I was watching a show on speed channel about the kawasaki factory in japan and noticed that they break in every motor that goes on a bike and I was wondering if harley does also...and boy do they break in those motors..they hook them up to a computer and run the **** out of them for a short while ...Somewhere I heard that running a engine hard when brand new is is great for ring seating.....anyway back to the point....does harley do anything for new engine break in???

 

Don't know about them breaking them in but did find this video of assembly and testing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OnDoqAh3MY

 

I had the opportunity to visit Harley as the company I work for supplies parts to them. Their assembly line is incredible to watch. They do not run the motors with gas anymore. They called it cold starting. They hook sensors to motor, then spin it over for a bit while monitoring the sensors. If it passes, it moves on. If not, they tear it down to see why it failed.

 

Kawi doesn't break-in per-se. They run the motor to make sure everything is functioning properly and yeah the run the pizz outta them.

 

I doubt Harley breaks them in at the factory or they wouldn't have break in procedures in the manual.

 

Cool Video!

No, they don't break em in at the factory.

Kevin

 

In KC they pull a bike here and there to test it out. They run it through the gears and test the lights and stuff. Other than that i dont know.

 

As of last summer at York, every touring bike was given a test run on the rollers, cycle through the gears and topped out around 90 mph.

They didn't seem to be babying them as much as pushing them through the test cycle.

They also mentioned that a few bikes are pulled for "auditing" which involves a longer on road ride of the bike.

 

Never owned a bike with out a break in period

 

Kawasaki also has break-in procedure in the manual. They don't "break-in" motors at the factory. At most they test them and seat the rings.