Break in Period

[xpeschon]

I am a new member, and my first question is the break in period: There is really not much in the manual about the do's and dont's when breaking in the Spyder... I bought one of the last one 2008 models out there, I think anyway.. The silver and black Semi Automatic.. So far so good,, I am happy with the performance but again, about the break in period and the RPM's/Speed restrictions,, the only thing the dealer told me is do not keep it at a constant RPM for more then 30 seconds,, variate the speed,, thats about it but I know there is more to it the that.. And as far as Speed, do you folks run these machines 75-80 MPH cause at 60 the RPM's are something like 4000 or something like this,, seems kind of high at 60 or is this normal.
Thank you in advance for any help you maybe able to provide and believe me you will hear more from me thats for sure... This forum seems as though it is full of KNOWLEDGE that will help me out, again Thank you
Joe

 

[Degaman]

:congrats:welcome I wouldn't push it too hard right away; that being said, it's hard to lay off the throttle.

 

[Trickie Dick]

welcome:congrats: Another school of thought:
/www.mototuneusa.com They say ride it like you stole it.:dontknow:

 

[NancysToy]

You will get as many opinions on this topic as you will on gasoline octane or which windshield is best. I think the dealer's 30 second rule is a bit harsh, but I do subscribe to varying the rpm and throttle setting frequently, and not pushing the rpm too high...or lugging the engine. Others wil certainly argue the point, but it has always worked fine for me. After a few hundred miles, you can be a bit less careful, and after a thousand or so, ride it like you want to. Also be aware that the dealer will check the rpm and time spent there on the BUDS at your first service, so if you either push it to the limits, or excessively baby it, they will know it.
-Scotty

 

[bjt]

I also thought there was some RPM limit they said not to exceed. :dontknow: I am not sure about that 30 second suggestion, that seems like it would be difficult to try and maintain for 600 miles. I tried to vary my RPMs by not doing extended highway rides and varied between riding some constant 35 or 45 MPH stretches of road by sometimes taking a mile or two by only shifting up to 3rd gear. The next mile or two I would shift up to 4th, then 5th, etc. In that way, I varied my RPMs between the higher RPMs and lower RPMs. Plus, with most of my normal riding in city / suburb conditions, I never rode more than two miles or so before I hit the next stop sign. I considered some of the other suggestions out there like the one at mototuneusa before I settled on the procedure I ended up doing. I figured its a hybrid of that philosophy and BRPs recommendations. I'm not sure how well that broke in my motor but at just over 11,000 miles, I haven't had any motor issues, oil leaks, oil burning, etc.

 

[Firefly]

welcome:congrats: Another school of thought:
/www.mototuneusa.com They say ride it like you stole it.:dontknow:

I broke mine in like it was stolen - and she runs great. Vary throttle like they say - but by all means - do NOT baby the Spyder.

 

[Mo Lee]

I heard they was another Spyder in the Ft Wood area. My best count is 3 counting you. I have an 08 standard I bought about 2 months ago and learning to love it. I have around 900 miles on it now and it is starting to run smoother. We will have to get together sometime and compare bikes since I,m learning Spyder traits myself we could compare sounds and see what is normal.

 

[Bersquack]

Here's what my dealer told me:

1) vary the RPM as much as possible
2) no hard braking
3) after the 625 miles for the break-in period you can be a little more aggressive

Hope this helps.

 

[Magic Man]

I broke mine in like it was stolen - and she runs great. Vary throttle like they say - but by all means - do NOT baby the Spyder.

:agree::agree::agree:

 

[FANG]

welcome Varied RPM's kept RPM's below 5K for the first 600 miles. Then allowed myself the enjoyment of opening my :spyder2: up a little more. Really started pushing it after my first service. Love to ryde this machine.

 

[bone crusher]

I had to ride my bike at highway speeds for 75 miles to get it home. I was up to 75mph for about half the ride.

There is always a break-in period for a vehicle, but I have yet to see hard data about the effects of not following specific guidelines...of course, you don't want to be crushing the vehicle, but normal use should be fine. Most motorcycles are made to be quite hardly and being such, 30 seconds at a specific RPM shouldn't do much harm...on that note, maximum hp in this bike is around 6800-8500 (someone please verify that)...with this being the case, if you ride on the highway, you're not maxing your engine and you're certainly not redlining it...

