Good or bad idea to break-in new bike on the track?

Well, they're allowed to rebuild more often than I am.

Seriously, there is such a contrast in budgets and expectations of equipment to make many general analogies.

But I do agree with you guys 100 percent on running in a little harder than the book.

 

They are not allowed to rebuild...much. They are only allowed several motors for the entire season. Tdub

 

I think this thread deserves a disclaimer:
The "Yes - you'll be perfectly fine" do not apply to Buells.


Did a trackday today and a Buell rider on an 1125R or XB12R blew his engine breaking in his bike. And when I say "blew" I literally mean into shattering pieces all over the track: pistons, case cover, oil cooler, etc.

The Buell rider blew his engine and ran off course. The rider behind him fixated on him and followed. I was right behind them when all this occurred and tried my best to stay focus on dodging all the flying parts. From my split second perspective, I initially thought it was his exhaust but it was in fact his engine, or rather pieces of it.

Came back into the pits covered in oil: Bike/helmet/leathers/tires.

 

Yep.

I took the brand new Triumph 675 race bike to the track when it had a whopping 2 tenths of a mile on it. It was the first time the bike rolled on pavement. Bone stock and NESBA taped up!

I used the same way as http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

I changed the oil and filter at lunch, re-checked the fluids, and went balls out in the afternoon. No problems at all.

 

When Honda was still building bikes here in the US, I was at their motorcycle plant a number of times and out at the motorcycle assembly line whenever I could. The first thing they did when a bike was fully assembled was put it on a dyno on the line and run it up to rev line and check to make sure all is OK (motor, lights, horn, turn signals, etc). Next they would take it outside and ride it around the road simulation track. This is where the .2 or .3 miles on their new bikes came from. And they do the same thing with all the cars they make as well.
So based on what I saw, I'd agree that the manufacturer recommended break-in probably isn't necessary, especially when the manufacturer does that to the bike right at the get-go.

 

Sorry - run the bike to RED line, not rev line...

 

Comparing a purpose-built engine to a street bike? :crackhead: As with every engine, and Rossi is no exception here, break-in is required. The difference, however is that he has a team of engineers who design the engine for its purpose, hand pick engines, run them through their paces on the dyno and even break them in for him (dyno simulations) so he can just get on and go.

The manufacturers instructions are conservative for sure, but beating the snot out of the engine at the track can cause bore glazing to occur just as running the engine at light loads/idle can do the same. If this occurs the piston ring and cylinder wall will never seal properly. Just run the engine normally with varying loads and you'll be fine.

 

My thoughts exactly.

Somebody else said you need a couple hundred miles of opening and closing the throttle, varying RPM's...what do you think happens on the track?

Varying RPM's, building compression via engine braking, several heat cycles...the track is an excellent place to break in a new bike. I have done it myself and I know many people who have also done it.

Just take some oil and a filter with you and change it at lunch or at the end of the first day.

I use the "mototune" method on every bike, even non-track bikes. Hell, my Triumph Sprint ST (touring bike) even got a hard break-in performed.

I have performed a hard track-ish type break in (whether performed on the track or the street) on 10 brand new motorcycles and thousands of miles later (street and track), not one single problem...on any of them.

 

Rossi/Fiat Yamaha maybe yes, but smaller factory and privateer teams don't have the luxury of engineers or dynos to break in an engine. 2-stoke guys in particular are always rebuilding their top ends at a race week-end.

The car world is no different. In Pro drag racing, teams often have to tear down Saturday's engines and rebuild them for Sunday's runs. 1200 HP and nitro fuels have a way of shortening the life of a piston from months to minutes.

 

ive read somewhere and they had comparison pictures of engines being broken in by the owners manual way and a way by basicly racing it to break it in. also they said to change the oil after like 20 miles. anyway the race break in made for a much healthier engine. its something about the seals being sealed better when u do it that way. and changing the oil soon is because of all the metal shavings that happen in the first part of the engines life. the way to do it is to go full throttle and let the rpms go up and down up and down full throttle or 3/4.

 

Two completely different motors. One is more suited to powering farm implements than motorcycles.

 

Bought my 2009 ZX6 about 4mths ago now, rolled it into the pit garage with 0km on the odo and gave it curry from the first session.
I'm about 15 track days into it now and it has awesome power compared to the other 600's that i pass on the straight, and never misses a beat.

It's like a dog, teach it to do what you want it to do right from the start!

 

Never heard it put that way, but I reckon it works.

Btw, your '09 Ninja having more power on the straights isn't necessarily due to the break-in...it is primarily due to the bike having more power off the showroom floor.

 

Does anyone have a bike that WAS damaged by breaking it in on the track????


I think that would be a MUCH shorter list.



Oh, and crashing doesn't count, and neither do Buells/HDs

 

The engine won't just grenade if you don't break it in properly. It's much more subtle than that which is why we have so much anecdotal evidence as to what works and what doesn't.

I'll go with an engineer who designed my engine over some anecdotal information you may read on websites.

 

So if an engineer told you to jump off the nearest bridge...............

I bet every pro racing team in the world using production based engines breaks them in per the manufacurers recomendations. I don't think so. I'd go by an experienced engine builders break-in procedure before I'd go by an owners manual.

 

I've used the Motoman method for my last couple bikes. :up:

 

Terrible analogy; a non sequitur.

You're entitled to your opinion.

Engine engineering is an established science and I'd go with an OEM engineers' recommendation who designed and tested the engine before I'd trust anyone else. What you may argue is that the engineers' goal (published in the manual) may be different from a racer who's willing to sacrifice everything to gain a few HP, for example longevity, but you can't tell me someone who designed the engine knows less about it than an engine builder or a pro race team. That's like you going to a doctor and he tells you to follow a certain protocol to get better and you say "I know better" and do your own thing. It may work for you, but the doctor does recommend a tried and tested method.

 

:crackhead: