Just wanted to comment on how I've broke-in my new Dyna so far...

I was told by the dealer mechanics & several seasoned HD riders to forget the manual when it comes to this, and ride it normal then once it's warmed up to ride the chit out of it.

Well, I've pretty much followed the Moto-man break in method by doing the following:

Idle for 1-2 minutes (depending on outside temp), ride normally for 10 miles or so until engine & oil are up to operating temp, then run it hard through the gears.
I have done a lot of hard roll-ons in 2nd, 3rd & 4th gears, then done a lot of hard deceleration letting the engine do the braking.

I was pretty methodical about this for the first 200 miles and didn't do any consistent throttle operation & rode with a lot of variation. From 200 on I stuck to this mostly, but did take some longer rides. I'm at 700+ now & still doing this but not as concerned about it as the first few hundred miles.

Even though I did hard accelerating and hard decelerating, I didn't do any high rmps because it wasn't necessary to wind it up, but what I wanted to do was load the engine as much as I could in 2nd, 3rd & 4th often. I would say my bike has never been over about 4,200 rpms.

I always made sure the engine & oil was up to operating temp by short idle period followed by riding normally for 10 miles or so before I did any hard accelerating...this is very important for your seals & gaskets.

I'm going to schedule my 1,000 service & dyno tune with SERTPRO, so we'll see how my bike does on the dyno.

What I have noticed so far:
-bike has never used a drop of oil during break-in
-I noticed more power & it became more free at 200 miles, then at about 500 more-so yet.
-At 700+ miles the bike seems to be making a lot more power than it did when new & no issues & no oil consumption.

I was convinced by the mechanics @ the dealer, some old school riders & Motoman that by using this method my rings would seal better & I would prolong the life of the engine, have less problems, and make more power. So far I am confident with what I have done, but we'll see over the long run.

I know there is a lot of debate over break-in methods, but this is what I chose. I believe that if you don't load the engine enough during the first few hundred miles that the rings will not seat properly or make a perfect seal which will cause poor performance & blow-by, which will contaminate the oil.

 

great info, thanks for the write up.

I am going to copy your post and keep it for my own records.

 

IMHO, just ride the thing like you normally ride, and you'll have no problems. People worry too much about this stuff.