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Breaking in a bike like you stole it, isn't the smartest thing. What possible good would it do? Other than not allow the parts to bed in properly causing excess friction and loss of HP. Not to mention reduced fuel mileage, reduced compression, reduced reliability, accelerated oil consumption, etc. Some people just don't get it. Oh they think they do, but they are only fooling themselves. Most people don't understand what is really going on in a new tight motor. You can prematurely stretch the cam chain if you hammer a new bike, The cams are hard to turn when new and that will put excessive strain on the chain. Each and every single moving part will benefit from an easy break in. That oil film we depend on so much, is sliced through by the sharp machined surfaces until the part begin to bed into each other. You get the picture.

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Breaking in a bike like you stole it, isn't the smartest thing. What possible good would it do? Other than not allow the parts to bed in properly causing excess friction and loss of HP. Not to mention reduced fuel mileage, reduced compression, reduced reliability, accelerated oil consumption, etc. Some people just don't get it. Oh they think they do, but they are only fooling themselves. Most people don't understand what is really going on in a new tight motor. You can prematurely stretch the cam chain if you hammer a new bike, The cams are hard to turn when new and that will put excessive strain on the chain. Each and every single moving part will benefit from an easy break in. That oil film we depend on so much, is sliced through by the sharp machined surfaces until the part begin to bed into each other. You get the picture.

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I have to put my 2 cents in on this comment. The information you are giving is not accurate regarding break in procedures. The only components that benefit from break in are the piston rings, and an easy break in is about the worst thing for them (you only have about 200km's to accomplish this goal...which is not consistant with your comments about oil consumption, lack of compression,etc). The other components you've listed have wear issues that are not related to the twist of the wrist in any way, shape or form. The only thing that NEEDS to be done as the initial phase of break in is a proper warm up to operating temperature. To say that the cam chain is effected by the user is preposterous. Are you suggesting that the rapid acceleration of the crankshaft due to a quick twist of the wrist is going to stretch the chain UNLESS this is done slowly and controlled.... over a period of time? That would imply that the chain is made of something about as strong as toffee and then over time it work hardens and becomes the unit we are familiar with.....doesn't that sound kinda fishy??? In addition....which is more of a factor of the resistance of the cams to rotation......the slight drag of the cam against the cam journal, or the valve springs pushing back on the cams while trying to keep the valves closed??? I would suggest that the valve springs are far more of a cause of "friction" than the cam-to- journal clearance AND that valve spring tension is hopefully a constant throughout the life of the engine.....so the resistance from the valve train is virtually constant throughout the life of the engine.

There is one essential element you are ignoring: any kind of metal-to-metal contact at any other time than startup is death for the engine (and even contact during startup will be the eventual demise of the engine)....either fast or slow, but death. Oil pressure holds the rotating components in suspension due to hydrodynamic lubrication..there is no metal-to-metal contact for any of these components unless something is drastically wrong. Engines are not built with sharp edges that need to wear. You have to understand the definition of a bushing-type bearing.....two differing metals (one hard and one soft)......if the hard metal (the cam, crank, etc) has a sharp edge, it will machine a groove in the softer material. If the softer material has a high spot, it will either wear away, or get hot and smear, and/or ruin the hydrodynamic effect. In any of these cases, it is an engine build failure.....poor quality control, or manufacturing processes. There is nothing that the user can do to effect this (other than making things worse by running the bike without adequate warm up).

Bearings don't break in, gears don't break in, the cases don't heat cycle, the rings don't heat cycle. All of that stuff is urban legend. The science involved with engine and related components has fine tuned the manufactured parts to the point whereby the user is almost completely removed from the break in process.

Before you start in on me about how I don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain my background......I am a licensed automotive technician with 15 years of experience. I have built literally hundreds of heavy duty, automotive, motorcycle, and snowmobile engines. I certainly don't know everything, but have enough theory and practical experience to know what is true and what is not. I have researched this subject for years, and am convinced the only components that the user can effect during break in are the piston rings. in my experience and opinion, once the engine is warmed to operating temperature, the sooner and harder the rings are seated, the better the engine will run and for a longer period of time. I am also convinced that that gentle break in procedures are to accomplish 2 things: 1) to ensure that engines that have questionable engineering last longer before failure (and hopefully off the warranty period before failure), 2) to stop the new rider from killing his/herself while first adjusting to the new bike. Both of those reasons are provided by the lawyers, not the engineers....
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The biggest single important part or aspect to the break in process is the oil change IMMEDIATELY after the break in road test is done, and then shorten the oil change interval to about 500km's per service for the first 1500-2000 km's

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