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Break In New Motorcycle

13K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  Phillip 
#1 ·
There's a lot of discussions about how to properly break in a motorcycle. Wouldn't want to do something wrong and damage the bike in any way. So how would you break it in?

I've heard of the low and high rev break in method and then there's the low speed method for a certain amount of miles, generally around 500.
 
#3 ·
Yeah, there's a lot of "ancient wisdom" floating around about engine break-in. But modern engines are built to tighter tolerances and use better materials than older engines. Following the owner's manual instructions, as Sidewinder says, is your best bet. But absent that, my dealer's advice on the last two, modern BMWs I bought was pretty straightforward: run the bike up and down through the rev ranges and gears until the first service (600 miles), and avoid lugging the engine or running long stretches at the same RPM. There's no need to baby it. In fact, making the engine work fairly hard will help seat the piston rings and avoid excessive oil use. But don't wring its neck. Be moderately aggressive, if that makes sense.

I've followed my dealer's advice on my last two BMWs, and I've never had to add any oil between 6,000 mile service intervals on either of them.
 
#4 ·
That sounds pretty straightforward. Considering you've used that method for the last two modern bmw bikes that you've owned, I can't see why it wouldn't work for the G310 either. I don't think I'll be able to contain myself and not ride it semi-aggressively. Some people say you shouldn't enter the higher rpms at all and keep it real low until your first service... there's no way I can do that lol.
 
#6 ·
Some people say you shouldn't enter the higher rpms at all and keep it real low until your first service... there's no way I can do that lol.
While that used to be true back in the day, that's bad advice for modern engines. You're much more likely to prevent a good run-in (and perhaps even damage the engine) by lugging it in the lower rpms. Smoothly running the engine through the entire rpm range, from idle up to near redline, is key. And not keeping it in any rpm range for long. So no droning down the freeway, at least initially.

So shift gears as much as I can and give it the occasional rev? At least it'll give me plenty of practice rowing through the gears.
Yep, I try to think of it like kneading a loaf of bread. You want to work it, and mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

Then change the oil to remove all the run-in cruft, and retighten all the bolts at the first service. Then you should be good to go.

Free advice, and worth every penny! :grin2:
 
#12 ·
One important thing to note from experience is the miles or timeline they state for a break-in to complete isn't usually an exact science, part of it is going to be feeling or just doing it enough till you know everything has broken in enough. Just saying that since on other forums i've seen break in threads go on for 10's of pages of when the phase will be "complete"
 
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