Engine Break in

[46rocketrod]

Good morning you cool cats. I've got my down payment in for the tenere and I believe time has stopped due to the enormous amount of time it is taking for it to be shipped (I'm in Arkansas).  I was informed by my dealer that I would have to  break in the engine when I got it and it being the first new motorcycle I've ever owned (I'm on my 12th used bike) I'm curious of the best methods to achieve a perfect break in. Anyone have any input on this? thanks 

[Totti]

There numerious different conspiracy theories about breaking in a new engine.

I would advise You to do as the owner's manual says.

 

[Colddog]

Don't lug it till it chugs, don't hold it to the rugs, vary the throttle, after the first oil change, run'er like ya stole'er!

That's the words passed down by an old time mechanic.

[GPSAT]

Ryan at Fortnine.ca has a great break in video.

 

Engine Break In

[Rich TT]

Welcome firstly!

 

Great advice from colddog.

 

I did pretty much that. Use the rev range within reason (no actual major need to go above 5 to 6k anyway as there's tons of go at that point), use the gears, don't do loads of fixed speed highway and generally use everything. Gears, revs, brakes and suspension. I gave mine out a work out in the Pyrenees on a boys holiday with 10 miles from new with this mantra.

 

It's an awesome bike I promise.

 

Rich

[Aarslikkerdanny]

This guy provides "evidence" that there is no difference between "rough" and "careful" brake in periods,..

 

 

[ScorpionT16]

55 minutes ago, Aarslikkerdanny said:

This guy provides "evidence" that there is no difference between "rough" and "careful" brake in periods,..

 

 

 

This, and the F9 video are what people need to see. Everyone has their own opinion, not backed by anything. Do "so and so because that's what I've done for years and nothing has gone wrong". MC Garage busted a lot of myths with facts and numbers, and F9 explained why the manual says what it does. Yet people still believe their method is best, good news is, both work and its your bike end of the day. 

 

On that note, does anyone know what the redline even is on the T7? I can't tell from the obscure dash, guessing 10k rpm

Edited June 10, 2020 by ScorpionT16

[Cruizin]

7 minutes ago, ScorpionT16 said:

 

This, and the F9 video are what people need to see. Everyone has their own opinion, not backed by anything. Do "so and so because that's what I've done for years and nothing has gone wrong". MC Garage busted a lot of myths with facts and numbers, and F9 explained why the manual says what it does. Yet people still believe their method is best, good news is, both work and its your bike end of the day. 

 

On that note, does anyone know what the redline even is on the T7? I can't tell from the obscure dash, guessing 10k rpm

Doesnt seem to have much after 8 k, so I havent gone over that yet. Not sure if i will ever need to. 

[ScorpionT16]

Also based on those videos, these bikes are already cycled through at the factory hard, can even see the T7s been run through in this video passed the 30s mark

 

 

From MC Garage comment #1 "After 20 plus years as a factory Honda motor cycle tech , at pre delivery inspection and road test , trust me , most new bikes have already seen the upper rev range before the customer gets it ."

 

[TimmyTheHog]

well, according to the dyno chart that you can find in the tech section, T7 see its max power @ 9K RPM.

 

With that in mind, I wouldn't push it past the "limit" is set ~ 9500 to 10K.

 

Then again, with my personal style, max of this bike will see is ~8 with most its life living down sub 5K...

[sbeck09]

There is now so much evidence available showing that a soft break-in is unnecessary. A big part of that is because (to my knowledge) every single production motorcycle is run briefly at the factory as it rolls off the assembly line.

 

You have to seat the rings. Building cylinder pressure by getting into the power band is the best way to do this. That's why most racing engines (high $$$ and at the limit of the parts) are usually broken in on the dyno. Nobody is saying that you have to run it at 9k, but don't baby it. Just ride the damn thing. I plan to take out the frustration of this waiting period on the bike on my ride home. haha

 

[Aleksandar13]

23 minutes ago, TimmyTheHog said:

well, according to the dyno chart that you can find in the tech section, T7 see its max power @ 9K RPM.

 

With that in mind, I wouldn't push it past the "limit" is set ~ 9500 to 10K.

 

Then again, with my personal style, max of this bike will see is ~8 with most its life living down sub 5K...

And I'm sitting here averaging 47 mpg UK measures... Searching for that 10500rpm redline

Soon to get rid of the 9k dip in power with some intake mods ans fueling

Sorry about the off topic start.. Ride it like you stole it and it will be amazing

[SKIPNOMAD]

50 minutes ago, ScorpionT16 said:

Also based on those videos, these bikes are already cycled through at the factory hard, can even see the T7s been run through in this video passed the 30s mark

 

 

From MC Garage comment #1 "After 20 plus years as a factory Honda motor cycle tech , at pre delivery inspection and road test , trust me , most new bikes have already seen the upper rev range before the customer gets it ."

 

I just love that video!

[TimmyTheHog]

25 minutes ago, Aleksandar13 said:

And I'm sitting here averaging 47 mpg UK measures... Searching for that 10500rpm redline

Soon to get rid of the 9k dip in power with some intake mods ans fueling

Sorry about the off topic start.. Ride it like you stole it and it will be amazing

I am an old dude inside this millennial's body

[DT675]

I haven’t quite finished my break-in at 350 miles yet but I can definitely tell the difference In the engine loosening up compared to new. But I am wondering, have any of you ridden an FZ/MT-07 to compare its output to the Tenere? I rode an ‘18 (I think) MT-07, it seems to me the MT is a little faster from what I remember. Plus the T7 has lower finial gearing doesn’t it? Maybe I just need to get more miles on it and see if the engine loosens up a bit more. 

