break-in - Ducati.ms

Z1K2HYPER · May 1st, 2008, 11:02 pm

alright don't anyone freak out on me here.

In the my bike has about 150 miles on it and its been to the redline a few times and I don't hesitate to go full throttle on occasion. I was already used to the bike by riding my roommates identical hyper prior to me purchasing mine.

Is there any huge concerns without babying it for break in the first few hundred miles?

Ive heard that the old fashion way of breaking in a motor is pretty much obsolete and not needed anymore with todays manufacturing standards/precision and giving it alot of throttle in the beginning is good for it to seat the rings properly.

both of our bikes were never babied from the beginning. the first service on his turned up nothing abnormal and we checked his valves today w/5000 mi. and they are still in spec.

*basically just curious on other people's thoughts on break in.

Werloc · May 2nd, 2008, 5:37 am

Hey, it's your bike. I was told not to go over 6,000 RPM for first 6 to 800 miles, and run it at varied RPM's. I'm not made of money, so I'm doing this to avoid future problems. I'm not knocking you, it's just what I'm doing cuz that's what I was told. Good luck with your bike. I also only had mine less than a week too....

kongman27 · May 2nd, 2008, 6:49 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Werloc

Hey, it's your bike. I was told not to go over 6,000 RPM for first 6 to 800 miles, and run it at varied RPM's. I'm not made of money, so I'm doing this to avoid future problems. I'm not knocking you, it's just what I'm doing cuz that's what I was told. Good luck with your bike. I also only had mine less than a week too....

hey dude i know you from the baja forums so you bought the hyper i see im gettin one in about a week............

cincykid · May 2nd, 2008, 7:11 am

Hey z1k2hyper, I had the same question. After reading all about it, it pretty much is up to you. I am not "babying" mine but I am also not redlining all the time either. I only have about 400 miles on her but will be racking them up and whipping her a little bit next week in North Carolina. The guys from Supermotojunkie are having a week long supermoto ride down at Deals Gap all next week and next weekend so I am heading down weds -sat.
Anyway, with the warranty and all, I would think we could pretty much ride them however we want and still be good. I just wouldnt take it on a track until the break-in period is over. just my 2 cents.

Werloc · May 2nd, 2008, 7:59 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by kongman27

hey dude i know you from the baja forums so you bought the hyper i see im gettin one in about a week............

LOL, cool. You'll love it so much, you'll spend less time running the Baja....

kongman27 · May 2nd, 2008, 8:26 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Werloc

LOL, cool. You'll love it so much, you'll spend less time running the Baja....

ya man its going to be cool ..........so what sort of range do you get can you convert to km

Stasher · May 2nd, 2008, 10:30 am

No Rev limiter action here but I have ridden all my new Ducs with "spirit" when they were new. No abuse but ridden with a definite range of throttle input

If it's going to fail, it's going to fail. I trust the talent of the Italian craftsmen who create our beautiful machines. Also, our brand of choice offers a superb warranty.

HyperMotard21 · May 2nd, 2008, 12:18 pm

I broke mine in hard. Redlined in 2nd 3rd and 4th and then did it in different loads, including downshifts for the first 60km. Then quick oil and filter change for another 200km and changed oil (mineral based). Will switch to semi-synth after 2000km.

The window of opportunity for complete and proper ring seal or "run in" is the first 60km.

If the first 100km you don;t load the rings fully, it'll be run in whre the rings are not fully loadded (expanded) then you run hard only after 1000km and the "seal" of the rings are only effective at thr revs you broke in. Then when it's fully loaded at high rpms, it grinds (runs in) even more giving and uneven seal.

I break in all my road bikes and race bikes this way.

rdbaron9 · May 2nd, 2008, 12:36 pm

I followed what it says in the bike's operator manual about staying under so many RPMS for the first few hundred km. I'm sure the engineers which actually built the engine know more about it than most of us put together. It says nothing about redlining in any gear or trying to seat the rings, I think that is bogus and no more than a myth that people use for an excuse for not properly breaking in the engine. Every is entitled to their own opinion I guess even though some of us are wrong.
I know the engine felt very tight in the beginning and now has become smoother as I add more miles. Just the thought of redlining the engine while it felt so tight like that makes me cringe. Again if this ring seating myth is true I'm sure they are properly seated before leaving the factory on a dyno or otherwise it would be stated as part of the engine break-in protocol.

socalrob · May 2nd, 2008, 12:53 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdbaron9

I followed what it says in the bike's operator manual about staying under so many RPMS for the first few hundred km. I'm sure the engineers which actually built the engine know more about it than most of us put together. It says nothing about redlining in any gear or trying to seat the rings, I think that is bogus and no more than a myth that people use for an excuse for not properly breaking in the engine. Every is entitled to their own opinion I guess even though some of us are wrong.
I know the engine felt very tight in the beginning and now has become smoother as I add more miles. Just the thought of redlining the engine while it felt so tight like that makes me cringe. Again if this ring seating myth is true I'm sure they are properly seated before leaving the factory on a dyno or otherwise it would be stated as part of the engine break-in protocol.

The factory dyno run and the local tech running the bike around the block pretty much set the rings IMO. I think the rings are set pretty much in first 50 miles too.

Anyway, I try (and did) to keep the revs within the 6K limit but do constant full throttle accells & decells at the highest speeds I feel unlikely to get a ticket. Its the full throttle with a good load (and total roll off too) that sets the rings IMO. That said, if the bike slips into higher RPM for an instant, don't think thats a big problem.

I think there is an arguement for the manufacturer to not tell owners a too radical break in as there is liability in telling people how to ride, I can just see the crashed rider saying "but my dealer said I had to run it in hard".

Anyway, my bike has not used a drop of oil in the last 1500 miles and runs smooth as a top. You want to see break in controversy, go to a BMW oilhead (flat twin) board; the 1150 oil heads often used alot of oil (ounce per 100 miles) until some magic time (sometimes as late as 40,000 miles) when they would stop burning oil altogether. Of course carbon buildup in those bikes was a problem, hence many owners had a "break it in hard" mentality, and when I owned an oilhead I made sure I readlined it every single ride.

My oilhead stopped using oil at about 10K miles.

My newer BMW, a "hexhead" 1200 flat twin, uses no oil whatsoever, but it does have a nifty oil level sensor to let me know all is ok.

I don't redline my Hyper so much, but I do use the cool shift light at 8,000 rpms (thats not redline is it?) pretty often.