seating pistons
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Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,217
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From: southern illinois
seating pistons
I found out that my trike had a blown head gasket. Not trusting myself to do the job I took it it to a good cycle shop. While fixing that problem he found that whoever put the 1200 kit in it (way before it was mine) screwed up the job and somehow put the wrist pins clips in wrong. He showed me the pistons and I could see the damage to the wrist pin hole. Luckily no metal had gotten into the cylinder but I think that in a real short time I would have had major problems. I decided to go ahead and put new Keith Black pistons and rings in to make sure the problem was solved. Now I need some advice on how I should ride to make sure the pistons are seated right. The mechanic said to just ride normally but not to open it up for a few hundred miles. I've looked on the internet for other advice but it seems that everybody has a different opinion. Any members got a tried and true method?
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 11,317
Likes: 11
From: Tucson, Az
RE: seating pistons
Yeah, you will find some guys here that subscribe to "ride it like you stole it from mile one". I don't know that they're wrong as I've never tried it but I do know riding the first 500 miles just as if it was a new bike (not over 50 mph, vary speed, etc.) has never failed me yet and that is what I would do.
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,950
Likes: 2
From: Colorado Springs, CO
RE: seating pistons
Ideally, you want a lot of mild acceleration and decelaration under closed throttle. Lots of gentle miles with varying speed, but get the rpm's up to about 3K'ish quite a few times. Multiple short trips with lots of heat/cool cycles. That's about it. Not rocket science. With todays materials, it doesn't take much.
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