I'm picking up my first Harley soon and I'd like some pointers on how it should be broken in.

Dealer says just ride at varying speeds for 1000 miles. Is that the best route to take?

It's a iron 883 and I'm having stage 1 and vh pipes installed if that info helps.


Thanks everyone!

 

Yeah just ride it like normal and don't beat on it.

 

Same. When I bought mine dealer told me to drive it like normal just don't romp on it. After 500 miles I was good to go.

 

Read your owners manual. It basically say's the 1st 500 miles keep it under 3500rpm in any gear and vary the engine speed.

 

Ride it, vary the speed but don't baby it. Used to we had to worry with smoothing out the cylinders, now it's just setting the rings, so the more pressure you put on them the better they will seat in. So don't be afraid of it, ride it and enjoy it, vary your speed 5-10 mph and don't be afraid to get on it. There was a great link over in the touring forum this week, you might want to search over there...

This is a pretty good piece on break in as well, I've used method b on the last 4 new bikes I've bought, one of them is now at 140,000 miles and have never been in the motor, just serviced it.

http://www.motorcycleextremist.com/M...ight-Way!.html

 

Oh man, you're gonna get a thousand (or more) ideas on this.

I just got a new CVO Ultra last September and it now has just over 7,000 miles on it.

I broke it in just like I ride normally, but I tend to ride my bikes much easier that most folks do.
I rarely go much over 3,000 RPM's when shifting gears, and 3,000 RPM's in 6th gear for my bike is about 80 MPH.
Now I'm not say that I have never, or will never ever "get on" the throttle occasionally, but I won't make a habit of it.

 

Under 500 miles, no highways and vary your speeds. I rode mine around town, which is really small, so it took me awhile to get my 500 in.

 

I'm definitely going to study my manual. Thanks!

 

Not over 3500 RPMs for 50 miles, not over 4500 for 500. Vary speeds (rpms), don't lug it but it's ok to push it to those limits after 50 miles. After 500 miles ride it like you stole it and get your 1000 done. Lots of guys don't wait til 1000 to do that service, others do. Doesn't seem to matter in the long run.

 

Seat the rings first!

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