Gluegun

[Gluegun]

Hi Guys,
I have recently become the owner of a new Ninja 250R, and I am thoroughly impressed, having owned many big, heavy bikes. What a pleasure! I believe in giving a new engine stick right out of the crate, (after warming it up throughly first, of course). (See http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm on breaking in a new engine, for those of you who have not read their view on the subject, which seems to make perfect sense).
My question, to which I would really appreciate your response, is: What constitutes a properly warmed up engine? What engine speeds should one not exceed after starting it up from cold? Can it be considered to be properly warmed up after having taken it easy for 1km? 2kms? 3kms? Considering the fact that not only the engine, but also the gearbox etc. needs to warm up, I don't even get into sixth gear before I consider the engine to be ready to be taken to the red line, or am I being over-cautious? Kindly let me know what you think and recommend regarding warming up, but also regarding running in a new engine really 'hard' as opposed to sticking to what one gets told in the Owner's Manual.

[bthornhill]

A little history on me first. I’ve been riding and racing motorcycles for twenty seven years total. I've owned 13 bikes from all four major jap manufactures 2-stroke and Four, raced amateur motocross 22 years, worked five years total between the motorcycle dealerships Plano Honda, DFW Honda, and Central Yamaha. Throughout my life and being involved with the sport of motorcycling I've always heard the two different philosophies on breaking in a new engine. I’ve discussed this topic with hundreds of customers before, and additionally mechanics, motorcycle reps, and racers. Up till this point I have always taken the easy route but I have never had it explained in detail like this man explains but It make perfect sense. I've seen major engine builders break in new engines on the dyno where I questioned the hard acceleration and then the massive compression breaking in my head but these select builders must have known what they were doing, I just failed to ask the question.

Also, as far as what type of oil to use I was always instructed to tell my customers only use motorcycle specific oil in your bikes because car oil has different ingredients like Moly, modified chemical molecules and ect. It was originally explained to me that cars have different reservoirs for the transmission, and clutch where specific chemical design would benefit one or the other. Motorcycles usually share these two components so you don’t want to add anything that can make your clutch slip. Anyways, I’m going to do what this guy says and use Valvoline or Halvoline for the first 1,500 miles as maybe this stuff does not have all the added wear protectants in it. Also a super idea is to follow his advice using synthetic oils.

As far as knowing when your engine is warmed up enough to ride a good rule of thumb is touch the side of the engine cylinder as it warms up. Take caution as if you leave your engine idling for longer then a couple of minutes or so depending on the bike/weather and you go to touch it, it can really burn you. As you start the bike let it idle for a minute or so and then touch the engine cylinder as it progressively gets warmer. When it’s to hot to touch then you have a good idea that it is warm enough to ride. Don't get tempted to blip the throttle and over rev the engine while it warms up. Also avoid using to much choke and long periods of use with the carb bikes. I saw countless people hit the choke and walk away from their bike while it idled to return five minutes later with it still going whining. This is more of an issue when it's cold outside because this is when the choke is most needed. Use the choke to only assist starting the bike and then lower it’s setting progressively until idle can be keep or turn it off four or five seconds after the bike starts. Again for fuel injected bikes you don’t have to worry about this but it’s good to know for the carb bikes like the 250R.

[Gluegun]

Many thanks for your reply! I'm sure that (especially) with modern high-revving engines, I am probably not alone when it comes to wondering at what stage of the warm-up process an engine can safely be taken to the rev. limit, without the additional fear of having your bank manager's suicide on your conscience.