Super Tenere Break In

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ballisticexchris

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richarddacat said:
Something else that’s odd.
Instead of measuring the oil I filled to the center of the sight glass.
After running it a bit it appeared I overfilled it. Needed to drain some out.

Guess it’s best to measure exactly and tweek accordingly.
Yeah Richard, this is my first bike with a "dry sump" engine. On my first oil and filter change I just added 3.4 liters and let it settle. It seems to take quite a while after running the motor for the oil to settle. It get really strange readings just by taking it off and on the center stand.

When I swap to synthetic I'll use my good old Motul 300V......
 

AVGeek

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richarddacat said:
Something else that’s odd.
Instead of measuring the oil I filled to the center of the sight glass.
After running it a bit it appeared I overfilled it. Needed to drain some out.

Guess it’s best to measure exactly and tweek accordingly.
Measuring the correct amount is your best course of action with this bike. With the dry sump, checking oil level is not just putting the bike on the center stand and looking at the sight glass..
 

Sierra1

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But, since weird s**t always happens to me....I measured the correct amount....put it in....drove off....and the oil light came on & stayed on. Put more in, and the bike seems to be happy, sooooo.... ::001::
 

Tanere

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Why not breath life into an old topic and debate with a new twist.

I am picking up my new "Tan"ere (yes) it is the Sandstone color so its his name is now Tanner. (anyway I digress).

I am picking up Tanner about 500 miles from home. I have watched the youtube videos, and read a number of posts on the break-in topic but still wonder how I am going to ride home and break in. So far I have figured I will take mainly backroads, but even some of them have long stretches were the speed limit is 65 mph. I am planning for this to be an ALL day affair with lots of breaks for Tanner to rest a bit and cool off.

Any thoughts on the best way to tackle this one.

Thank you in advance. (New Member Post and Pictures coming at end of month).
 

magic

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Why not breath life into an old topic and debate with a new twist.

I am picking up my new "Tan"ere (yes) it is the Sandstone color so its his name is now Tanner. (anyway I digress).

I am picking up Tanner about 500 miles from home. I have watched the youtube videos, and read a number of posts on the break-in topic but still wonder how I am going to ride home and break in. So far I have figured I will take mainly backroads, but even some of them have long stretches were the speed limit is 65 mph. I am planning for this to be an ALL day affair with lots of breaks for Tanner to rest a bit and cool off.

Any thoughts on the best way to tackle this one.

Thank you in advance. (New Member Post and Pictures coming at end of month).
I think you have a good plan. Take it easy on the bike, vary engine speeds, keep rpms under say 4,500, you'll have to stop at least 3 times for gas this will be a good time to let the bike cool down, check oil before leaving dealer, take it easy on the brakes and enjoy the ride. When you get home, it will be time for the 600 mile service. Congrats on the new bike!
 
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Tanere

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Thank you all for your responses. I understand the idea of not letting the bike stay at one RPM for any length of time, but what length is reasonable? Of i am out on a long stretch of flat straight Florida road, running cruise control should I vary the speed every 15, 30, 45 min. Also any idea what speed you get out of 4000 rpm in 6th?
 

EricV

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I've done this myself, picking up a new bike several hundred miles from home and riding it back home. You have a couple basic choices. 1. Do a moto man break in when you take it from the dealer, then come back and have them do a oil/filter change. It's a ~30 mile process. You will be amazed at the amount of crud that comes out of the engine after doing this. Then just ride home normally. I did that on my FJR and had it to 100k w/o issues. I did it with my '12 S10 and it was fine too. I lost a CCT at 83k miles, but that was un-related to the break in.

Or, do what you suggested, stick to back roads and vary your rpms, say no more than 15 minutes at a set rpm. Don't worry about how high the rpm goes, the manual simply says no sustained high rpms. You don't have to stay under a set limit and that's honestly not a good idea anyway. You're just breaking in the rings, not the cylinder bores. At 83k on my Super Ten you could still see the hone marks on the cylinders. Ceramic lined bores. Compression and decompression work together to break in the rings. So acceleration is fine, but decel is important too. Use the engine braking. Run it up in lower gears and then let it slow down in the same gear before running back up and up shifting. Remember that when you need to maintain a set speed, you can shift down or up to vary the rpms as needed.

When you get home and are ready for the 600 mile service, don't forget to change the final drive oil too. Keep changing the final drive oil every oil change until it comes out pretty clean, then start doing it at what ever interval you prefer.
 

Sierra1

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Just don't use the cruise control. Between wind, traffic, and your wrist, the speed will vary all on its own.
 

Eville Rich

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Eric's point about using engine braking is a good one. Get some RPMs and then let off the throttle. This helps the ring experience pressures high vacuum conditions and may help remove some little metal bits that scrape off.

I've done this with cars and motorbikes over the years and it's served well. Is it a placebo? Who knows. Don't really care. But it seems to work. Even in a Subaru with a CVT I've use the manual shifting mode to force engine braking. No issues with oil consumption for engines that had some known general problems in that that department.

Eville Rich
 

magic

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Thank you all for your responses. I understand the idea of not letting the bike stay at one RPM for any length of time, but what length is reasonable? Of i am out on a long stretch of flat straight Florida road, running cruise control should I vary the speed every 15, 30, 45 min. Also any idea what speed you get out of 4000 rpm in 6th?
4,000 rpm in 6th gear gets you 74 mph on the GPS.
 
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