My bike is still breaking in...it went from 26 to about 31 mpg...I assume it will just get a little better...and I use 87 gas (ut oh...don't open this topic again!!)...

 

[M2Wild]

I broke mine in like it was stolen - and she runs great. Vary throttle like they say - but by all means - do NOT baby the Spyder.

:agree::agree::agree: Easy does it the first few miles to let the metal loosen up a bit. You will feel it. After that, ride it aggressively but very the speed up and down. Going quickly from light to light and stop sign to stop sign will be excellent but avoid prolonged highway speed at a steady 65/70 unless you can go from 45 to 80 and back and forth.

 

[Firefly]

Also make sure and downshift to allow backpressure.

This is all about seating the rings in folks - if you baby it they won't seal in as well. You gotta jump on those rpms to get them to seal properly.

The advice from www.mototuneusa.com is GREAT.

Whatever dealer said no hard breaking is just nuts - you gotta seat those brakes in too - how else are you gonna get rid of the brake noise?

 

[bone crusher]

Also make sure and downshift to allow backpressure.

This is all about seating the rings in folks - if you baby it they won't seal in as well. You gotta jump on those rpms to get them to seal properly.

The advice from www.mototuneusa.com is GREAT.

Whatever dealer said no hard breaking is just nuts - you gotta seat those brakes in too - how else are you gonna get rid of the brake noise?

Good points...:agree:

 

[NancysToy]

...This is all about seating the rings in folks - if you baby it they won't seal in as well. You gotta jump on those rpms to get them to seal properly...

A great deal of this continuing fairy tale dates from decades ago, when engines had rough honed, cast iron bores, cast iron rings, etc. These did require a substantial break-in period, with care for the methods...and some were never right if the cylinders weren't quite round, there were hard spots in the iron, the engine was overheated, or if the thing was babied for the first several hundred miles. Modern engines are different. They are honed to a mirror finish, with honing plates to make sure cylinders are very round and don't need to be trued by wear. They are normally fitted with moly-filled rings so that the soft moly seats immediately, too. Clearances are tighter, so there is less need to run hard to build cylinder pressures to force the rings to the cylinder walls. Racers have used these engine building techniques for years, and most race car engines, especially drag racing, hit the track fresh...not "broken in". Think about it. There is little difference to be seen in this day and age from differing break-in techniques, IMO. Just give the metal time to season to the heat gradually, without overdoing it, and the engine will last thousands of miles longer than your grandfather's did. Just my two cents.
-Scotty

 

[burg650]

I broke mine in like it was stolen - and she runs great. Vary throttle like they say - but by all means - do NOT baby the Spyder.

I agree with you, ride it like hell is trying to catch up with you. I never baby a toy when I get it and have had many and never had a problem with any of them.

 

[Firefly]

I really trust what these guys have to say:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Here is some of the info - I recommend reading it all:


The biggest factor is that engine manufacturers now use a much finer honing pattern in the cylinders than they once did. This in turn changes the break-in requirements, because as you're about to learn, the window of opportunity for achieving an exceptional ring seal is much smaller with
newer engines than it was with the older "rough honed" engines.

In addition, there is a lot less heat build up in the cylinders from ring friction due to the finer honing pattern used in modern engines.

The other factors that have changed are the vastly improved metal casting and machining technologies which are now used. This means that the "wearing in" of the new parts involves significantly less friction and actual wear than it did in the distant past.

What's The Best Way To Break-In A New Engine ??
The Short Answer: Run it Hard !

Why ??
Nowadays, the piston ring seal is really what the break in process is all about. Contrary to popular belief, piston rings don't seal the combustion pressure by spring tension. Ring tension is necessary only to "scrape" the oil to prevent it from entering the combustion chamber.

If you think about it, the ring exerts maybe 5-10 lbs of spring tension against the cylinder wall ...
How can such a small amount of spring tension seal against thousands of
PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch) of combustion pressure ??
Of course it can't.

How Do Rings Seal Against Tremendous Combustion Pressure ??
From the actual gas pressure itself !! It passes over the top of the ring, and gets behind it to force it outward against the cylinder wall. The problem is that new rings are far from perfect and they must be worn in quite a bit in order to completely seal all the way around the bore. If the gas pressure is strong enough during the engine's first miles of operation (open that throttle !!!), then the entire ring will wear into
the cylinder surface, to seal the combustion pressure as well as possible.


