Rx3 engine break in

[Ron B]

CSC sent a paper with the bike saying to keep it under 5000rpm for the first 500mi. How did you break your engine in ? seems like an excessive amount of time to run that low a rpm. thats not even making the speed limit in some places around town.

[Eco Mouse]

Just ride it how, you are going to ride it.

(remember, every bike that leaves the factory was run at redline for an hour anyway)

[detours]

There are lots of opinions on break-in procedure and I can't say any of them are wrong. For myself, I fall on the conservative side.

Engine Break-in

I agree that it's really hard to keep this engine under 5000 RPM. But IMO, for the first 500 miles try and keep the RPMs between 3500 and 6000 (under 7000 RPM for sure) to achieve a nice variable load that doesn't stress out your engine. A lot of this happens naturally, depending on curves and terrain. Rolling hills put the perfect load on your engine and let you naturally speed up and slow down. Curves do much the same, if you have any roads that follow a river or canyon.

The important thing is to vary your speed and load, so you're not pegging 6 or 7000 RPM for 20 minutes trying to get somewhere. Ease the RPMs down to 5500, then gradually bring them back up to 7000. Then drop them again. After 500 miles, you can be a lot freer with the throttle, but under 1000 miles, it's still a good idea to gradually increase the amount of time you spend at any given load, speed and RPM.

Also, keep an eye on your engine temps (2 bars), oil level (half of sight glass) and coolant level (half of the overflow bottle).

Brakes Bed-in

The front brakes on the RX3 need some help to properly bed in. I recommend going to an empty parking lot with a new bike and doing a series of 3 or 4 fast stops in a straight line from 25 mph. Let the brakes cool for a minute or two. Then do more stops from 35 mph and cool down. Then from 45 mph and cool down.

If at any time during this process you feel like your brakes are getting weaker, they're probably just too hot from this workout. Let them cool down for several minutes before continuing. Cool-down is very important.

This procedure will dramatically improve their stopping power right away, but the front brakes will continue to improve over the first 1000 miles as you ride.

Tire Break-in

For tire break-in, warm them up for 10-15 miles on normal roads. Then do some turns, gradually increasing lean angle over the first 50 or so miles. Some manufacturers recommend 100 miles to fully break in a motorcycle tire.

Remember that as you lean on a new tire, the edges aren't worn in yet and may be slippery. Some riders run sandpaper over the tire surface to speed up this process.

General Break-in Advice

Also use the first 500 miles to get to know your bike as a whole. How it sounds in different gears and under load. Listen for vibration, whining, buzzing, squeaks, etc. If anything sounds or feels funny, chase it down or ask questions.

All metal parts stretch, bend and compact under load. So recheck your bolts, cables and chain every so often, especially during break-in. Problems are rare, but you may find a poorly seated bearing, cooling issues, braking issues, loose cables, etc. It's better to find and adjust these things at low speed than at high speed.

[AdventureDad]

Very good advice. Don't forget the oil changes. I "think" gerry at CSC recommended 200 miles and again @ 1000. I think I'll do 50, 200, 500 & 1000, checking the valves @ 500, 1000 and 2500.
If I'm totally off, please make suggestions.

[detours]

Originally Posted by AdventureDad

Very good advice. Don't forget the oil changes. I "think" gerry at CSC recommended 200 miles and again @ 1000. I think I'll do 50, 200, 500 & 1000, checking the valves @ 500, 1000 and 2500.
If I'm totally off, please make suggestions.

On a new RX3, I like oil changes at 200 miles, 500 miles and 1000 miles. Then 2500 or 3000 miles thereafter with my paper filter.

[pyoungbl]

Ah, an oil change thread. The paperwork that came with my bike said to change oil and filter at 500 miles. Since CSC had already changed the oil once that would have removed manufacturing swarf, 500 miles of break-in sounds reasonable. I'll send an oil sample to Blackstone for analysis and then proceed based on what they report. The next oil change, per CSC, should be in another 2500 miles. Once again, send a sample to Blackstone and go with their recommendation. More frequent oil changes can't hurt anything but they certainly seem like a waste of time and money (particularly with the cost of the oil filter) if the oil is still within spec.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

Peter Y.

