What is the best breaking in procedure? Is it really necessary to ride it below 4000 for first 800 km? :?:

Mmmmmm, many diff opinions and ideas for this aspect of owning a modern day scooter thats for sure. Heat cycles with full cool downs along with varying the RPM's to roughly 4-5k for the first couple hundred miles and then steadily increase the peak RPM's as the miles add up. BTW don't forget to change the oil/filter early (50miles) then again @ roughly 500m. BD

The topic of engine break-in usually illicits vastly differing opinions among motorcycle gearheads. Some religiously baby the motor and break it in easy, while other adhere as strongly to the "ride it like you stole it" theory. I've read a bunch about this and the real world truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. With every new bike I've owned, I try to rev the bike freely through the gears with short rides followed by stops to let the motor cool down to ambient temperature. Do a lot of accelerating and decelerating when riding. I'm more concerned about method of riding than following a strict RPM ceiling. The things I avoid are highway droning at a steady RPM, prolonged high speed running and extended periods of idle. Break-in is the final machining process for an engine: the purpose is to allow the piston rings to properly seat in the cylinder walls. If you read the owner's manual, each maunfacturer specifies slightly different break-in guidelines. Kawasaki's 4000 RPM limit for the first 500 miles seems to be the most conservative. I couldn't follow that by the letter if I tried with a quick revving monster like the ZX-10R, but I do understand the spirit of it (i.e., don't get on a brand new bike that you're not familiar with and ride it too aggressively right out of the box). My fear about the initial 4000 RPM limit is that if you never exceed it, the motor won't produce enough internal heat to facilitate the break-in process. I hope some of this helps. IMHO, common sense goes a long way in understanding break-in.

The topic of engine break-in usually illicits vastly differing opinions among motorcycle gearheads. Some religiously baby the motor and break it in easy, while other adhere as strongly to the "ride it like you stole it" theory. I've read a bunch about this and the real world truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. With every new bike I've owned, I try to rev the bike freely through the gears with short rides followed by stops to let the motor cool down to ambient temperature. Do a lot of accelerating and decelerating when riding. I'm more concerned about method of riding than following a strict RPM ceiling. The things I avoid are highway droning at a steady RPM, prolonged high speed running and extended periods of idle. Break-in is the final machining process for an engine: the purpose is to allow the piston rings to properly seat in the cylinder walls. If you read the owner's manual, each maunfacturer specifies slightly different break-in guidelines. Kawasaki's 4000 RPM limit for the first 500 miles seems to be the most conservative. I couldn't follow that by the letter if I tried with a quick revving monster like the ZX-10R, but I do understand the spirit of it (i.e., don't get on a brand new bike that you're not familiar with and ride it too aggressively right out of the box). My fear about the initial 4000 RPM limit is that if you never exceed it, the motor won't produce enough internal heat to facilitate the break-in process. I hope some of this helps. IMHO, common sense goes a long way in understanding break-in. yup i totaly agree with you on this one. More important are heat cycles then stickin to 4000rpm which can be quite dangerous. and it bogs engine. But avoid hard gasin for period of break in

I agree with gearhead too. I've run mine in using an intermediate style - 630 miles so far - no excessive strain either end of the rev range. been up to 9K revs without any problems at all. Last thing you want is polished bores and huge oil consumption.

i've always been told to break it in like your going to ride it ,drive it , etc.. ________ Solo Vaporite (http://vaporizer.org)

you should check out www.mototuneusa.com and check out the breaking in seceret... should give you 3-5 hp extra and it`s better for your bike and saves you a lot of km`s also nice movie : images.motograndprix.com/multimedia2/266/266778.wmv Greets, Mike_P

I agree with gearhead too. I've run mine in using an intermediate style - 630 miles so far - no excessive strain either end of the rev range. been up to 9K revs without any problems at all. Last thing you want is polished bores and huge oil consumption. I’m also with this school of thought :wink: My 10r is the number 14 (?I think) new bike I’ve broken-in. I basically ride em as I would normally. However, I try to avoid laboring the motor in the higher gears. So far all my bikes have been reliable and faster :mrgreen: than my mates who break-in theirs by the book (glazed bores and poor HP) :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I apologize in advance for this semi-knowledgeable post. Doesn't the 10R's computer save the info on whatever the rpm's were? If you rev high (Ride her like you stole her) instead of the Kawi recommended break-in, would that invalidate any warranty if you wreck your engine? :?: ________ Arizona Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (http://arizona.dispensaries.org/)

I know for a fact that yamaha does this, but i dont think any of the other brands do. :roll:

And as far as breakin goes, i dont want this to sound like i'm telling anybody that they are wrong, but, the engineers at kawasaki know way more about bikes ,and this bike in particular, than any of us will ever know, so if they say to break it in under 4k for the 1st 500mi, than i would do it- just my 2cents

I apologize in advance for this semi-knowledgeable post. Doesn't the 10R's computer save the info on whatever the rpm's were? If you rev high (Ride her like you stole her) instead of the Kawi recommended break-in, would that invalidate any warranty if you wreck your engine? :?: The computer saves the rpms??? why???

And as far as breakin goes, i dont want this to sound like i'm telling anybody that they are wrong, but, the engineers at kawasaki know way more about bikes ,and this bike in particular, than any of us will ever know, so if they say to break it in under 4k for the 1st 500mi, than i would do it- just my 2cents I absolutely agree...Their called professionals for a reason.

