Harley breakin period?

[Dave Nadeau]

Ok now that I have had the C50 for sometime (16000 miles in 16 months) the wife says its time to start lookin for a new ride. She sat on the back of an 08 electra glide yesterday and liked it.

I was just courious what is the break in proceedure for a new HD? Fishpart anyone... What did you do vs what the owners manual says to do?

[dlrshort]

If it is like the '07's, break in is not to use full throttle and vary speeds for the first 500 miles. First service is at 1000 miles.

[MoonRunner]

I have done the Joe Minton recommended break in the last 4 Harleys I've had. He says with todays fine tuned machining and factory refinement that really all one needs to do is properly seat the rings and that is not done by babying the bike. Run the bike 10-30 miles to thoroughly warm it up and make sure there are no strange sounds that would indicate loose or mis-assembled parts. Then get the bike up to 35mph in third gear, give it wide open throttle to 65 mph then release the throttle letting it engine break back to 35. Run this third gear cycle from 35 to 65 back to 35 ten times without stopping or touching the brakes: you're done, the rings are seated. This should be done at a comfortable time of day, not over 80 degrees and where you have room to accomplish without traffic. After seating the rings you still shpuld vary cruising speeds for the first 1000 miles and avoid the liberal use of redline RPMs but you can ride pretty normally and rev freely through the gears. HD says change oil at 1000 miles. I changed the engine oil and filter at 250 after this breakin process. I'll still take it in to the dealer for initial service by 1500 because HD and the dealer insists on the first service done by the dealer to validate the warranty.
Mintons article was in American Rider Magazine. This link is from Mototune and has similar info: Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power
I had a friend break his in just as Harley said and the thing used a Qt of oil every 1000 miles from day one. My SE doesn't use a drop in over 4000 miles nor did my RK Custom.

[Rickster]

It's really no different than any other bike. As dlrshort said, don't run it at a steady RPM for the first 500 miles, and stay away from holding the throttle open. Personally, I don't think giving it full throttle for 1, or 2 seconds will hurt anything as long as the motor is warmed up good, but for sure don't hold it open.

On the subject of warming the engine up, Harley's seem to be susceptible to valve problems if you do a lot of revving of the motor when it's cold. Air cooled motors don't have as tight of tolerances, as liquid cooled ones do, and you need to let everything heat up, and expand, before you get heavy handed with your right wrist.

The other thing I do is just a quirk of mine, and I do it with all my new motors. even lawn mowers. I change the oil, and filter right away, between 50, and 100 miles on a motorcycle. My idea is to get any particulate that might be left over from assembly out.

MoonRunnerI'm pretty sure, it's illegal for a dealer to require you to have them do the break-in service, in order to validate the warranty. I have 16,000 miles on my Road King, and it's never been back to the dealer. I have heard good things about the Minton procedure, but I have never used it myself. My FLHRI also doesn't use a drop of oil.

[Dave Nadeau]

Rick,
I actually used the MOTOTUNE procedure on my C50 with great results. I will probably do the same on the next ride. We are going to rent a new Electraglide in a few weeks and head up into the Green Mountains of Vermont. We did it (400 miles) two weeks ago and had a blast so the wife feels that it would be a good deal to test one out on a trip like that. Better then a ride around the block and then speed 20k and not like it. Well I would like it, but she is the VP of Entertainment and Finance!! So I make sure she gets a vote .

IF you get my drift..........

[Rickster]

Cool, your going to love that cruise control.

I have heard that some dealers will refund you the rental fee if you wind up buying a bike from them.

[NA7A]

2nd DLRSHORT....

Did this on my 07 and all seems well...power and torque is good.

[Fishpart]

I did it just like the factory said and I did it in one day (the day I picked it up). Over 13,000 miles so far and no problems. Note: I also broke M50 in the way factory said.

[mtalicarox]

Originally Posted by Dave Nadeau

I was just courious what is the break in proceedure for a new HD? Fishpart anyone... What did you do vs what the owners manual says to do?

My friends dad had a road king.. i don't know how similar to the bike you want is, but he's a mechanic for cars, and has had probably 20 motorcycles over his life.. big rider, takesa about a 600 mi road trip EVERY weekend. When i got my bike, I asked him - what's the break in procedure for the gsxr 1000 (i had the manual, just wanted his advice) that you would recommend(his son has a gsxr750 and his other one has a 600) so he knows what hes talkin about all bikes considering he fixed the 750 when his son slid it out arouund a corner and did all sortsa bad things to it. Anyways - for the break in procedure.. he goes "there's 2 theories on break in procedures - follow the manual, or do what I do and break it in by riding it how youre going to ride it - just make sure you follow the servicing check ups. Riding like the break in period then the second ur done driving like a mad man will still be taking a bike thats used to one thing and forcing it to work harder than the break in period, so I'd say drive it like yuo want and it will break in just fine"

so thhats what I did. Hope that helps.

[Dave Nadeau]

Hey Fishpart,
Just wondering...how far is it from the Harley Plant near you to say Laural, Md? I might be going down there in a few weeks and I might talk the wife into going for a look see.

[Fishpart]

Dave,

From Laural Md, I want to say about 75-80 miles. I live 7 miles from the plant and the tour is pretty interesting.