Proper way to break in sv650 engine??

the suzuki book says not to pass 5.5k until 500 miles...and... it also says not to go over 8 k after 1,000 miles....

but...

people keep telling me that is not the proper way to break the SV650 motor they say you gotta let it run...let it cool for a small amount of time..and then go ride it hard...close to redline...

one guy said since i have already reached 500 miles under 5.5 k that i have improperly broken the engine in...

is this correct.. LMK people!!

that is a good question i have heard both school of thoughts and would like to know more on the subject

Originally Posted by kcowgergmm

that is a good question i have heard both school of thoughts and would like to know more on the subject

these guys in the u.k are on such a different time zone..lolz

Have a look here

I am under the impression, that track bikes are thrashed to bed everything in, hopefully producing a 'faster' engine. The drawback is that this may make the engine less reliable/reduce its life.

If you follow the manufacturers guidelines, then this should lead to good engine life. Although lets be honest...noone ever keeps 100% to the guidelines. As long as you dont keep thrashing it and constantly vary RPM...then its all good.

Originally Posted by florida650

these guys in the u.k are on such a different time zone..lolz

Yep the correct one GMT, every one else is on a different time zone

Anyway, I have just finnished my run in, kept close to the book, but TBH most of the road around me dont lend them to long high speed apart from the M1 M42 M69 ! but then a quick get away is soon over the 5.5 or 8k mark but then the book tells you to vary the rpm.

On the other hand I drove company cars for many a year, collected as new from the head office and straight on to the motor way. This was in the days they still wanted a run in and a quick first service.

The cars where on a 3 year lease and all went back with 150k on the clock with very few problems, just serviced on time (well you do when you dont have to pay yourself )

So I think long life is linked with good service and thrash the nutts off it (as long as someone else picks up the bill

There's always going to be opposites for this one and with lots of views inbetween too.

I'm not sure about the strength of the track bike approach. "Thrashing" would certainly run a bike in more quickly, perhaps a track racer might want a well run-in engine more quickly. But obviously the lifetime of a track bike engine is likely to be a lot shorter than normal, so it's possible that they just don't get the time or miles in before they fail for other reasons and therefore the "unreasonable wear and tear" warranty argument is a bit secondary.

I tend to look at this from Suzuki's perspective (and by the way I don't work for them...!!). It just isn't in their interest to give bad advice about running engines in. They don't want to spend their time arguing with customers and generating gossip about poor quality - the SV has a fantastic reputation for reliability and you can bet that Suzuki treat that fact like gold dust. They are expert manufacturers and it's fair to assume they know what they are talking about when they give advice. They have a superb product and they want it to stay that way.

Follow their advice, be patient for however long/short it takes and then have lots of fun. That's my personal view ...

For the record, when I picked up my K6 in July the dealer said;

"For the first 100 miles don't exceed 4k, then steadily build up to 6k by the first service at 600 miles. Then increase revs by 1k for every 100 miles covered, i.e. 7k at 700 miles, 8k at 800 miles etc".

Mine is now run in and pulls really well.

[steveg]

had my 06 sv from new , I ran it in by the book , made sure I'll varied gears / revs , avoided constent speeds , however made sure the bike was not babied. Bike now 21k and has never needed oil between services & is sweet as a nut .
It only took a week to run it in & its worth the patience for engine life IMHO.

Cheers Steve

I'm currently running in my engine after a rebuild ... will hit 600 miles on way home this evening. Planning on changing oil & filter myself in next day or so (just as soon as I can get hold of an oil filter!). For the first 300 miles I made sure I did no more than 6,000rpm. Since then, I've steadily crept the revs up a bit ... from 300 - 400 miles I tried not to go above 7,000rpm, 400 - 500 miles nothing above 8,000rpm. This morning (500 - 550 miles) I kept revs at anything from 5,000 to 8,500.

TBH, I've just gone with the "feel" of the engine ... when I first got the bike back the engine felt as lumpy as Jade Goody's cellulite ... so I rode it gently (the bike - not Jade Goody!) ... as I've racked up the miles in the past week, the engine has started to feel smoother and smoother (unlike Jade's cellulite ... ok I'll stop with the analogy now), and so I've gently and steadily increased the revs with what I feel is right.

If I dare to go above 8,000rpm at the moment the engine does still feel a little less smooth, but I'm guessing first oil & filter change should help with that (well, I'm hoping).

Cheers,
Pete