New guy with "run in" questions

[davethewelder]

Hello, just bought a brand new V85TT Adventure in yellow and white. Before I left the dealer I briefly read the owners manual about run-in . It states to keep the RPM's under 4500 for 930 ,miles. So far I have 80 miles on it. Ive run in other bikes but never such gentle break-in. Whats your thoughts on this? Also I'm able to do the initial service, and kinda prefer to do my own maintenance. Any reason to have the dealer do it?

 

[Raven]

To me the most important thing is to vary the RPM constantly for break-in. If the manual says stay under 4,500, I would do it. 930 miles isn't far in the lifespan of your bike. You'll be done in a few days.
I'm not sure about the first service. For warranty reasons perhaps it's best to have the dealer do it. I'm sure others will chime in.

 

[john zibell]

Also as you vary RPM place the engine under load. High combustion pressure helps to seat rings. Be gentle, but not too gentle. Also at about 1K miles it wouldn't hurt to do an oil change to drop out any particulates.

 

[GTM®]

Hi Dave, congrats on the TT, and welcome to the GT Forum. Hope you’ll add your info to our Registry page here; https://www.guzzitech.com/forums/threads/v85tt-registry-and-pic-thread.19358/

Per the paragraphs at the top of the page, SEARCH is paramount here, as these topics have been covered ad nauseam. Google too will help, but here go; http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm - my mantra since the late 80s. Hope to see you here often.

 

[Antonella]

Hello, just bought a brand new V85TT Adventure in yellow and white. Before I left the dealer I briefly read the owners manual about run-in . It states to keep the RPM's under 4500 for 930 ,miles. So far I have 80 miles on it. Ive run in other bikes but never such gentle break-in. Whats your thoughts on this? Also I'm able to do the initial service, and kinda prefer to do my own maintenance. Any reason to have the dealer do it?

I just got me a TT and I agree here, take it slow but not to slow, I geared up and down a lot...but at about 5-600 Miles went a bit over 4500 rpm every now and then. First Oil change is major important, all the factory particles plus stuff came of new engine metal needs to come out soon!!
You can easily do it yourself but would be good thing if a trust worthy dealer looks it over...since the valves need to be done too...
From then on, at least in my book...DIY service!!...saves you a couple hundred dollars.
I just found the "Sport" mode on mine....lol...man, I am having fun!!!

 

[scottmastrocinque]

At the risk of being "controversial", let me add my 2 cents please.

Todd and I are from the same school of thought. I have owned over 75 brand new motorcycles in my lifetime. I sold BMW's for many years and have said this forever.

The rings in modern engines are VERY HARD. It order to get these rings to bead in and set, you must apply HEAT and PRESSURE combined with a VARIATION IN FREQUENCY of the motion of the piston.

So, how do you you go about this?

The first 300 miles, I told people to keep RPM's to no more than 75% maximum of the redline value, whatever that happens to be but TURN IT ON FULL POWER WHENEVER YOU CAN. Freeway on ramps are great for this. I used to go down the LA freeways getting off at various off ramps, and then jump right back on again, just to be able to do these full power blasts back onto the freeway.

After 300 miles, the odds of an internal component failure due to misassembly error, is virtually non-existent. The oil filter is highly efficient at removing metal particulates, so do not fret this at all.

After this 300 miles, the very best thing you can do is take it to the nearest hills and mountains near you and FLOG THE LIVING HELL OUT OF IT by taking it up and down these hills and mountains, and using full power runs off and on. The natural movement through terrain like this is highly conducive to power on and power off in rapid successions, and the elevation changes subjects the engine to variations in LOAD. The constant cycling of the throttle will take care of FREQUENCY variations. Also doing this, the rings will ROTATE within their grooves on the piston, and this is also very good for beading in the engine.

After the first service, which legally you may perform yourself, but you better dot all the "i's" and cross all of the "t's" in your record keeping. AT THE BARE MINIMUM, Obtain your service parts and oil from your dealer, so that you have absolute proof that it was done in accordance with the manufacturer's guidelines. Read the checklist in the Owner's Manual and make written notes that you have checked every single thing they specify and that it is in exact agreement with the specification - This means recording the torque values that you put a wrench to a critical nut as well!

DO THIS YES, AND YOU WILL HAVE COVERED YOUR ASS AS FAR AS WARRANTY ISSUES GO. DO THIS NOT, AND YOU WILL BE SORRY IF SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS. COVER YOU ASS! KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN AND DOCUMENT IT!

Once you have performed the first service, take her back out some more and FLOG THE LIVING HELL OUT OF IT for the next 3000 miles. The rings will seat, it will stop burning oil, and you will have an engine that runs perfectly and burns little to no oil.

If you baby the motor, your rings will set in place, never seat, and it will burn oil like a lunatic. It is a travesty of the motorcycle world, that every manufacturer considers oil consumption of UP TO 1 QUART per !000 miles, as being WITHIN ACCEPTABLE LIMITS!!!

I personally think that is utter BS, but they do it to cover their asses.

Break it in as Todd and I have explained to you, and you will never have this issue.

I have broken in every new motorcycle I owned this way without exception and never had an issue with damage and none of my motorcycles burns oil of any appreciable amount.

Congratulations on a fine motorcycle and good luck!

 

[davethewelder]

Scottmastrocinque, I like your style! I broke in a HD road glide a few years ago in a similar fashion with no problems. I'll do the same like you described. See ya all around.!

 

[GerryAZ]

FWIW, I was a little too gentle with my 2002 R1150RS—varied the speed and load a lot by riding mountain roads, but the speeds on those roads were too low to really load that engine. The compression rings seated and everything else broke in well, but it still burned oil until about 6,000 miles when I ran it hard in a deserted area while on a cross-country trip. Oil consumption was minimal after that.

I made sure to keep RPM within owner manual guidelines and varied engine speed a lot on the way home from the dealer by riding surface streets instead of the freeway with my V85TT. I made sure to run it as hard as I could on freeway on ramps, etc. after it accumulated 200 miles or so and continued to vary speed/load by riding mountain roads. It burned about 500 ml by the time it was due for the 900-mile service, but almost none since then.

Enjoy your new ride, Dave!

 

[JasonC]

Also as you vary RPM place the engine under load. High combustion pressure helps to seat rings. Be gentle, but not too gentle. Also at about 1K miles it wouldn't hurt to do an oil change to drop out any particulates.

Indeed Hastings, a predominate ring manufacturer, used to have their piston ring break-in procedure on their website. Essentially it said to load up the rings by applying full throttle for short bursts. Rings will break-in in way less than the recommended 930 miles. But there are many more rubbing surfaces that will benefit from reduced RPMs for 930 miles.

Back in the days of leaded gasoline, you could determine in less than 10 miles how well the rings have bedded in. If done properly the tip of the exhaust pipe would exhibit a grayish color. With our unleaded ethanol-laced fuel it's a bit trickier to determine how well the rings have seated.

Jason