Pardon me if this has been covered, I could not find it with the search feature...


I'm about 3 weeks into owning my new HD (2015 FLSTC) and with weather I've only been able to manage about 160 miles. I read in the manual and was told by the dealer to keep it under 3,000 revs and vary speeds (limit highway cruising) for the first 500 or so miles to "break in" the motor.


I am not new to motors and understand the idea of allowing the moving parts the opportunity to wear into each other but I'm curious as to some of the opinions out there. It's tough to resist the urge to throttle down when the opportunity arises and I'd like to burn up a couple hundred miles this weekend on a short road trip. Both sounds like no-no's.


Any advise, horror stories, or other things I need to know about "break-in"? I suspect I'm just being impatient.


Thanks!

 

Ride it like you had it a while. Maybe watch the 5k zone. don't putt around and build up to much carbon don't forget your breather system goes back into the intake.

 

Some people say, baby it for the first 500-1000 miles and then other people say ride it like you normally would but don't beat on it until 1000 miles. Ive also heard if you break it in hard it will run hard. For me Ive got about 500 miles on my new street bob and I've been riding it like i normally would. so far so good. good luck

 

Right on. With modern cylinder hone finishes (plateau hone for example), the time available to seat the rings properly is very short. Just completed my 95" build in January and after extensive research and talking it over with my machinist (Eric at AMS), here's what I did immediately at first start up:

With new filter and your choice of dino oil (not synthetic), start the motor and let the it warm up completely at 2k rpm. As soon as it is completely warmed up, proceed immediately to the open road. Get to 30 mph and shift up to third gear. Nail the throttle wide open until you reach 60 mph. Shut down the throttle completely and let the engine decelerate back down to 30 mph, no shifting up or braking, staying in third gear the entire time. From 30 mph, full throttle again to 60 mph, shut down throttle completely back to 30 mph, again staying in third gear, no upshifting or braking. Let the motor do the work. Do this at least ten times, always letting the engine decelerate down from 60 to 30 mph with no up shifting or braking. Your rings are now seated. Complete a 20 mile ride keeping RPM below 3000 and change the oil/filter.

At no time during this process does the motor exceed 3000 rpm. The pressure from the combustion gases while accelerating and decelerating seats the rings optimally in a very short period of time.

Start riding normally for the next 80 miles, progressively increasing RPM. Change oil/filter. Ride as hard as you wish from this point. Change oil/filter at 500 miles to whatever oil you plan to run going forward. All done and rings are optimally seated for best compression and optimal engine life.

I used this method and CCP measured 198.5 psi on both cylinders at 44 miles (you don't get this result with improperly seated, damaged, or unseated rings). Dyno'd it at 500 miles and got 114HP and 108.5 ft/lbs torque without a tune.

Motor has 2k miles on it now and runs like a Banshee. All this assumes that your tune is somewhere in the ballpark (not lean), or you may damage your motor from excessive heat. Similar process is used by many dyno operators to break in new motors.

 

Rings seat quick, you're past that now. The main things you may want to avoid at this point are heat & lugging. Don't set yourself up to be jammed up in traffic, you want a good supply of air cooling that engine. Don't ride and throttle hard at low rpm's, especially during breakin & eternally. I like to add an extra early-on oil change in new engines but you can follow the book on that & be just fine.
Have fun!

 

Don't lug it and don't go over 4000 for 500 miles. Change the oil at 500. Then ride it like you normally would, minus any shifts up in the 5k range for the next 500. After that ride it how you like. That's what I tried. Its all parts and sometimes ya get a better piece than others. I ride mine plenty hard so far no issues.

 

Why not just do what the manual says??

 

Manual? That's an idea!