Hi All...I’m a new member from Hollister,CA and got a 2019 Lowrider over the weekend graduating from an XG 750 after 2 years. This thing is a beast, love it! My only concern is if I am screwing up the motor by not breaking it in gently enough. I have a 104 mile commute to work and while I did riode under 3k rpm the first 50 miles, I am now on a little over 200 miles and going to speeds of up to 80 mph. I am though keeping under the 3500k rpm as suggested until hitting the 1k mile mark. Am I doing damage to the engine by riding too fast? I am not noticing anything weird and it still sounds fine...I had a stage 1 done before picking it up so starting to sound sweet. Any input will be appreciated!

 

Sounds like your doing just fine. Keep the motor spinning, don't let it slog, don't let it rev it's nuts off and use all your 3 1/2 rev band. Happy days.

 

The key to breaking it in is varying the rpm and the load on the engine. Be a little on the aggressive side as opposed to being too gentle. Too gentle is far worse. Run it up through the gears but not at WOT. Repeat often.

 

I am in the camp of building cylinder pressure and driving/riding something the way you will from the beginning. This has never proved me wrong in 2, 3 and 4 wheeled vehicles.

Side note.......attended high school at San Benito High. Mom and pops still live there near Ridgemark.

 

Thx for the tip, I pretty much did the same with my previous bike. Ridgemark area is nice, place is growing fast.

 

My folks have been there since 1983 (my 1st year of high school). My grandparents were in the Cushman development since it's inception up until that time. That town is is hardly recognizable anymore.

 

How to properly break-in an engine is a religious debate much like which oil to use. Let me break it down to the three approaches, and you can decide:

1. Follow the manual.

This approach is a very gentle break-in for a long time. The general agreement is that manufacturers specify break-ins like that so you get used to the motorcycle, not so much for the engine. You can't really harm the engine this way, but the torture you endure for riding it like a baby for so long is very painful, IMHO.

2. Ride it normally, no long stretches of constant RPM, no lugging.

This is my favorite approach, and the one I've used to break-in countless motorcycles and cars. Ride it normally, just don't stay in same rev range for too long (extended highway), and don't lug it (high gears, low RPMs, and lots of throttle). Engines these days are a far cry from what used to come out of factories 40-50 years ago...

3. Motoman break-in or "ride it like you stole it"

Basic premise is to ride it hard and it will seal faster and give you more power, and that's how a lot of race engines are broken-in. For me the possibility of extra 1-2Hp is not worth having to abuse the bike.

Anyway, just my two cents.

 

The manual calls for not lugging the motor and up to 3000 RPM up to 50 miles and up to 3500 RPM varying engine speed (not vehicle speed) up to 500 miles. Then run as you like after 500 to 1000, then get it serviced.

Lots of opinions on how to break in a motor, I generally follow Harley's advice, that way if something happens, they can't claim I broke it in wrong or something. Though, between me you and the fence post, as long as you don't lug the motor, I doubt if anything would go wrong, so don't sweat the break in.

 

Excellent summary - thanks. I have followed the second approach on all of my new vehicles and never had any problems.

 

The debate will rage on eternally, even though this guy went to extraordinary lengths to dispel the myths. A nearly yearlong test, two engines broken in using exact opposite methods, they measured every engine piece before running the test, and broke each engine in for a thousand miles, and then disassembled the engines and measured every piece to find out what the differences were.

Lots of people will not like the results.