breakin procedure

[Lowe119]

Do y'all follow the breakin procedure when you buy a new race bike?

[Super Dave]

The one the OEM book has?  

No.

[Lowe119]

So what would you suggest?
Or is that proprietary  ;)

[Super Dave]

Yeah, a little bit....for my students.

You might be able to search on the web for some different ideas.  

You could call my people at http://4and6.com and see what kind of idea they give you too....  847-763-9900

[Eric Kelcher]

heat cycle about 3-4 times with incrreasing load/ RPM each time. Change oil afterwards.  A heat cycle will take about 30 minutes to warm fully then apply throttle and increasing load (on Dyno or road, track) and about 2-4 hours to cool.

If it is toally new motor I would go with a oil change after 3-4 heat cycles then remain with dino oil and do 3-4 more easy heat cycles, get use to the bike, on the track change oil again and hammer it.

[mdr14]

I would do what all the Harley guys do:

1)Install straight pipes, 2) park the bike in front of your favorite tavern. 3) Go inside tavern. 4) Drink copius amounts of adult beverages. 5) Repeat step 4 untill closing. 6) After you are kicked out of bar start up your bike 7) rev the piss out of it ( while in neutral) for AT LEAST 5 minutes. Bonus point will be awarded for every minute after 5.

Drive home doing mad "Stunta" tricks.

Repeat this every weekend you possible can. Especially if your favorite tavern is in a residential area.

[J Farrell / Speed Tech Motorsp]

Listen to Mr. Moto Man. His theorys work. I credit him to the substantial power in my race bikes. 120.48 Hp out of a 04 ZX6RR with no Valve Job is pretty impressive to me. I did his theory on both of my brand new 04 ZX6RR's and they have absolutely no shortage of power.
His site is Mototuneusa.com. I recommend it. I'm testimonial to his theories.
The break in didn't get me all that power. It's a combnation of things that get it there. Proper fuel/air ratios / ignition timing / cam timing / fuel & compression ratio. Everything has to work together to create that kind of power. So when guys complain about factory riders bikes being so fast I just laugh. Well lets see here. They have 4-7 million dollar budgets per season to run the teams. I would tend to think that their bike are of course going to be faster than most privateer bikes. Because:
#1 Factory teams hire pretty competent mechanics that know a bit more about engines than your local bike shop. They have employees that never see a race track because all they are doing is R&D on motors everyday 50-60hrs a week to find more power. I don't think we can compare to that. Plus they work on the same engine day in and day out for years. Of course they are more likely to have more power.
#2 The Factory guys ride against fierce competion all the time and test bikes more than we know. They are on the track all the time. That's all they do. Regional levels of racing is nowhere near what Factory Levels are at. Their lines don't change but by nearly an inch or 2 every lap.
#3 There is something called cornering speed. When they blast past you coming out of a corner all you see is them flying by. You didn't see them catching you drastically into and through the turn planning to make a flyby on the way out.
#4 Most privateers don't check anything on their bikes before it takes to the track. Mechanics are held reliable for everything that happens to the bike. There are sheets that need to be filled out prior to the rider hopping on the bike. These sheets are records of who did what and what kind of setting the bike has. Anyone remember Tommy Hayden's seat coming off at Lauguna? Just so you know that guy no longer has a JOB because of it. Anyone see Kawasaki post their ad looking for mechanics? I was offered a job their but turned it down cause I feel I'm still a rider yet. Maybe in a few years.

It's reasons like that that the bikes achieve more HP and handle much better every year. So we should be thanking them for all their hard work to make better bikes. If you want someone to blame about the fact that there is such a bike gap between Pros and Privateers blame the AMA or CCS for not making such a class. I can go on and on. You can look at racing or life for that matter in many ways. Complain or do something about it. If their bikes are just too fast and you can't hang with them maybe you should reevaluate your thinking. Or better yet just stay on the porch or fight smaller dogs.

I know I'm a little off subject on this but I feel it's a topic that gets brought up a bit in racing.
Good luck getting your bikes ready for next season. In the mean time keep practicing and learning.
Don't get stale.
Happy holidays,
Jason Farrell
2 Wheel Authority
(920) 236-0000
 ;)

[Super Dave]

There you go.  Jason's on the money.

And Jason, congrats on the ride.

[Jeff]

I've always broken them in HARD.  My break-in includes a push from the showroom or warehouse to the dyno, warmup time and then it's full RPM dynos using the same method that Pat (mototuneusa.com I think) uses.

It's cool as you can watch the power increase with every run as the rings seat more and more.  From there, I'll change the oil, do whatever work I intend to do (pipe, gearing, etc etc etc) and hit the track.

After the 1st race day or full practice day, I again change the oil.  After 2-3 weekends, it's as broken in as it gets...

Now, to comment on the 'owners manual' methods and possible reasons...  If you're NOT racing a bike, you have a LOT of things to consider on breaking in.  Bedding in brakes, scrubbing the tires and most importantly, getting used to a NEW BIKE.  As a good rule of thumb, I tell street riders on a brand new bike to ride like they're on glass for the first 1000 miles at least.  By then, if they haven't crashed it, they will be somewhat used to the bike and can ride harder...