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Break in?

sjowol

sjowol

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Hi everyone,

So my first real post...
I just got my new bike yesterday, a black fz6 and i am very very happy!
What I am wondering though is how to best break it in? The people at the shop (and the manual ofcourse) say to keep the revs low.
So on my (20-ish mile) drive home i kept it around 5000
when i got home and started researching online all i find is people saying basically give it all you got. And me wanting the most out of my new baby is thoroughly confused.
So, that is where you come in :) since you guys know this specific bike i am confident you have a good opinion on this.
what would your advise be? how should i treat it and for how many miles? when should i change the oil etc.
I am hoping you guys can help me out cause the weather is great and i can't wait to go outside and ride but don't want to ruin anything. hope i didn't screw anything up by riding it home yesterday :-s
 
You will find that there are almost as many opinions as there are members on this topic.

I can tell you what I did:

The first 600 miles/1000Km, I kept it below 7000Rpm. (Did the first 600 miles in 2 days). Then I put it in for it's 600 Miles service, and after the service I would ride it without restrictions.
 
Change oil and filter now-ish.
Here is a great break in procedure.

New Motorcycle Check list, Break in


If you are near a Advance Auto Parts store, they have a special right now. 5 quarts of 15w50 extended performance Mobil One 15,000 mile oil change interval oil, and a Mobil One filter for 29.99$ It is a stinking awesome deal. Today is a great day to swap over.

I lack 40 miles of having 26,000 miles on my bike. It is smooth as silk, powerful, and runs very very well. This is the procedure I followed as best I could.

Also, check your bike over yourself. No one cares as much as you do about the safety, and proper assembly of your bike. No one elses life is on the line if something is not right. Every one can make mistakes, so just check everything.

If you dont have a good light, buy one, a bright led flashlight works wonders on dark nooks and crannies on a bike. Check your air pressure relegiously, also always check your front caliper mount bolts, and front axle pinch bolt. I have never found mine loose, but everytime I ride I know they are tight before I move. Sounds wierd, but the consquences of those items not being tight are so high its worth the 5 second check.

Enjoy the hell out of your bike man, and order a set of frame sliders, if you havent already. YOU NEED FRAME SLIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEED NEED NEED NEED NEED!!!!!!! LOL

Do you have good gear???
Helmet, gloves, pants, jacket, boots???

If not look around on here, or go to www.newenough.com or www.motosport.com or one of our awesome sponsors Bruce at Shop online at Forsyth Motosports

or www.kneedraggers.com or www.sportbiketrackgear.com

You absolutely need good boots and gloves. Those are pieces the doctors cant fix so good.

Anyway sorry for the long post of insanity and welcome to the site man. Hope you enjoy your new bike as much as I love mine.

Steve
 
My MOM says to avoid "prolonged" operation above 7000 rpm for the first 600 miles. And then to avoid "prolonged" operation above 8400 rpm from 600 to 1000 miles. I could not find a sentence in the manual that said "keep it low". When I'm cruising at 70 mph, my tach is reading less than 6000 rpm. I would have to drive to work ridiculously fast AND in 3rd gear to do any damage to my machine with those parameters. Of course, mine is a 2008 so It may be different. I have heard of the quick break in method for certain engines. Mostly for racing. And those engines get torn down and rebuilt relatively often. I think if you just ride the way you normally ride, you will be fine. Although, I think it is a good idea vary your rpms for the first 500 miles or so. i.e. If you have a 2 hour commute, don't stay at 6000 rpm's the whole way. If you are city riding, just obey the speed limits (within reason) and you will be fine. As far as breaking it in safely. Just the stop and go riding and shifting through the gears would be ideal in the urban setting. It has been said this bike doesn't even wake up until you hit 7000 rpm, but there really isn't any need to that before you get a 1000 miles under your belt (or butt). When I'm in 6th gear and 60 mph, I can still get to 80 mph in less than a couple of seconds in order to pass someone. I don't even have to downshift. It is a lot more fun if you do. But you will still not exceed 7000 or 8000 rpm for a prolonged period.
 
wrightme43 said:
Change oil and filter now-ish.
Here is a great break in procedure.

New Motorcycle Check list, Break in


If you are near a Advance Auto Parts store, they have a special right now. 5 quarts of 15w50 extended performance Mobil One 15,000 mile oil change interval oil, and a Mobil One filter for 29.99$ It is a stinking awesome deal. Today is a great day to swap over.

I lack 40 miles of having 26,000 miles on my bike. It is smooth as silk, powerful, and runs very very well. This is the procedure I followed as best I could.

Also, check your bike over yourself. No one cares as much as you do about the safety, and proper assembly of your bike. No one elses life is on the line if something is not right. Every one can make mistakes, so just check everything.

If you dont have a good light, buy one, a bright led flashlight works wonders on dark nooks and crannies on a bike. Check your air pressure relegiously, also always check your front caliper mount bolts, and front axle pinch bolt. I have never found mine loose, but everytime I ride I know they are tight before I move. Sounds wierd, but the consquences of those items not being tight are so high its worth the 5 second check.

Enjoy the hell out of your bike man, and order a set of frame sliders, if you havent already. YOU NEED FRAME SLIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEED NEED NEED NEED NEED!!!!!!! LOL

Do you have good gear???
Helmet, gloves, pants, jacket, boots???

If not look around on here, or go to www.newenough.com or www.motosport.com or one of our awesome sponsors Bruce at Shop online at Forsyth Motosports

or www.kneedraggers.com or www.sportbiketrackgear.com

You absolutely need good boots and gloves. Those are pieces the doctors cant fix so good.

