BG could you set one up for us? Responses:

I broke her in easy, just like the manual says.... Mother Kawasaki always knows best!

I broke her in hard...ride it like you stole it from the git go!

Neither of the above, I have my own way!

I followed the manuals advice on my new Zx-14 breakin almost to the letter. I thought at the time that I was doing the right thing, after all the manufacturer always knows best, right? Now I'm having second thoughts. KHI most likely specifies an easy break in period so that the rider can acclimate himself to the new bike before he pins it. It's a safety and legal liability issue, I'm almost convinced this came from the legal department, not the engineering department.
They don't really care that a soft break in by the book results in poor ring seating, low compression, gas blowby, low power output and high oil consumption. That's your problem further down the road, not theirs. I'm curious as to how many that broke in by the manual are experiencing high oil consumption. Honda is much smarter on this, my CBR manual says this about breakin: "Avoid redline for the first 500 Km(300 miles). That's it. Notice they didn't say go easy or go hard and leave thmeselves open for legal problems. If they said "Ride it like you stole it so that your rings will seat quickly, thus ensuring a long engine life", they'd be up to their eyeballs in law suits from all the dead bodies piling up on the freeway. Anyway, I'm venting. My 14 appears to be either burning or leaking a lot of oil, 800ml in last 1500 miles. I've babied this bike and followed the book on everything maintenance wise. I just said the heck with it and rode the CBR like a sportbike should be ridden from day one except for redlining. We'll see where this all goes.

Kruz

* Last updated by: Kruz on 6/10/2009 @ 8:55 AM *

All set. -bg

I see basically the same metals used. The valves might be made out of a material like titanium or a layer. I did not research the metallurgy.

All I know is that I had no street time on a fresh, new engine with rings/bore/valve job/bearings ball/bearings shell type/cam to tower and caps/etc.

I never blew up an engine [yes I have is stress a 6-hour crank, then take it to Daytona an blow it up in practice first day]. Either way, the bike warmed up for skirt to cylinder wall growth and once that was safe to take it out to warm-up the brain and rubber.

Ran out of gas a few times. Was late at the grid one time. Opps, yes, that Triumph was in a 4-Hour and the bottom end broke or the piston seized. I gave it back to the dealer and he sold it as is cause I did not tear it down or stick around was sorta an iffy the new principal will make it, I just forget the details this long ago.

Did I rotate my race bikes to street bikes? Yes, to use to go to work and now sell it for the next ride. Did I buy rings and do all this work to a bike that had good compression and smoked not a drop of any bike from race to street? Not that I can remember.

I think it is more the closed loop of the crankcase to intake post-ram plumbing. The mist and the heat from that bike can add to the decline in the oil level. Vaporizing and the oil you see in the ram chamber is normal loop loss thru the suck of the engine now.

And the proportion of loss to the heat of oil being hotter than gas when burned, is out of proportion to start any damage or cause for alarm. You have to be on the money for the oil level has a min/max line. Over max that layer across the crankcase will cause the air to decrease and now begin to compress air or that mist is heading for neutral ground out of the loop and that is in the ram.

V-8 Race engines are set at 2,500rpm for 30 minutes. No up and down rpm. Just a little pressure on the dome is a mild push on the rings. Kruz, might have a point about lawyerage lagging the throttle pipe is someone sending smoke UP year ____ Fill in the blank.

KHI most likely specifies an easy break in period so that the rider can acclimate himself to the new bike before he pins it. It's a safety and legal liability issue, I'm almost convinced this came from the legal department, not the engineering department.

I just said this in a post in the poll thread and now found your post...

Suffice to say - I agree!