Running in Xl 700

[daveXL700]

Hi


Picking it up today so just wondering if anybody has any opinions on running it in. Spoke to the Honda dealer who I bought it off & they were saying the requirement of the running in period is not very important nowdays with the build quality of the bikes. He just suggested not too hard on the revs for a few hundred miles.

Any opinions out there ??


Cheers

Dave

[owdoggy]

I was always taught to keep it under two thirds of the rev range but don't load it up low down either until after the first service .....which is 600 miles on most of the new bikes I've had. It seems a lot but when you're on your new toy those miles just go in a flash
Of course, me being the age I am (er ...... mature shall we say), that was in the days when it was accepted practise to run new engines in and I know of people who've thrashed the doo dahs off it from day one and had nae bother so yer pays yer money & takes yer chance but my advice would be to just gan canny kidda

You getting yours already!!! Must ring the dealer up & see where mine is 'cos I haven't been on the phone to 'em for .......... oooh ........ let me think ............ at least a day

Enjoy yersel


Doggy

[donkster]

the usual 2/3rds maximum rev rule is an easy way for the dealers to give you an easily understandable rule to abide by, when the reality is that sustained high revs is the thing to avoid, going to the limiter occasionally for short periods of time is no problem. Sustained high revs can cause thermal hot spots in an engine not run in, which is what you want to avoid. To be honest though production tolerances are so high that I would just drive it as you want.

[StumpyFingers]

It may not be necessary to run in a bike engine nowadays.
I would still be inclined to take it easy until the first service, just in case the fitter was not in tune on the day he put the parts together.

[The Pheasant]

Running in may not be an absolute necessity these days, but it will have an effect on the bike's later performance. Keep revs lowish for the first 500 miles, for sure, but try to make the motor work through whatever rev band you are sticking to. I.e., do not simply ride along at a steady 4000rpm. Instead, give the bike lots of accelerations through the rev band at varying but not full throttle, increasing the max throttle as you get close to the 500 miles.
After the first service, continue the process; incrementally increase the max revs and max throttle until after 750 miles or so you are accelerating hard right through the rev range to the red line on max throttle. Once this is done a few times, you can ride the bike how you want; the engine will be fast, tight and durable. Run in this way, my old Kawa GPZ500S would still do 125mph after 140,000 miles.

[Wee Jack]

I don't know what the official line is on this but - I always keep to a max 5k RPM for the first 500 - 600 miles , but use all the rev range up to 5k and use all the gears , maxing out at 5k for each change. After that use all of the rev range but nothing harsh till about 1000 miles.

A point to remember that it is also bad (perhaps worse) to use too few revs when running in , don't let the engine "lug" or "labour" that can knock crap out of new bearings.

Remember brakes also need to be "broken in" - do a couple of fairly long progressive stops from 60 mph ( not in the outside lane of the M1 obviously !!) within the first 50 miles , just to bed things in.

Enjoy , I'm looking forward to hearing how folks get on with the new Alp.

[the_earlobe_of_doom]

I'm picking mine up today as well. Running in isn't so important as people have said. Try to vary the revs if your'e on a motorway or A-Road. Don't just stick it at road speed and hold it there. Normal riding should be ok, as long as you don't thrash it from cold.

[FatFergie]

Generally I concur.

My rule is " work the motor but not hard". ie. use the rev range, use the gears but keep the throttle very light and vary your speeds as much as you can.