Anyway sorry for the long post of insanity and welcome to the site man. Hope you enjoy your new bike as much as I love mine.

Steve
Click to expand...

This is one awesome guide..thanks...
 
wrightme43 said:
Change oil and filter now-ish.
Here is a great break in procedure.

New Motorcycle Check list, Break in


If you are near a Advance Auto Parts store, they have a special right now. 5 quarts of 15w50 extended performance Mobil One 15,000 mile oil change interval oil, and a Mobil One filter for 29.99$ It is a stinking awesome deal. Today is a great day to swap over.

I lack 40 miles of having 26,000 miles on my bike. It is smooth as silk, powerful, and runs very very well. This is the procedure I followed as best I could.

Also, check your bike over yourself. No one cares as much as you do about the safety, and proper assembly of your bike. No one elses life is on the line if something is not right. Every one can make mistakes, so just check everything.

If you dont have a good light, buy one, a bright led flashlight works wonders on dark nooks and crannies on a bike. Check your air pressure relegiously, also always check your front caliper mount bolts, and front axle pinch bolt. I have never found mine loose, but everytime I ride I know they are tight before I move. Sounds wierd, but the consquences of those items not being tight are so high its worth the 5 second check.

Enjoy the hell out of your bike man, and order a set of frame sliders, if you havent already. YOU NEED FRAME SLIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEED NEED NEED NEED NEED!!!!!!! LOL

Do you have good gear???
Helmet, gloves, pants, jacket, boots???

If not look around on here, or go to www.newenough.com or www.motosport.com or one of our awesome sponsors Bruce at Shop online at Forsyth Motosports

or www.kneedraggers.com or www.sportbiketrackgear.com

You absolutely need good boots and gloves. Those are pieces the doctors cant fix so good.

Anyway sorry for the long post of insanity and welcome to the site man. Hope you enjoy your new bike as much as I love mine.

Steve
Click to expand...
thanks everyone for the tips sofar!
seems like i'l be riding it sort of to the book then won't exceed 7000 for long times but will not baby it... if anyone hasd better ideas please let me know ! :)
so when is the best time for that oil change? (the deal does sound pretty good :))
as for gear, i always ride fully protected, used to have a buell blast before and got the jacket helmet gloves boots and even wear kneepads.. that safe enough? ;) still don't plan on crashing anytime soon though... :P
and framesliders? yeah! that is no.1 on the list! any suggestions? anyone?
anyway.. thas forum rocks sofar! just been a member for an hour or so and already lots of good help! thanks all!

joel

edit: thanks for the other links ii did use the search option but nothing showed up... :S
 
Last edited:
sjowol said:
Hi everyone,

So on my (20-ish mile) drive home i kept it around 5000
Click to expand...

Hello, :welcome: to the forum.

Wrightme has given the best advice, (as usual), all I will add is... when you say you kept it around 5000, was that constant 5000 revs??? When "breaking in", you should never hold revs (even 5000) always vary it a bit, e.g. go up to 5000, then drop back to 4000, go back up to 6000 etc etc. Don't just get up to 5000 and sit there. It means you may get some funny looks from other motorists, but who cares ;)

Congrats on your purchase, ya gunna love it.
Stay safe out there.

:)
 
I followed the mototune method..its really worth a read

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.
 
Gilo-FZ6 said:
I followed the mototune method..its really worth a read

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.
Click to expand...

yeah i read it and it does sound legit but going against "the book" scares the crap outtame :P afterall its my nice brandnew bike
 
The book is there to cover Yamaha not you the owner. LOL

Glad you got gear.

After the first 20-30 minutes of engine operation is the best time for the first oil change. Not the 600 miles in the owners manual. Try it and you will be amazed.
 
My dealer said keep it below 7,000rpm for the first 600 miles but try and give it some full throttle to seat the rings, then after the 600 mile service to go up 1,000rpm every 100 miles until 1,000 miles when it can be run to the redline.

Just gone past 1,000 miles now... :D
 
allrighty definetly some good advice here!
so today i just went out and gave it some more and differencing revs. going through all the gears stopping going again on and off the highway... did that for a bit over 20 miles and then did the oil + filter change... they were the tightest bolts i ever met, couldn't get the drainbolt nor the oilfilter off at first but after changing tools and getting agressive i finally did it :D
so now i guess i'll keep it around 7000 or so for the next 600 miles and then do the change check again. hope that is the way to go :-s
so time for a next post.. where to get '09 framesliders... damn things are only to '08 online and even though i figure that will fit '09 too i don't really wanna take the risk

thanks again guys!
 
So I decided to change oil at day 2 of my new baby. I thought I'd post up my results.

Firstly, I subscribe to the harder break-in theory. I've done some 12k rpm runs (then let the engine brake slow it back) and had a fantastic ride this morning around a short mountain pass. Lovely :)

I use a rare earth magnet on my oil filter which supposedly traps metallic particles. I haven't ripped apart the first oil filter (yet) so can't verify its performance. But I had one, so why not utilise it.

The oil is clearly darkened, but I couldn't make out any metallic flakes or the likes. Again, perhaps it's the magnet. Either way it looks fine. I plan to leave the used oil sit for a few days, then I will really be able to decipher it. So in the pics, it's the used oil on the left of course, and the new oil on the right about to go in.

I have replaced with a new oil filter, and Motul 3000 mineral oil. My plan is to have my first dyno session at 500kms, then change to full synthetic (Motul 7100) at the first service (1,000km).
 
I'm loving your key-ring Cameron (although not as good as my Rossi ones - I have the moon, the sum, the doctor and ildoctor and #46 - yes, bit obsessed LOL)
 
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