And as far as breakin goes, i dont want this to sound like i'm telling anybody that they are wrong, but, the engineers at kawasaki know way more about bikes ,and this bike in particular, than any of us will ever know, so if they say to break it in under 4k for the 1st 500mi, than i would do it- just my 2cents I absolutely agree...Their called professionals for a reason. These days, the primary reason why we are told to restrict our revs on new machines, is purely for health and safety reasons. As bike manufacturers are wary about letting a potential novice rider loose on machine that he/she is unfamiliar with – be it a little 125cc or superbike. Therefore the break-in period is aimed more at the rider than the bike… :roll: Right then…..this should put the cat amongst the pigeons :twisted: :twisted:

And as far as breakin goes, i dont want this to sound like i'm telling anybody that they are wrong, but, the engineers at kawasaki know way more about bikes ,and this bike in particular, than any of us will ever know, so if they say to break it in under 4k for the 1st 500mi, than i would do it- just my 2cents I absolutely agree...Their called professionals for a reason. These days, the primary reason why we are told to restrict our revs on new machines, is purely for health and safety reasons. As bike manufacturers are wary about letting a potential novice rider loose on machine that he/she is unfamiliar with – be it a little 125cc or superbike. Therefore the break-in period is aimed more at the rider than the bike… :roll: Right then…..this should put the cat amongst the pigeons :twisted: :twisted: I agree.I have not broken any of my bikes in corectly and I have never had a prob.They actualy run faster and do not burn oil cause you seated the rings right away.The break in is definataly for novice riders getting used to the machine and simply just breaking in the tires.My 10R was off the rev limiter the second I left the dealership.If you can handle it, Ride on.

I wish someone would post what is entailed in using the heat cycle procedure. From what I understand the engine's metal is strengthened from this method of heating and cooling. But I can't find any write-ups on how to do it.

I wish someone would post what is entailed in using the heat cycle procedure. From what I understand the engine's metal is strengthened from this method of heating and cooling. But I can't find any write-ups on how to do it. Andy I can tell what i do but its not anything out of the ordinary for modern day motors. Basically i ride the bike for a short run in an area with little traffic and stop n go situations to help avoid excessive heat/temps, vary the RPM's with short spurts of excel / decel and bring it home for a total cool down. The next time you go out make the trip another 10m longer and continue to repeat the above process only extend the RPM band with each time out. I have a habit of doing my first oil/filter change early (within 50m) then not again until over 500m. BD

I wish someone would post what is entailed in using the heat cycle procedure. From what I understand the engine's metal is strengthened from this method of heating and cooling. But I can't find any write-ups on how to do it. I guess you would just do short trips 8-15 miles and then park the bike and let it completely cool.Do this numerouse times right away and you should be good to go.

Thank you BD, Do you let it cool down all the way or just give it an hour or so? I've never been a fan of waiting untill the 600 mile mark to change the oil either.

Thank you BD, Do you let it cool down all the way or just give it an hour or so? I've never been a fan of waiting untill the 600 mile mark to change the oil either. The first couple of times are total cool downs(overnight). then eventually just a few hrs inbetween. BD

I agree.I have not broken any of my bikes in corectly and I have never had a prob.They actualy run faster and do not burn oil cause you seated the rings right away.The break in is definataly for novice riders getting used to the machine and simply just breaking in the tires.My 10R was off the rev limiter the second I left the dealership.If you can handle it, Ride on. this is the way I see it as well cept I don't care to run it at any one rpm for too long on the Hwy.

Here comes the grand momma of break-in explainations. It is a combination of my two responses in the ZX vs R1 thread: The first thing you should understand is that heat-cycling the engine is a different process than mechanical syncronization. While mechanical syncronization allows for the setting of seals and and smoothing out of points of excessive friction between metal parts (i.e. thereby allowing the engine to produce greater power), heat-cycling stresses (in a good way) the metal on a molecular level. This leads to higher strength within the metal itself, thereby increasing the longevity of the metal. Metals if you will remember from chemistry, have de-localized electrons. This means that the electrons are free to move between the outer electron shells. As the heat from the combustion cycles starts to seep into the metal, the electrons start to move at a higher rate. This creates internal resistance (similiar to how current flowing through a wire creates resistance). This internal resistance begins to have an effect on the crystalline structure of the metal. Typically iron has a body-centered cubic arrangement at lower temperatures, but as the internal resistance builds, it changes to a face-centered arrangement. Due to the the impurities inherent in iron, carbon impurities specifically, carbon atoms enter into the center of the face-centered cubic as iron is heated. These atoms, however, have no choice but to vacate the crystal when the iron cools back to its body-centered arrangement. Multiple cycles of heating and cooling allow the carbon atoms to find the position where they are least intrusive to the crystalline structure of iron (by the law of entropy). This allows for uniform strength throughout the metal, and thus greater longevity as no one area endures mores stress and fails before another area (multiple heat cycles also allow the metal crystals themselves to arrange so that there are no areas of concentration). Thus if one allows the engine to get up to its operating temperature and stay there for a couple of minutes, and then completely cool off multiple times early on in the engine's life, the metal will be "stronger" and the engine will last longer. Here is the link to the body-centered cubic: http://www.jwave.vt.edu/crcd/farkas/lectures/structure/tsld005.htm This is the link to the face-centered cubic: http://www.jwave.vt.edu/crcd/farkas/lectures/structure/tsld002.htm Ah, here comes the subjectivity. I believe that the first four or five times you ride, the engine should be brought to its operating temperature and allowed to completely cool down. Sorry, I don't have any concrete evidence for this, just a "gut" feeling. Change the oil as per the manufacturer's instructions. RPM limits: there are none. Operate the engine throughout the entire RPM range, but put little load on it (i.e. hold the throttle at a small, constant opening and let the engine climb through the revs) What Motoman said about mechanical synchronization is wrong, not matter how finely assembled the engine is, there will always be points of metal on metal contact that need to work themselves out. He is right, however, about making sure the seals are tight. That is why the engine must be allowed to climb through the RPMs.