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I took delivery of my 2014 N1K a bit over a month ago. I love this bike, I think it’s superb and everything I want in a road bike. I’ve owned many other sports, road and dirt bikes so I’m no stranger to the Break in process.
I decided to follow Kawasaki’s recommended Breaking in procedure, even though I know plenty of “experts” (including mechanical engineers) who think otherwise.
The Breaking in process in the owners’ manual is as follows;
For the first 500 miles (800Km) max 4000 Rpm, 500 – 1000 Miles (800 km – 1600 km) max 6000 rpm.
I know it’s important to vary the rev range and not just sit on one speed breaking in, from all the other bikes I've owned but they don’t even mention that in the N1K manual surprisingly. I’ve been varying the revs anyway as best as I can.
For the first 200 miles I stayed under 4000 rpm but it so sooooo sloooow. That’s not even 70 in top gear which on the highways I commute to work on is dangerously slow. It’s taking short-shifting to the extreme and the gearbox and clutch in my bike didn’t like it much. I found it just too painful to ride at that rpm and decided after about 300 miles of taking the slow way everywhere to progressively ramp it up until I got to the 500 mile mark and so on, until the run in is complete.
I’m at about 700 miles now, the first service is done and I’m pushing up around 6000-7000 rpm max which I’ll increase as I’m heading towards 1000 miles. The way I see it , I’m still being kind to the engine but without the ridiculous rpm brackets in the manual.
How did you break-in your bike ?
If you followed the manual did you hate it as much as I did ?
I decided to follow Kawasaki’s recommended Breaking in procedure, even though I know plenty of “experts” (including mechanical engineers) who think otherwise.
The Breaking in process in the owners’ manual is as follows;
For the first 500 miles (800Km) max 4000 Rpm, 500 – 1000 Miles (800 km – 1600 km) max 6000 rpm.
I know it’s important to vary the rev range and not just sit on one speed breaking in, from all the other bikes I've owned but they don’t even mention that in the N1K manual surprisingly. I’ve been varying the revs anyway as best as I can.
For the first 200 miles I stayed under 4000 rpm but it so sooooo sloooow. That’s not even 70 in top gear which on the highways I commute to work on is dangerously slow. It’s taking short-shifting to the extreme and the gearbox and clutch in my bike didn’t like it much. I found it just too painful to ride at that rpm and decided after about 300 miles of taking the slow way everywhere to progressively ramp it up until I got to the 500 mile mark and so on, until the run in is complete.
I’m at about 700 miles now, the first service is done and I’m pushing up around 6000-7000 rpm max which I’ll increase as I’m heading towards 1000 miles. The way I see it , I’m still being kind to the engine but without the ridiculous rpm brackets in the manual.
How did you break-in your bike ?
If you followed the manual did you hate it as much as I did ?