[Aleksandar13]

12 hours ago, DT675 said:

I haven’t quite finished my break-in at 350 miles yet but I can definitely tell the difference In the engine loosening up compared to new. But I am wondering, have any of you ridden an FZ/MT-07 to compare its output to the Tenere? I rode an ‘18 (I think) MT-07, it seems to me the MT is a little faster from what I remember. Plus the T7 has lower finial gearing doesn’t it? Maybe I just need to get more miles on it and see if the engine loosens up a bit more. 

Remember there is always a weight difference between the bikes, don't know what that is... But the engine will get better after the first 1000 miles, maybe you need to rev past 7k and switch to the dark side... Oh man and the sounds after 7k...

[Colddog]

The intake howl starts to sound a bit like the crossplane MT-10 at that range, music to my ears brother!

[Aleksandar13]

1 hour ago, Colddog said:

The intake howl starts to sound a bit like the crossplane MT-10 at that range, music to my ears brother!

I can't wait for the lid and filter plus remap ...  

[Bartek]

On 9/10/2020 at 4:34 PM, Aleksandar13 said:

I can't wait for the lid and filter plus remap ...  

Where you will do remap Aleksandar?

Can't find any places in UK, i must searching it wrong...

 

In regards to running in engine - back in 2006 i had a new DRZ400 - i have followed owners manual and take it easy... I had a rather high oil consumption during and after running in - for a new bike 400ml per 1000 kilometers was rather high to me.

 

Then i had lot of second hand bikes, and recently in 2017 i had a brand new Husky 701 - running in done in aggressive way... KTM engine and oil consumption below 100ml per 1000 kilometers (infact i topped up around 300ml between oil change and i was doing it every 3000 miles.

Not sure if this was difference in engineering or running in, but i'm running in Tenere harder way... not so aggressive as Husky, but not gentle either.

[Aleksandar13]

9 hours ago, Bartek said:

Where you will do remap Aleksandar?

Can't find any places in UK, i must searching it wrong...

 

In regards to running in engine - back in 2006 i had a new DRZ400 - i have followed owners manual and take it easy... I had a rather high oil consumption during and after running in - for a new bike 400ml per 1000 kilometers was rather high to me.

 

Then i had lot of second hand bikes, and recently in 2017 i had a brand new Husky 701 - running in done in aggressive way... KTM engine and oil consumption below 100ml per 1000 kilometers (infact i topped up around 300ml between oil change and i was doing it every 3000 miles.

Not sure if this was difference in engineering or running in, but i'm running in Tenere harder way... not so aggressive as Husky, but not gentle either.

I will probably end up going to Seton tuning in Colchester.. He is a reputable tuner and knows his stuff, I've been told by others who have been there with their bikes... Not cheap but he spends the day on your bike and makes it perfect... I am a believer of hard break in and think that's the way to go.

Aleks 

[Bartek]

Whats expected cost of this? Will you have to buy powercommander on top of his hourly rate and rolling road time or he's got other means to upflash ECU?

[Aleksandar13]

2 hours ago, Bartek said:

Whats expected cost of this? Will you have to buy powercommander on top of his hourly rate and rolling road time or he's got other means to upflash ECU?

Last time I checked with him he was charging £400 for the remap but you wouldn't need anything else.. Hope this helps. 

Aleks 

[loneranger700]

On 6/10/2020 at 11:18 AM, ScorpionT16 said:

 

This, and the F9 video are what people need to see. Everyone has their own opinion, not backed by anything. Do "so and so because that's what I've done for years and nothing has gone wrong". MC Garage busted a lot of myths with facts and numbers, and F9 explained why the manual says what it does. Yet people still believe their method is best, good news is, both work and its your bike end of the day. 

 

On that note, does anyone know what the redline even is on the T7? I can't tell from the obscure dash, guessing 10k rpm

As someone who's redlined the bike in the higher gears, it's deffo near 10k rpm.

 

I don't know who else has redlined it, but the 4th gear has by far the most power at redline. Almost scary how much it bucks if you even blip it close to redline there..

[Moto]

I'm an aircraft mechanic, and the new engine break-ins for piston a/c engines that I think transfer are: 1) Vary the RPM as you ride initially, so you're not just droning along at the same RPM on a highway. Some good miles on side roads where you're shifting and varying the rpm quite a bit seems ideal. 2) Don't use synthetic oil until the rings are seated. Rings do need to seat, and if you don't let them do it early you can end up with an engine that burns more oil than it should. I did my  first oil change at 800 miles, and replaced with the Yam mineral oil. Once I get to 2,000 or so, I'm going to put in synthetic oil. It really is better, and thus bad for ring seating.

[Seakan]

I'm really excited to perform the break in procedure and take care of the bike from day one (this will be my first new bike)

2 hours ago, Moto said:

I'm an aircraft mechanic, and the new engine break-ins for piston a/c engines that I think transfer are: 1) Vary the RPM as you ride initially, so you're not just droning along at the same RPM on a highway. Some good miles on side roads where you're shifting and varying the rpm quite a bit seems ideal. 2) Don't use synthetic oil until the rings are seated. Rings do need to seat, and if you don't let them do it early you can end up with an engine that burns more oil than it should. I did my  first oil change at 800 miles, and replaced with the Yam mineral oil. Once I get to 2,000 or so, I'm going to put in synthetic oil. It really is better, and thus bad for ring seating.

Synthetic oil is no good for break in because... it's too good? It's too slippery? I guess it makes sense, you'd want some friction to help seat the rings