Do exactly what the owners manual tell you... I strongly suggest. They are the engineers and experts who designed the engine and know best how to take care of it. After 30 years of breaking in new auto, motorcycle and small aircraft engines, following the mfr's method is best. If you don't seat the piston rings properly, you will most likely have 100,000 miles of oil burning engine. Just a suggestion. I just took mine in for the 600 mile break in service. I followed the rules explicitely (sp).

 

To each his own, but... I have been a fan of the "hard" break-in method. I've never had any problems doing this, and it does seem to make more power this way. The only downside to consider is that if something does go wrong with your motor, Yamaha can put the repair cost off on you because you did not follow the recomended break in. My bike will be getting the recall work done in the next week or so, so I will be able to see what the pistons look like aftert the last "hard" break in.

 

I used to follow the easy break-in but I figure the post-recall breakin isn't quite the same as a brand new bike. When I get the bike back I'm going to warm it up for about 10 miles, make sure it feels like its running nice and then thrash the crap out of it. I decided this after reading a previous thread with a link tohttp://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm.

 

Ride it like you plan to ride it from the very beginning. Out of the crate I rode my Warrior hard throughout all gears hitting mid, high rpm's on a constant. Do not lug the bike or you will glaze the cylinders walls. Lugging is pansy assing the bike like a delicate flower it is not. Keep your gear and rpm's within its intended parameter's of operation. It will not hurt your engine if you bounce it off the rev-limiter every so often. My Warrior runs stronger today then it did 3 years ago.

 

Proper break-in procedures have been discussed/argued here many times in the past. Like Sangor, I have been breaking in engines for many years, 37 years in my case. Unlike Sangor, I have always used the hard method. I have always had excellent results. My engines have always out performed those who followed the owners manual. Easy break in will result in a nice running engine that will give you trouble free performance for years. Hard break in will do the same but will run away from the easy break in engines. No documented test results here, just my own experience.

 

I will admit that I know very little about the 'hard break-in' method. I have always errored on the side of caution, because I didn't have the extra $$$ if I screwed something up. I will use the above link from Oly and check into it. I'm glad I found this site and really appreciate the feed back.

 

Now that I know this....what do ya do for a bike that was broken in easy...How do ya know if your getting all of what your supposed to get out of your bike?

 

Once the rings are seated. That's it. Your bike if lugged will run like a fat bulldog next to a Warrior that was broke hard. You could drop new pistons/rings, clean up the cylinder walls and start from scratch would be your only and best option.

 

My buddy had a gsxr600 and fallowed the break in to the letter and the bike was a dog compared to the same year bike another guy had. they bought the bikes two weeks apart the other guy rode it like he stole it from day one his ring seated my Friends bikes rings did not the cylinders glazed over. He was so pissed by this he traded it for the gsxr 1000. He did the hard breakin on this one.

 

I tried to the easy break-in for a few miles but I found out it was not possible to ride a warrior slow.

 

Use the hard system for the first 100 miles. Your Warrior engine is not all new. Only the pistons rings and half transmission. Remember not use syntethic oil at first.

 

You only get one chance to do a hard break in and that's when the cross thatching is new on the cylinder walls. I've studied and tried both and I firmly believe that you will get a tighter engine with better compression and less oil consumption if you take advantage of the rough cross thatch and really seat your rings hard. After that it really makes no difference how you drive it. I broke my warrior in hard and it now has 10,000 miles on it and doesn't use oil between changes, somthing I find pretty remarkable in an air cooled engine.

 

I understand how the hard break in works, but what are we to do now? Our cylinders are not being rehoned (or are they?), so how do we break it in a second time.

 

I can't quite understand why you would want to break this bike in easy?? Ain't it made to go fast? How could you do it--to tempting to blip it These bikes are so over-engineered anyways, highly doubt any problems[B)]

 

Hard!!! ... enough said

 

i built a 347 strocker for my mustang 2 years ago the builder told me to make sure the heads have oil, start it, warm it up, THEN DROP THE CLUTCH!! HARD

 

When seating rings in any motor the worst thing you could do is drive it at the same speed, or poke around without any hard accel or decel. All that will do is wear the hatching off the walls and not seat your rings.

