Wow! An engine break-in thread without someone telling you to beat the crap out of it, run the **** out of it, that's the best way to break it in? Will wonders never cease? Or are Evo guys just smarter than the average biker?
By the way, I broke my bike in using the no lug, no full throttle, vary the speed philosophy (did it twice, since I got new rings along with new base gaskets), and at 150K my bike still doesn't burn a noticeable amount of oil between 3000mi changes.

 

I did the 30-60-30 method a couple days back and have been since verying the rpm's and bike is running strong.

 

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

I've used this method on many engines and it's never failed me. His explanations are very informative also.

 

Old post, but for those you may stumble upon...

T150 and others are correct in their break in methodolgy.

Don't be scared of what comes out in the first oil change. Lots of little shiny bits.

 

that "donnie peterson" method of breaking a motor in is just fine for his motor, although i would not do it with mine. i much prefer the heat cycling method, warming it up, riding slowly, for 15-20 miles or so, allowing the motor to warm up, and shutting it off to cool. and then going in somewhere and sitting over a cup of coffee, or a coke. going out after the bike has cooled off and go riding a little faster for 20 minutes, half hour, etc, and going into the nearest woods for a quick pee. let the motor cool off again. increase your speed the next time and bring the motor up to temp, and dump the oil and filter. hopefully you'll be able to figure out that this stop should be done at home where you have your tools, filter and oil, etc. i figure that if you treat your motor like it's a great friend, it'll treat you the same way in return. abuse it, and you'll have a much hated angry motor. nah, it's not anything to do with ZEN, whatever that is, but to me it makes sense. congratulations on your new motor. this break in method has worked great for me each time i've got a new bike or motor.

 

Are you sure? I did not know this! I always worm my bike for a long time at idle before ride, thought it is good for engine! My 91 EG shows 1/3 of pressure scale at idle.

 

Oil pressure is low in Evos (probably all recent Harleys), but flow rate is high. Because nearly all bearings in the motor are rollers or *****, they don't need high pressures like plain-bearing motors do. Your 1/3 pressure is not very much, even though it is good!

 

Damn good posts, I am at 400 miles on break in and I do just about everything as stated above, the only differance is for the first 100 miles I do "ride it like I stole it!" meaning slowly, carefully, fluctuating rpm's and not drawing Jonny-Laws attention to myself LOL
Sorry, couldn't resist... That line always seemed dumb to me, if ya stole it you don't want to get caught do ya? so whats scarey to me and our local indy is "drive it like ya own it" All that being said today is a sunny day in the mid-fifties so I think I will cross that 500 mile mark and dump oil and filter woo-hoo!!!
Have a law-enforcement free day all (no tickets that is)

 

Youse guys are spot on with the break in!
The only thing I do different...
Fans on both sides to cool the motor as it "fast ildes" away.
I run it til it's good and hot.
Shut it down and THAT's when it get's its first oil change (and filter).
Let it cool til it's room temp, (usually by the time you have the tools cleaned and put away, the shop back to "normal" beer can all picked up, figured out where that, "Holy Jump Up Jesus! Where did this gasket come from? did I leave it out" goes, (it was to the '72 Montesa carb rebuild last month)
Hit the road, (trying to keep the grin off yor face) onto the the "Up and down the scale" ride as I call it for 30 or so miles.
THEN another oil change and filter (this way all the ???? is outta there).
Take it easy the first thou er so and the motor will last longer than, well, a long time!
Joe
A bike is like a woman, if you beat it, it'll end up stabbing you in the back some day!

 

I have firsthand experience with the horrors of the manufacturer manual's breakin procedure. I own a Wide Glide now but my last bike was a 1100cc Honda cruiser. I bought it brand new and severely babyed it for the first 1500kms as per manufacturer's instructions. I had that bike for 4 years and 55,000kms and it burned a ton of oil right from the beginning. It would burn as much as 5 liters between oil changes when i rode it at high speed (high rpms). I took it to the dealership to get checked out and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. I blame it on poor ring clearances due to incorrect breakin procedures.

On my brand new Wide Glide I used the motoman's breakin procedure and the engine runs strong and doesn't burn a drop of oil.

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