The Problem With "Easy Break In" ...
The honed crosshatch pattern in the cylinder bore acts like a file to allow the rings to wear. The rings quickly wear down the "peaks" of this roughness, regardless of how hard the engine is run.

There's a very small window of opportunity to get the rings to seal really well ... the first 20 miles !!
If the rings aren't forced against the walls soon enough, they'll use up the roughness before they fully seat. Once that happens there is no solution but to re hone the cylinders, install new rings and start over again.

Fortunately, most new sportbike owners can't resist the urge to "open it up" once or twice,
which is why more engines don't have this problem !!

An additional factor that you may not have realized, is that the person at the dealership who set up your bike probably blasted your brand new bike pretty hard on the "test run". So, without realizing it, that adrenaline crazed set - up mechanic actually did you a huge favor !!​

 

[0228lisa]

I really trust what these guys have to say:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Here is some of the info - I recommend reading it all:


The biggest factor is that engine manufacturers now use a much finer honing pattern in the cylinders than they once did. This in turn changes the break-in requirements, because as you're about to learn, the window of opportunity for achieving an exceptional ring seal is much smaller with
newer engines than it was with the older "rough honed" engines.

In addition, there is a lot less heat build up in the cylinders from ring friction due to the finer honing pattern used in modern engines.

The other factors that have changed are the vastly improved metal casting and machining technologies which are now used. This means that the "wearing in" of the new parts involves significantly less friction and actual wear than it did in the distant past.

What's The Best Way To Break-In A New Engine ??
The Short Answer: Run it Hard !

Why ??
Nowadays, the piston ring seal is really what the break in process is all about. Contrary to popular belief, piston rings don't seal the combustion pressure by spring tension. Ring tension is necessary only to "scrape" the oil to prevent it from entering the combustion chamber.

If you think about it, the ring exerts maybe 5-10 lbs of spring tension against the cylinder wall ...
How can such a small amount of spring tension seal against thousands of
PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch) of combustion pressure ??
Of course it can't.

How Do Rings Seal Against Tremendous Combustion Pressure ??
From the actual gas pressure itself !! It passes over the top of the ring, and gets behind it to force it outward against the cylinder wall. The problem is that new rings are far from perfect and they must be worn in quite a bit in order to completely seal all the way around the bore. If the gas pressure is strong enough during the engine's first miles of operation (open that throttle !!!), then the entire ring will wear into
the cylinder surface, to seal the combustion pressure as well as possible.


The Problem With "Easy Break In" ...
The honed crosshatch pattern in the cylinder bore acts like a file to allow the rings to wear. The rings quickly wear down the "peaks" of this roughness, regardless of how hard the engine is run.

There's a very small window of opportunity to get the rings to seal really well ... the first 20 miles !!
If the rings aren't forced against the walls soon enough, they'll use up the roughness before they fully seat. Once that happens there is no solution but to re hone the cylinders, install new rings and start over again.

Fortunately, most new sportbike owners can't resist the urge to "open it up" once or twice,
which is why more engines don't have this problem !!

An additional factor that you may not have realized, is that the person at the dealership who set up your bike probably blasted your brand new bike pretty hard on the "test run". So, without realizing it, that adrenaline crazed set - up mechanic actually did you a huge favor !!​

Good to know since my ride is less than a week old!:thumbup:

 

[xpeschon]

Wow this is all really GREAT info.. I will have to change a little bit of my driving habit's.. Thank you to all who responded to this message, I have either been on the spyder or on the spyder message board all week-end and just thought I would let this topic build a little bit before I responded but it appears that I have gained a whole lot of knowledge with you folks as I look through all the messages so I Thank you very much.. I KNOW I will have many other questions as I (she) gets more riding time under our belt.. There are two iteams I need to get right away and this is a LARGER windshield and the highway pegs.. The factor shield does NOTHING for a rider thats for sure, looks good but the wind is a killer,, Where do most of you buy your assesories at?? Again the Larger windshield and highway pegs.. Again thank you so much
Joe

 

[dltang]

There are so many views on break in periods and they vary greatly. I too like to "run it hard" and probably did for the most part. The owners manual has a suggestion for the first 500 miles. I did stick to that mostly with some intermittent "run it hard" for the first 500. Those miles go quickly and will give you some peace of mind weather or not your warranty will be valid. Every time they hook up that computer, they can tell if you ran over a certain RPM and within that first 500 miles, I would just be careful and follow their suggestions.