[kians313]

I know this issue has been debated over and over... but figured now that we're all almost about time to collect new machines... might be opportune to visit again....

What do you reckon of this article?

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

Any thoughts on breaking in brake pads as well?

 

[blawrence]

well,, unless there is some third party verification,, it's hard to say. there would be little reason for him to make a lot of this up.

Over all, his page seems too much like an infomercial and I have never trusted infomercials. take the snuggy or oxy clean for example.
But this said I have heard several of the things he has said to do. (use natural oil for the break in and run the bike through the rev range,,, don't just chug-a-lug through town from light to light.. put some load on it etc..)

 

[flynbulldog]

I live close to the shop that builds motors for two of the privateer WSBK Ducati riders, Jacob Smrz and ...i dunno the other guy.

I talked to him about break-in and they say "ride it like you stole it"... They will put a fresh motor in a bike and take it out on the track and put the beatdown on it from the start.

They also like to do a quick break-in on the dyno, a series of blasts through the rev range.

I don't have the guts to follow their suggestions, I'm breaking mine in by the book. But these guys build these motors every day and they insist that there's no need to follow a slow methodical break-in.

I'll stick with what Ducati tells me thank you very much

 

[Bohdan]

Here is more balanced explanation from somebody who makes his living tuning engines:

http://www.power-tripp.com/Break-in.html

This is very knowledgeable guy - even if you do not plan to follow what he says, it is quite enlightening reading. One member from Triumph website, who also was speaking against "tough love" break-in, after reading this article did agree with most of it (and he works as mechanical engineer for company professionally testing and tuning engines). Similar opinion was also published approx. 2 years ago in "Motorcyclist".
You feel safe breaking it gently, but you punish yourself and risk having engine to not seal properly. When my SFS is here (2 weeks?) I plan to break it in using this method, as I did with excellent results for my last 2 bikes. Both bikes had above average dyno results and did not use a drop of oil neither during nor after break-in period.

 

[blawrence]

I suppose this means i should change my oil and then ride it like I stole it good deal,, now I just gotta wait till the road dries up

 

[jones525]

Does anyone know?

What type of oil the SF comes from the factory with? Dino or Syn?

 

[TallyRex]

I have been told that Ducati redlines the engine at the factory. There must be a reason why they require the slow break-in period. I know lots of riders who use the fast break-in with no problems but I have always followed the factory recommendations and have never had a problem.

 

[blawrence]

I went ahead and changed the oil (no harm type of thing) and there was a significant amount of metal in the oil.
I plan on also doing the loading and unloading driving, but nothing significantly above 6000 rpms (I may hit 7k if I am really living crazy).. I don't want to err too much from factory recommendation. I only had a 100 miles on the motor but with the synthetic oil hopefully it's not too late for the rings to be honed in. I do want to make sure it's all seated well. as well I am not riding it till it has warmed up completely (I used to just hop on and take off but drive nicely till the motor warmed but decided even that is probably too much)
I may change the oil again tonight to see what comes out this time.

hopefully all this won't make anything worse, and even more hopefully it will help. :abduct:

 

[jones525]

Wow...

I went ahead and changed the oil (no harm type of thing) and there was a significant amount of metal in the oil.
I plan on also doing the loading and unloading driving, but nothing significantly above 6000 rpms (I may hit 7k if I am really living crazy).. I don't want to err too much from factory recommendation. I only had a 100 miles on the motor but with the synthetic oil hopefully it's not too late for the rings to be honed in. I do want to make sure it's all seated well. as well I am not riding it till it has warmed up completely (I used to just hop on and take off but drive nicely till the motor warmed but decided even that is probably too much)
I may change the oil again tonight to see what comes out this time.

hopefully all this won't make anything worse, and even more hopefully it will help. :abduct:

Could you imagine that crap circulating for 600mi! My SFs delivery has been put off for 1 week, so i'm going to buy a couple filters in the meantime and some dino oil.

P.S. following the recommendation of the power-tripp website I am going to buy some of these and stick them on the filters...

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BY041

Might be "snake oil" but if that junk in your oil was ferrous, this will trap it.

J.

 

[TheDucnutOfBevelville]

just thinking out loud here ..... I wonder what would happen if we had an internal mechanical failure .... can they access the ecu and see what max rpm was run in the last bit of time the bike was ridden??? (extremely remote scenario but like I said JTOL).

 

[blawrence]

I don't know about motorcycles but I know they can on some cars. I don't think it would void any warranty if they could.

 

[748vinny]

I live close to the shop that builds motors for two of the privateer WSBK Ducati riders, Jacob Smrz and ...i dunno the other guy.

I talked to him about break-in and they say "ride it like you stole it"... They will put a fresh motor in a bike and take it out on the track and put the beatdown on it from the start.

They also like to do a quick break-in on the dyno, a series of blasts through the rev range.

I don't have the guts to follow their suggestions, I'm breaking mine in by the book. But these guys build these motors every day and they insist that there's no need to follow a slow methodical break-in.

