

Quail, you are not going to find many owners that put over 50,000 miles on the same motorcycle. They get the wantsies for a new one long before they reach that plateau. Since the average motorcycle owner rides 1900 miles a year that would take close to 25 years. And to complicate matters, most of the bikes that are "beat on" for lack of a better term are liquid cooled bikes, not air cooled like the CB.

As long as you don't take a cold motor and run it at redline for a sustained period, or not change the oil and filter at the recommended times, I doubt you could hurt this motor just riding it.

Personally I break mine in fairly easy, just like I ride, and change the oil and filter every 4,000 miles. I have 71,000 miles on my ST with no issues, but again, it's a liquid cooled motor. I have 20,000 on my CB and don't anticipate any issues in the next 80,000 miles. Hondas are well designed, well manufactured, of good materials. Honda has a lot of experience building reliable motorcycles. Barring something wierd, I wouldn't expect any problems for basically my lifetime. Don't know that you could wear one of these out. Suppose it's possible, but highly unlikely.

Ok 50 k was a bad qualifier. I just want good solid info without wading through all the "wife's tales". I have wenched cars all my life, and they are night and day different animals. I work for myself (my boss is a total a$$ and never lets me off early) so I seldom get more than an hour. maybe 3 times a week to ride. I just want to know can I ride this and bump the 3500, 5000 rpm range without thinking that I will shorten its life. I would hate to be 75 years old and need to replace the primary chains, or something else major just because I failed to break it in properly. At the rate I am going it will be fall before I get it broke in.

 

[Rocky_imp]

I have always followed what the owners manual says - just like Matt F and ferret said - and have never had an engine problem.
I think you're worrying too much.
Do your best to get the miles to the first service, change the oil and filter, then ride as you wish.

 

[0011bc_imp]

I stayed around 3k rpms for 300 mi. Dropped the oil installed a new exhaust and now I rip it.

 

[Ulvetanna_imp]

First thing I did was a search on breaking in a new engine. Nothing? So now I am asking the questions to those of you that have bought a new Honda 4cyl and rode it past 50,000 miles without any engine repairs. What did you do? How did you do it? Would you do it that way again? I never bought a new bike.

I would like to keep this thread free of "thread drift" so can we please not talk about what your Uncle once told you, or how you broke in your diesel tractor back in 59.

Longest I ever had any one bike, 43,000 miles, air-cooled BMW. Ran great when I traded it in on something else. I've broken in a lot of bikes; was tempted to post my list of machines on the "How many bikes?" thread but refrained as it seemed a little like bragging. But it's well over 30, and if the wives' bikes are added, well over 40. Total miles well over 500,000. I had a couple of others that had nearly 40,000 miles each. Never did anything special. They all ran great. After the first hundred miles I just ride it. This babying engines is a thing of the past. Does your new car say to drive it slow for the first 600 miles? No. Redline out of the dealership, bad idea. But once you figure out nothing is going to fall off, just ride it. Better for seating the rings.

Mike Case, a guy I used to know, had a CBR900RR with over 200,000 miles on it. It was featured in Sport Rider a couple of times. I knew him from day one on that bike and rode with him many times. He just used regular off-the-shelf motor oil, nothing special.
[attachment=4590]

 

[LongRanger_imp]

130k+ miles on my liquid-cooled BMW. I've simply followed the break-in and maintenance requirements in the manual and have had zero issues. There's no reason to believe the low-revving, low-stressed engine of the CB1100 would fare any different. I don't think there's any value in second-guessing Honda's recommendations.

 

[kmoney_imp]

I ended up riding it home from the dealer and then took it on long break-in ride the next day. I did one large 800km loop, where I was basically guaranteed to never be stuck in traffic, overheat, or have anything that prevented me from just using th engine how I wanted. Followed the rev warnings and never rode at one rpm/gear for extended mileage, changed the oil and filter at 950kms and then that was it.

It did take the engine a while to actually loosen up and feel like it was worn in. For me, it felt like around 5000kms or so -- this was when my gas mileage finally settled in to it's normal range as well.

 

[quail_imp]

Thanks for the input. I rode her tonight and decided that 80 was a good idea for a change. It felt good to lean into it. Was pleased the front forks did not seem to want to over extend like my old cb750. I have 230 on the clock so I will just have to be good for a few more weeks, dump the oil and hope it all looks good in there. Then I will drop the reins and let her run.

 

[uscgmac_imp]

Don't over think it. Just do what the manual says and ride it. You will be fine with that.

Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk

 

[emptysea]

My bike's already broke in, but I've been watching this thread because of the way the original question was phrased, as it included references to high-mileage bikes. It raised a question in my mind which I don't think has ever been asked or answered on this forum:

What happens if we don't break it in? Specifically, what happens to a bike if it's ridden hard (red-line shifts, etc.) from day 1?

 

[kmoney_imp]

You will basically end up with higher oil consumption throughout the life of the bike. Here is an excellent article on the theory behind it.

ktm950.info

 

[emptysea]

Thanks kmoney. So, realistically, if most people would just ride normally keeping in mind not to be crazy for 500 miles or so, toss in an oil/filter change, and everything will be ok. Even if they get a little crazy now and then, it's still much more likely than not that everything will be ok and even if it's not perfectly ok, it's generally something that a rider could live with. Are those fair assumptions?

 

[Toddman_imp]

Breaking it in right does matter. Case in point. My (ex) wife bought a new CBR1000RR and rode it like an old lady. I'm pretty sure she didn't go over 6k rpm for 5 thousand miles. Then, she lets a friend of ours, a high output kinda guy, use it for the weekend in Eureka Springs. By the time we got back to the house, the bike was smoking a bit and used oil forever after because she never red lined it or rode it as it was intended. You need to rev these inline fours their entire life. I'm not saying blast it every time you ride it, but they need to stay cleaned out...because...Detonation is the devil.

 

[emptysea]

But you're not saying NOT to blast it every time you ride it, either.

 

[the Ferret]

Breaking it in right does matter. Case in point. My (ex) wife bought a new CBR1000RR and rode it like an old lady. I'm pretty sure she didn't go over 6k rpm for 5 thousand miles. Then, she lets a friend of ours, a high output kinda guy, use it for the weekend in Eureka Springs. By the time we got back to the house, the bike was smoking a bit and used oil forever after because she never red lined it or rode it as it was intended. You need to rev these inline fours their entire life. I'm not saying blast it every time you ride it, but they need to stay cleaned out...because...Detonation is the devil.

She rides it 5000 miles with no issues. He rides it one weekend and brings it back smoking and using oil. I think I'd never lend a bike to that guy again.

I haven't redlined or come close to redlining a bike in 20 years. None of my bikes have ever smoked or used oil.

 

[NightRider_imp]

Breaking it in right does matter. Case in point. My (ex) wife bought a new CBR1000RR and rode it like an old lady. I'm pretty sure she didn't go over 6k rpm for 5 thousand miles. Then, she lets a friend of ours, a high output kinda guy, use it for the weekend in Eureka Springs. By the time we got back to the house, the bike was smoking a bit and used oil forever after because she never red lined it or rode it as it was intended. You need to rev these inline fours their entire life. I'm not saying blast it every time you ride it, but they need to stay cleaned out...because...Detonation is the devil.

I don't agree. Your friend broke the bike. Your wife was right. You don't need to rev the inline fours for power or to "keep them clean".

Quail, you are not going to find many owners that put over 50,000 miles on the same motorcycle. They get the wantsies for a new one long before they reach that plateau. Since the average motorcycle owner rides 1900 miles a year that would take close to 25 years. And to complicate matters, most of the bikes that are "beat on" for lack of a better term are liquid cooled bikes, not air cooled like the CB.

As long as you don't take a cold motor and run it at redline for a sustained period, or not change the oil and filter at the recommended times, I doubt you could hurt this motor just riding it.

Personally I break mine in fairly easy, just like I ride, and change the oil and filter every 4,000 miles. I have 71,000 miles on my ST with no issues, but again, it's a liquid cooled motor. I have 20,000 on my CB and don't anticipate any issues in the next 80,000 miles. Hondas are well designed, well manufactured, of good materials. Honda has a lot of experience building reliable motorcycles. Barring something wierd, I wouldn't expect any problems for basically my lifetime. Don't know that you could wear one of these out. Suppose it's possible, but highly unlikely.

My style also. I tend to focus on smooth riding and personally consider that the mark of a great rider. If I barely feel the gears changing or the clutch engaging because I have every move right then I feel it is a great ride.

 

[Toddman_imp]

My point is that as long as you ride the bike like it was broke in, you won't have a problem. I have an 06 gixxer that I have flogged unmercifully its entire life and it runs like a jewel. Had the Honda been broken in correctly (probably my fault it wasn't) it would never have used oil. All Chad did was ride it to redline a few times.