Delivery checks and running in

[budman]

..best of luck with your new beast..here's an article from Wayne Tripp's website about break in..he does a lot of dyno tune work for us captains in the US..as far as oil, I personally would change to dino oil at a couple hundred miles..then to fully synthetic at 1,000..

http://www.power-tripp.com/Break-in_H728.html

 

[Jim/Maine]

I would respectfully suggest not putting quit so much confidence in a break in prescribed by Lycoming (or Continental). Their horizontally opposed air cooled engines are a 60 year old design with very, yes very little difference from the ones of the 1950's and they operate in a very different environment. Having said this, I believe the article is of interest but and that more frequent oil changes hurt nothing (except your wallet) but I would be cautious using pure mineral oil as aircraft engines do use during break in -- Lycomings do not have near the sophistication or R3's or transmissions and clutches to oil. Just my personal thoughts.

 

[Blastedbones]

For break in period, I suggest... THRASH THE ARSE OFF IT!!!

 

[xhdskip]

For break in period, I suggest... THRASH THE ARSE OFF IT!!!

And there after...

 

[Jim/Maine]

I certainly would not argue with that. For me (I, myself and I only) do not feel totally comfortable reving too many thousand RPM with components just put together. But in the end, who knows. It is very hard to resist and very soon I will not feel compelled to.

 

[Geek_Law]

I love "break in" period threads. They are kind of like darkside, oil, and religion threads.

Anyway, I'm with blastedbones. Get the bike, and proceed to immediately romp on it like there is no tomorrow. End of story. Life is too short to worry about breaking 3K rpm for 500 miles or whatever the latest prescription is, and also, there seems to be conflicting evidence that following any particular break in methodology even produces worthwhile benefits.

Just have fun. That's the best break in for the bike. For example, I purchased a new 600cc toy a couple of weeks ago. That poor thing has less than 100 miles on the clock and its already become intimately familiar with the red-line, the rev-limiter, and hard launches. As I told the squids on the stupid squid forum ... "I'll let you know if it blows up."

Hehehe

 

[Jim/Maine]

I must admit, your way does sound more fun. In the end, we'll ride together with other Captains oblivious to all this except that we have a very unique machines which produce amazing torque and make us feel very good. Now, we have not yet explored, if different latitudes and longitudes, ambient temps and relative humidity play into any of this. For me, east coast time, time for a good night sleep until I wake to ride the Rocket tomorrow.

 

[atomsplitter]

There's a good reason for "break in" if the engine isn't broken in at the factory (most Jap bikes are factory break in).

Here's why:
Take a brand new piston and put it in the oven and cook it at 500 degrees for 2 hours. Then try to fit it in your engine. What, it won't fit? The piston skirt is warped? It's brand new!

Forged pistons have residual stress from the machining process that must be annealed to relax the stress and allow the piston (and other mechanical parts) to work together without seizing the motor. That is typically done by slowly heating the parts and allowing the metal chrystalline structure to realign. In a new engine the heating must be slow enough to allow the parts to continue working while the metal is being reshaped to it's final form. Once the metal is annealed it will have full strength and ductility. Rapid heating is OK if you also allow a cooldown period (think 1/4 mile blasts followed by shutdown). Both methodologies will work.

Spanking the piss out of a new motor is asking for the new motor to turn all it's internals into brittle fracture bombs. The best part is you'll never know when one is ready to go off until it leaves you stranded.

 

[atomsplitter]

I will be taking delivery of a new Roadster in a week or two, are there any special instruction i should give the bike shop before taking delivery like adjustments.
What is the best running in procedure and the best oil to put in at the first service.

The factory recommended break in will not damage the engine.

The best oil is subjective, I use Mobil 1 MX4T 10W40 and have had excellent results. I've also used Amzoil with good results. What ever oil you use it's best to go full synthetic for fewer oil changes.

 

[Jim/Maine]

Atomsplitter, yup, well said. Makes sense. In aircraft engines we do tend to run them hot for break in, but as I have said, very old design with huge tolerances and a greater concern for glazing over the cylinders. And they run with 200 + - air, usually cold, cooling them. In aircraft, turbines are the way to go -- how cool would it be for bikes (not that we could afford them).