[2LZ]

Like detours, I've always been on the conservative side on break-ins and all of my motors have lasted a very long time. Is this due to the easy break-ins and fanatical oil changes? I have no idea...but I want to give it a fighting chance for longevity. I manage to keep my bikes and most of my cars a very long time.

[Ron B]

Ive owned a few new bikes over the years , but none of them had this kind of break in. Most of them just wanted you to run them through about a 10 or 12 heat cycles then just ride them like you normally would.

[detours]

The break-in for my Vstrom 650 was similar to the RX3, but it had more usable power under 5000 RPM too, so you didn't feel so handicapped for 500 miles.

I imagine the strict instructions come from an overabundance of caution. But on the other hand, I know of one new RX3 owner who burned up his engine pinning the throttle on the freeway during the break-in period. There may have been other factors, like low coolant, low oil level or high outside temps ... who knows. But starting slow and watching engine temps and coolant levels might have saved his engine.

[AdventureDad]

Detours, sage advice on the break in. Not to easy, not too hard. And remember, you only have to do it once

[madsocial]

Originally Posted by pyoungbl

Ah, an oil change thread. The paperwork that came with my bike said to change oil and filter at 500 miles. Since CSC had already changed the oil once that would have removed manufacturing swarf, 500 miles of break-in sounds reasonable. I'll send an oil sample to Blackstone for analysis and then proceed based on what they report. The next oil change, per CSC, should be in another 2500 miles. Once again, send a sample to Blackstone and go with their recommendation. More frequent oil changes can't hurt anything but they certainly seem like a waste of time and money (particularly with the cost of the oil filter) if the oil is still within spec.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

Peter Y.

I had no idea anyone did that! WOW! I'm going to test my car too. lol

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by Ron B

Ive owned a few new bikes over the years , but none of them had this kind of break in. Most of them just wanted you to run them through about a 10 or 12 heat cycles then just ride them like you normally would.

Originally Posted by AdventureDad

Detours, sage advice on the break in. Not to easy, not too hard. And remember, you only have to do it once

For my RX3 I kept the engine speed under 8,000 rpms for about 2,000 miles. I also varied the engine rpms, and didn't maintain the same engine speed for long periods of time. Then I rode the bike normally.

Quite frankly, unless you constantly punish the engine, I don't think it makes much difference how you conduct an engine break-in. That's why people have such good success with so many different methods.

[DanKearney]

I did exactly what the manufacturer said to do. I'm funny that way however. If I didn't follow the manufacturer's stated procedure and then suffered an engine failure how could I expect them to cover a repair under warranty?

I figure the engineers that designed the motor have a pretty good idea (Even if it is very conservative) of the proper way to bed the motor in. I won't second guess them.

Cheers,

Dan K.

[rjmorel]

On a new bike ,I avoid extremes. Don't ride it down the freeway for hours on end at 7-8000 rpm. I think one RX3 owner kinda did this and ruined his motor ??? And don't lug it around town under 3-4000rpm like grandpa. rj

[superdude]

Originally Posted by Eco Mouse

Just ride it how, you are going to ride it.

(remember, every bike that leaves the factory was run at redline for an hour anyway)

I'd like to point out I dont remember myself or any other RX-3 riders I know getting that paper with our bikes when we got shipment..so I think it is very intentional on CSC's part to include that in there now probably due to unintentionally ignored break in procedures by new riders. And it definitely should be heeded regardless of what our other experiences are on other bikes so you can minimize any potential risk of engine failure.

Originally Posted by rjmorel

On a new bike ,I avoid extremes. Don't ride it down the freeway for hours on end at 7-8000 rpm. I think one RX3 owner kinda did this and ruined his motor ??? And don't lug it around town under 3-4000rpm like grandpa. rj

Yes this was my buddy and he was riding his new RX-3 on freeway at 8k for too long with less than 100 miles on bike and the cam chain jumped and he bent a valve. If he would of had that paper probably would of not of happened because he would of opted for back roads instead. He also just bought a new triumph last week and his brand new triumph for 17k had stricter break in protocols and limitations than the RX-3, and the dealer told him to make sure he follows.