I'll be getting a 07 VFR in a couple weeks. It's got 400 miles on it and it's at a dealer. Question: How to break it in not knowing how the previous owner was breaking it in? Does it matter at 400 miles? I'd appriciate any thoughts/opinions. Thanks
According to the owners manual; for the first 300 miles before riding let the motor warm up to operating temp and then do not agressively accelerate during the 300 mile period. Does not seem like much of a break-in, on my Kawasakis I have owned break-in was to keep rpm below 3K for first 100 miles and then incrementally up to 1K before you let her loose.
Check out this link; http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm I've rebuilt and broken in a whole bunch of engines, both motorcycle and auto, and had not used this technique ever before. However, I must also add that it has been at least 15 years since I have done any major overhauls on anything. The reason I mention this is because things change, as the author of the article points out. Metal technology and lubricants have come a long way... I bought a new '07, and had about 100 miles on it before I read this article. It made sense to me, and on my next ride I followed his suggested procedure (although it almost killed me to do so; it just seemed wrong...). The only exception I made was not pulling all the way to redline until I had about 300 miles on it. I changed the oil and filter at about 380 miles (non-synthetic), and then repeated the same excercise. Interstingly enough, the idle speed when it was new was about 1200 rpm. After the first oil change and a couple of rides, it was about 1450 rpm. I am hoping this is a good thing... I'll change oil and filter again at about 1500 miles, at which point I'll use Golden Spectro 10-40 synthetic blend. Hope this helps!
According to Honda's manual for this bike, break in is at 300 miles, first service is at 600 miles. With that said, your new bike is already broken in.
after 400 miles I say just go for it. You have no idea what the guy did before, so you have nothing to be gained by babying it now. Ride it now like you are going to ride it for good, let the engine get it's final break in and you will be in good shape. Enjoy the bike! If the idle moves slightly, just tune it with the idle knob a bit and see if it moves again, im thinking it shouldn't.
Don't follow Motoheads breakin, the motors he breaks in are for racing and not street bikes. Longevity is improtant if you plan on holding on to your bike. Think about it, why would the manufacture recommend a procedure that would decrease the life of the motor? What would they have to gain? All it would do would give them a bad rep for manufacturing motors that don't last and sale would plummit. I looked up the break-in in the manual and it states: "Help assure your motorcycle's future reliability and performance by paying extra attention to how you ride during the first 300 miles. During this period, aavoid full-throttle starts and rapid acceleration." That's it, follow the recommendations and then if you want to flog it, by all means do so. Enjoy!
It's is very basic really according to Honda, their basically telling you to ride like ya wanna just take it easy. Thats means go over 3k, use the VTEC range, just don't do anything to abrupt that would cause extreme loads on the engine. I would change the oil a couple extra times though.
things to be avoided are very high rpm, too low rpm (lugging), overheating situations, too much throttle for engine speed, running at constant speeds for extended periods, running a cold engine too hard.
This is a good point. I changed mine at 300 and again at 600 miles. That is the first thing you should do when you pick the bike up.
I agree with the guys that say to change oil very early in the game. I think its good to do this to rid the crankcase on any contaminates that your filter cant catch. If I were the guy getting the bike with 400 miles ,I would drain the old stuff out,regardless if the dealer said that he just did it,and use a good non synthetic oil and a new Honda oil filter even though there are better filters out there. Then ride it like the bike had 5000 miles on it. eddie
many arguments, some persuasive, state that using synthetic oil early in a bike's history may not be the best idea and that more miles should accumulate before changing over, so consider it.
400 miles? JMO.....its well broke in already..change the oil and just drive it.as you want!.. I have never made it more than 50 miles on any bike sled or auto i ever bought without calling it ready and drivng the crap outa it.Actually I did drive nice for the first 40 miles on my 06.....Never had a dud either..Just make sure it nice and warmed up and get to it.... always works for me. then again nothin wrong with puttin if you can do it.
Thanks guys. Think I'll change the oil a.s.a.p. after getting the bike then switch to syn at 2500K miles. That worked great on the ST (both v4's). I'll just be sure it's warmed up before dropping the hammer. Thanks again.