I'll stick with what Ducati tells me thank you very much

I just got off the phone with him and was told the same thing. He said in the long run the bike will make more power by riding the piss out of it now. I have no reason not to believe what he tells me plus it's still under warrenty!

 

[freezerburn]

I have been doing hard accelerations and hard decells but have been a bit conservative with rpms. Never considered heat cycles. Wish I did.

 

[Bohdan]

Could you imagine that crap circulating for 600mi! My SFs delivery has been put off for 1 week, so i'm going to buy a couple filters in the meantime and some dino oil.

P.S. following the recommendation of the power-tripp website I am going to buy some of these and stick them on the filters...

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BY041

Might be "snake oil" but if that junk in your oil was ferrous, this will trap it.

J.

I put several neodymium magnets (8) surrounding the base of the filter on every of my bikes. They work, believe me. I also replace oil pan plug with the one with built in magnet - and on every oil change, even after 20k miles there are some magnetic particles on it.

Better magnets are these:
http://www.emovendo.net/magnets/motor-magnets/
- first on the page, XMOD motor magnets - these are convex, so better stick to cylindrical surface of filter base.

Now the question to those who changed oil - does SF has magnet in the oil plug? Or should I order plug with magnetic tip?

 

[jones525]

Following break in...

Ok, so I finally took delivery of my SFs and I'm following the recommendations of Motoman and the power-tripp website with several exceptions...

1) I dont have the guts to switch to non-synthetic oil at my 20 mile oil change.

2) I'm loading the engine as per the articles including the complete cool downs but I'm staying close to the 6k rpm recommendations per Ducati

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

http://www.power-tripp.com/Break-in.html

I was really tough to ride the SFs for 13 miles home form the dealer then put it away to cool completely! Tomorrow I'll ride it another 15 miles or so, loading the engine and then change the oil...

Does anybody else have thoughts on straying from the Ducati, well, all manufacturer, recommendations? Any thoughts on the procedures at the above links?

Thanks!

 

[zvez]

I've always pretty closely adhered to the break-ins on all the new bikes I had, long term never had any issues with them.

Different anecdotal "break-in" concepts have been on the net for ages. Everything from "adhere to manuf. recommendations" to "ride it like you stole it". I never really recall anything more than seat of the pants analysis for any of these different break-in theories so suppose I'll just keep on keepin on.

Chris

Ok, so I finally took delivery of my SFs and I'm following the recommendations of Motoman and the power-tripp website with several exceptions...

1) I dont have the guts to switch to non-synthetic oil at my 20 mile oil change.

2) I'm loading the engine as per the articles including the complete cool downs but I'm staying close to the 6k rpm recommendations per Ducati

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

http://www.power-tripp.com/Break-in.html

I was really tough to ride the SFs for 13 miles home form the dealer then put it away to cool completely! Tomorrow I'll ride it another 15 miles or so, loading the engine and then change the oil...

Does anybody else have thoughts on straying from the Ducati, well, all manufacturer, recommendations? Any thoughts on the procedures at the above links?

Thanks!

 

[MTScott2]

My break in ritual was to go sort of easy till it got up to norman operating temp, then put it thru its paces not to red line but to about 5-6ooo rpm up a hill then let off then go down hill at 5-6ooorpm then let off (engine breaking) then put it thru a 10 mile highway run then around town then let it cool off for a few hours , then do it again.I really don't think you can hurt it by being somewhat aggressive...Brakes use gently at first drag slightly never locking up Go thru all gears lots of throttle blips Getting bike to operating temp before opening full throttle , short blasts...... A friend of mine babied his new F- 250 truck it has used oil since day one .A quart between oil changes ... That is the only drawback otherwise truck runs fine...... Your choice how you do it...

 

[blackie]

Mine got a good taterin.. & continues to do so, Its a fuckin engine not a puppy

 

[clydesride]

That was funny.... an engine, not a puppy!

I did the run it hard break-in on my Multi and I had great results....

Making plans for the SF now, we will see how it goes but got clearance from Mrs tonight, waiting for word on trades from dealer.... drum roll please?

Dave

 

[blackie]

See i dont know about you lot , but i see these problems with Dukes & a lot of them seem to stem from folk not using them.

They polish them , go out for a 10 mile ride , then back home. Never use it in the rain, polish it, Keep it under wraps all winter, polish it.
Then problems ..I took it out for its first ride in 3 years & its broken......
I know some folk have them as collections i have no probs with that.

I use mine all the time, thrash it, yes i polish it & jet wash it....

My 999 still looks like new but has 12000 miles on it. so now its out of "some owners territory" as its classed as high mileage.

My SF has 700 miles on it now in 2 weeks......

This got me into trouble on another forum , but in the UK Duke owners are seen as total nobbers who tootle around & have them just to show off..
We need to try to change some folks perception of us as owners. I,m not saying thrash the shit out of yer bikes.