Got my latest issue of American Iron Mag today, has part 1 of 2 on engine break-in by Donny Petersen. Has lots of good info, for instance the long term results of breaking it in hard as compared to doing it properly.

 

Usually a pretty controversial topic. What does Donny have to say?

 

There's only been a bazzillion motors broken in since they started making them. How did we ever have one last without his article?.,,,

 

it is good to know that American Iron Mag has reached a point in the life of a air cooled engine that there is nothing new to print. Break in an air-cooled V-Twin engine by Donny Petersen, Really.

 

Clean oil, clean filters for the first 1k miles, don't lug it, and just ride the damn thing. It's not that complicated. Don't baby it, don't hot rod it.

 

I would trust the maker's recommendation rather than Donnie Peterson's.After all,Their Engineers might know a little bit about it.

 

Aside from break-in there is a lot of info on piston rings, bearings, metallurgy, lubrication from way back to present. He says there are two schools of thought on breaking in an engine, hard, and with care. An engine that is broken in hard & subjected to abnormally high rpm riding without proper warmup will indeed break in faster. It will also be faster than an engine broken-in properly until after the second break-in from 5000 to 12,000 miles. However the properly broken-in engine will become faster & last much longer because internal components wore together gradually like rings & will have better compression.

 

You should read the article before passing judgement on his recommendation. He is not telling you how you should break-in an engine.
Here's what he says; always follow the parts or engine manufacturer's specifications & recommendations. If the company is good enough to manufacture an engine then it's good enough to tell you how to take care of it.

 

I don't buy that entirely. One must ride the bike spirited, and use lots of engine braking within the first 50 miles to make use of the fresh cross hatching in the jugs, and allow the rings to seat properly. This is standard process with jugs that are cast iron, or have an iron sleeve in them. Now after that, if you want to take it easy and let the bike wear in properly then it's no big deal, and that is probably more correct than a hard break in all the way up to 1k miles.

 

Donny has done an excellent job chronicling the Twin Cam, Evo and Shovel years. He is currently working on the Pan years. Lots of very good info in his paperback books.

I'll have to check out what he has to say. I don't own new, never have, but I do like reading others thoughts on the subject of engine break-in procedures and guidelines.