Break In questions

[jfz6]

breakin' it in

I broke my bike in with ZERO road experience and even now almost 3 months later I am 5 miles from hitting the 1000 mile mark. I began riding a little bit every day and increased my daily riding slowly. I tried to mix it up but I spent a good bit of time in the city and neighborhoods.

I would usually finish my ride at the end of the day by going out of my way to get on the highway while the bike was good and warmed up and go to about 6000 in each gear and turn around and do the same thing on the way back.

Taking it slowly has already saved my ass twice. Like someone said earlier about weaving slowly I am glad I had a lot of practice with that because I was on the highway the other day looking at someone's badass BMW when I looked up and was about 30 feet from slamming into the back of a van. I made a highspeed swerve and went on through the light. It felt like instinct instead of panic like I would have had 2 months ago.

I should have had my eyes on the road instead of someone's car especially when approaching a very oddly placed traffic light on a highway but my many days of taking it easy has helped me learn a lot.

And where I live with lots of really twisting and turning roads going up and down steep hills staying under 7k is easy to do and a lot of fun. I spend a lot of time in the 4k range commuting and trying to save gas but I swear that now that I have broken it in everything seems a lot smoother in the 4k-6k range I stay in in these hilly and twisty turny neighborhoods and it makes it a lot more fun and smooth with I get out on the the highway and take it up to 9k in sixth gear on my usual eand of the day run up and down the highway!!!

Sorry for the long rant I just got out of surgery and am loopy- don't waorry not bike related but they said I can't ride for TWO WEEKS!

 

[Nelly]

I broke my bike in with ZERO road experience and even now almost 3 months later I am 5 miles from hitting the 1000 mile mark. I began riding a little bit every day and increased my daily riding slowly. I tried to mix it up but I spent a good bit of time in the city and neighborhoods.

I would usually finish my ride at the end of the day by going out of my way to get on the highway while the bike was good and warmed up and go to about 6000 in each gear and turn around and do the same thing on the way back.

Taking it slowly has already saved my ass twice. Like someone said earlier about weaving slowly I am glad I had a lot of practice with that because I was on the highway the other day looking at someone's badass BMW when I looked up and was about 30 feet from slamming into the back of a van. I made a highspeed swerve and went on through the light.

I should have had my eyes on the road instead of someone's car especially when approaching a very oddly placed traffic light on a highway but my many days of taking it easy has helped me learn a lot.

And where I live with lots of really twisting and turning roads going up and down steep hills staying under 7k is easy to do and a lot of fun. I spend a lot of time in the 4k range commuting and trying to save gas but I swear that now that I have broken it in everything seems a lot smoother in the 4k-6k range I stay in in these hilly and twisty turny neighborhoods and it makes it a lot more fun and smooth with I get out on the the highway and take it up to 9k in sixth gear on my usual eand of the day run up and down the highway!!!

Sorry for the long rant I just got out of surgery and am loopy- don't waorry not bike related but they said I can't ride for TWO WEEKS!

Glad your ok, I was gona ask if you had a frontal labotomy lol, then I realised you have had the back wheels serviced not so lol. Good luck & good post.

 

[kerpal]

true. but i dont think highway is the way to break-in a new bike. everyone will have a different answer to this question. but i feel multiple warm-ups & cool-downs will have more effect on the truck parts that are being broken-in. and i believe the manual says no prolonged operation above a certain rev range ie: highway.
there are owners manuals available for download here: http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-technical/320-2004-through-2007-manuals-download-here.html
it says how yamaha wants you to break it in.

also having "no road experience" is not what i would consider ready for the highway. Slow moving back road with little traffic would be ideal for a beginner, believe me i found out the hard way that stuff happens really fast on the interstate (plywood flying off of the truck in front of you) if you haven't learned to swerve slowly then you can not swerve fast.

be safe

A beginner going to a highway?? Men, are you looking for an accident???

 

[Rolly]

There are SO many schools of thought on break-in ranging from manufacturers over cautiousness to Banzai Bob's "rag the arse off it from day one" approach. My own thoughts are that being over cautious is just not necessary. Don't go to the extremes of redlining or spending any amounts of time at constant revs. Ride the bike within the limits of your ability and experience, have fun on it, vary your riding style, speed, revs etc and stop to let the bike cool regularly.

Just my opinion. Remember though - opinions are like arseholes......everybody has one!

Good luck

 

[HavBlue]

Years ago and I mean way back there was a real need for engines to be broken in because they had a tendency to malfunction in their early operation. Things like machining technologies, casting technologies and cylinder wall coatings were status quo and the science of engine building we know today was quite literally missing. The modern engines with advanced run programs, nitrite coatings and highly advance design materials is so far outside the box to engines of even 15 years ago many of the things we did then are now no longer needed.

I need one of two things to break in a modern engine and the only difference is time. On a dyno I can break an engine in with about 30 minutes roller time. On the road it's going to take about an hour and maybe 50 to 70 miles. The key is setting the rings which is done through load and acceleration/deceleration runs. In the old days we used non-detergent break in oil and today we may often use the finest of synthetics which are highly detergent.

Regardless of your particular flavor when it comes to break in, I would suggest you avoid sustained high rpm loads and ride the bike much like you would normally ride it. For me, I break them in, change the oil and cut open the filter looking for any abnormal materials and then we're off never to worry about it.

I still find it interesting that the same verbage used 50 years ago is in the manuals when it comes to break in and yet there is no comparison to the technology.