A little worried about enigne break in

[DanR217]

I bought my NC700X new at a dealer this weekend about 350 miles from my house. He said it would be fine to ride it back on the freeway. He told me to vary my speed and as long as I didn't redline it for an hour straight it would be ok and to change the oil at 600 miles. I spent a good deal of time at speeds from 65mph to 80mph and stopped about every 45 minutes to an hour and let the bike cool a bit. Is my bike going to be ok? What are signs of an improper break in? Would the warranty cover the engine if I didn't break it in properly? Man, I really wish I had posted here first before doing that...

 

[670cc]

I think you're fine as far as break in. What do you think 99% of people with new cars do? Get in a drive! The NC engine is under stressed and low revving like a car engine., so short of redlining it all the way home, it should be good.

 

[MZ5]

You'll be absolutely fine; rest easy.

 

[eric steele]

Your engine will be fine for years to come. The NC700 engine IS half a car engine. Not a bad idea to let it cool down a bit; lots of new pieces getting used to proximity to each other. Change the oil at 600 miles and keep riding. When you look at your owners manual it states : for first 300 miles avoid full-throttle starts and rapid acceleration, avoid hard downshifts and ride conservatively. Doesn't sound like Honda is too worried about over-stressing the engine.

 

[silverhound]

You'll be absolutely fine; rest easy.

^^^What he said. Lot's of people have all kinds of special engine "break in" procedures. In a modern motorcycle engine these are mostly a thing of the past. As long as you don't do anything stupid like riding it at redline for an hour like the dealer said, it will be fine. Not even sure why you stopped to let it cool off a bit. That simply delayed you getting home quicker.

 

[DanR217]

Ok cool, thanks you guys, I feel a lot better now. It's my first ever brand new vehicle, so I'm kinda fretting everything... kind of like a new mommy with her first kid haha

 

[DanR217]

Not even sure why you stopped to let it cool off a bit. That simply delayed you getting home quicker.

That and my butt was killing me! Not sure if I'm just out of practice of riding long distances or the seat isn't that great

 

[itlives]

Welcome to the very worst seat on the planet. It will be your first thing to address! The NC is a good, inexpensive platform from which you can make a "made for you" bike. For the seat, I got an Air Hawk 2 medium. It works for me.

Welcome, look forward to seeing you around!

 

[silverhound]

That and my butt was killing me! Not sure if I'm just out of practice of riding long distances or the seat isn't that great

Well that I completely understand and it was probably a little of both. Very few people seem to tolerate the stock seat for very long. I've never kept the stock seat on any of the bikes I owned. Oddly though, the NCX is my wife's bike and she claims to be fine with it.

 

[furious_blue]

^^^What he said. Lot's of people have all kinds of special engine "break in" procedures. In a modern motorcycle engine these are mostly a thing of the past. ...

Modern engines can be different, so I always follow the manufacturers recommendation.

I had a 2006 Triumph Speed Triple, it had 3 different increasing rev limits based on increasing break in mileage. I followed that to the letter even though it was horrible sticking to 55 mph for the first 100 miles (or so..)

My ZX-14R has a 4000 rpm rev limit until 400 miles or so (can't remember the exact figure off the top of my head, but the limit lifts before the 600 mile oil change). I followed that to the letter.

I have recently gotten an NM4 (the reason why I follow this forum). To my surprise, unlike what I'm reading for the NC700/750, the owner's manual for the NM4 has NO breakin instructions ! OK ! I just made sure not to do 'stupid things' as others have described here

 

[mreric]

you should be fine, but am glad that you are worried, most people have no respect for it and drive them like they stole it....

then few year down the line they complain that their engine is burning oil...

 

[chudbrain]

seat may be fine for females, no testicles to smash into the trunk. i got my 2014 nc700x 1 week ago, my first bike, never once rode till i took safety class, i put 750 miles already. i want to buy all kinds of neat things for it, but i think the new seat must be first on the list, not sure which one yet, still looking. I LOVE THE BIKE AND I HATE THE SEAT! seems im not alone on that one.

 

[TigerDude]

mine came with the Sargent seat & it feels great. I'm 5-11, 250, 30" inseam. Previous owner bought it to lower the ride height a bit.

 

[johnakay]

change gears often during your running in period.
this is the most ignored part during running in.
no point running in the same gear for a 100 miles at a time.
mine is a dct but my other bikes I did a lot of country riding where I had to go up and down in the gears.
by doing this also you will save your gears . for example gears jumping out of gear etc.
all very fine running in an engine but gears need it too.
don't worry you'll be fine.

 

[Chestnut]

seat may be fine for females, no testicles to smash into the trunk. i got my 2014 nc700x 1 week ago, my first bike, never once rode till i took safety class, i put 750 miles already. i want to buy all kinds of neat things for it, but i think the new seat must be first on the list, not sure which one yet, still looking. I LOVE THE BIKE AND I HATE THE SEAT! seems im not alone on that one.

Nope, sucks for the ladies too. I gave it a chance for 4000 miles or so, but pretty quickly decided I'd be taking a trip up to visit BMS. My dad, who's ridden dozens (hundreds?) of motorcycles said it was the worst seat he'd ever experienced.

 

[Beemerphile]

My dad, who's ridden dozens (hundreds?) of motorcycles said it was the worst seat he'd ever experienced.

I don't recall a worse seat either in nearly 50 years of riding. It is a vinyl crucifix.

When I was a kid we used to remove the seat and tank for drag racing. The gas would go in a quart Clorox bottle duct-taped to the frame and we would sit on a folded towel. That was a much better long-distance touring seat that what Honda put on the NC.

 

[Old Can Ride]

Over the years I have told everyone that the first Farkle should be a new seat, but everyone goes for a chrome over comfort.

 

[scotseam]

I bought a SHAD seat and love it. It is the difference between discomfort after 30-45minutes and 3hours of comfort!

 

[dduelin]

Everybody is different. The stock seat was great off the showroom floor, much better than any stock motorcycle seat I have owned and I put about 26,000 miles on the stock 2012 seat before installing a Sargent. I raised the front of the stock seat about 5/8" like many of do and this so-called "Showkey mod" flattened out the seating surface and made it all day comfortable. I did a couple rides of over 1000 miles in a day and many 500+ mile days on that seat. That said, I'm installing a Sargent on my new NC700X as soon as I sell some stuff off my old bike and free up the money. The Sargent is better looking and gives na inch or two wider seating surface for less pounds per square inch

I believe the engine will be fine on the OPs bike. I picked up a new DCT last Saturday and put 120 miles on it over the weekend. On long stretches of road I toggled back and forth between D and S so the transmission shifted down to 5th or up to 6th and varied the engine rpms at speeds between 50 and 70.

 

[rpvanoyen]

Breaking it in? Just for the first few hundred miles, take it a little bit easy on the throttle, no hard accelerations and engine braking. I have the DCT and have it in S-mode which worked great. After 300 miles I let it rev up to 5000 rpm gently, after 500 miles had it max at 6000 rpm, at 600 miles I occasionally had it at 6500 rpm. Then the oil change of course and ride it as I normally would do all the time. Cold starts I let it run stationairy for a few minutes before I take off. Treat it wise and it will give you a fun and solid experience for a long life.

As for the stock seat, it's fine by me. And when my butt get a little sore, it's time for a lunch break and fuel stop anyway.