I agree with Darkstar and the rest that you have to put pressure on the rings to get them to seat. The only way to do that is rod the heck out of it. By the way, seating the rings optimally needs to be done as soon as you pull out of the dealers parking lot.

When I picked up my bike from the recall...95% of the 17 mile ride home was hard accel and decel.

 

I subscribe to the "beat the piss out of it" technique. I'm looking forward to "breaking it in" again.

 

I just read about the hard break in theory. Makes alot of sense to me.
I now have 170 miles on my bike since I got It back from recall. I've rode it pretty easy so far. Any opinions on if its too late to seat the rings properly?

 

Before the recall I had (jezz can't remember now) about 140 miles on the bike. I did the hard break in and it made a difference in throttle response and seemed to run smoother. So, in my opinion, it's still not too late to do it.

FF

quote:Originally posted by BENJAMMIN

I just read about the hard break in theory. Makes alot of sense to me.
I now have 170 miles on my bike since I got It back from recall. I've rode it pretty easy so far. Any opinions on if its too late to seat the rings properly?

 

Yea, thats what I was thinking. I guess I'll find out. Next time out I'm going to open her up. I've heard about the hard break in theory before but I never believed it. After reading the info at mototune, it sounds right. I wish I would have read this thread a week ago.

 

Broke my Warrior in hard, seemed to make the engine run well. Did my 600 mile service, then this week they got the parts for my tranny recall. Just got it back today. Mechanic said he put in new rings, I checked the recall notice and it does call out for new rings. So... started the hard break in process all over again but just remembered at the 600 service they switch from conventional to synthetic oil. According to the website with the hard break in info, hard break in is supposed to be done with conventional oil, synthetic doesn't work. Also according to the website it's having rough cylinder walls which help break in, but by now they'd have been smoothed out some. So if this is all true being able to do a hard break in is questionable after the recall when they've put in new rings, synthetic oil, and your walls aren't as rough anymore and haven't been re honed.

 

Here's my take on break in. As a professional mechanic most of my life, I've had a little experience and have been taught what is the right way. Doesn't mean I'm right, just my take. Piston rings obviously need to be seated into the cylinder walls. Which means 'ground in' to follow the conture of the cylinder. Everytime the piston rises on compression the compression gases flow into the gap above the ring and behind the ring forming pressure that pushes the ring into the cylinder wall. The more throttle you open the more gas and pressure on these rings. The idea is to grind these two materials together quickly before they loose their roughness to be able to grind. By simply babying the motor the rings can smooth out before they are seated (called glazing up). Heres the catch. Engine designers believe that there is alot of friction going on in the seating process. Thats why they limit the rpms lower. You don't need the rpms as much as the pressure in spurts. Rpms can build up too much heat too fast. Recommended break in is to run the motor into midrange rpm and open her up for short spurts to say 3/4 rpm, then back off the throttle. This puts extreme pressure on the rings for a short time, then by backing off it lets the rings contract again and the oil from the cyclinder walls wash and cool down the rings. After say 500 miles of this then higher rpm burts are safe. Hard coated cylinders as on the Warriors may take more abuse then cast iron cylinders, I really haven't heard much as far as different break in for these. Maybe someone out there has and can elaborate. I've been using this proceedure for years and haven't had any problems so far. KC.

 

Any ideas as to what break in is possible after you get your bike back from the tranny recall? You'll have new rings so it sounds like they have to be seated again but if the rest of the major components are the same as before and walls aren't re honed, and they've put in synthetic oil, it sounds like you could never seat them as well if at all? (I just had the recall done at about 900 miles on the odo, I'll keep trying the hard break in but maybe it'll just take longer?)

 

Same breakin as new. The cylinder walls are not quite as rough as new but the new rings are. The rings are what do the most seating anyway(wear wise). Might not make any difference on the syn oil, but as a precaution I would drain and run regular oil on breakin. KC.