2009 ninja 250 break in question

Hey,
I recently bought a used ninja 250, it was basically brand new and had ~500 km on it. It looked very maintained and the seller had the oil change every winter. I wasn't sure how I should proceed with its break in, should I follow the manufacturers break in procedure or do something else since its a lot older?

Thanks

Just ride it. At 500 km, whatever was going to happen inside the engine, already has.

Brian P said:

Just ride it. At 500 km, whatever was going to happen inside the engine, already has.

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Yep, especially if the oils been changed. Anything special they might have put in at the factory is long gone.

"break in" is pretty much pointless these days. Engines today are built by robots with lasers, not old dudes with metal lathes and drill presses. They already ring the bike out at the factory to find any problems, and most likely the guy that put it together out of the crate did the same thing. Keeping it under X rpm or X kmh isnt really going to do anything for the bike. Even when I rebuild a motor i baby it for maybe a mile or two, more because im worried itll blow up under me rather than about bedding anything in or whatever.

bobjohnson said:

Engines today are built by robots with lasers, not old dudes with metal lathes and drill presses.

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Actually the new R1's engine block or pistons were cnc machined. Far from robots. I am not sure of lasers cutting automotive parts. I have heard of cnc plasma

Same with the H2 all done by hand no robots

RockerGuy said:

Actually the new R1's engine block or pistons were cnc machined. Far from robots. I am not sure of lasers cutting automotive parts. I have heard of cnc plasma

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Laser cutting or welding is not uncommon but it's generally for sheet metal or (sometimes) structural parts, not for engine parts. Pistons, cylinder blocks, etc are CNC machined. There can be lasers involved at the QC (quality control) stations; instruments involving lasers can be used for making certain types of measurements quickly and with high accuracy.

I don't think there's much automated assembly in motorcycles in general; the production volumes aren't high enough, and they want to make many different models on the same line, which isn't a situation that lends itself to automated assembly, because you need different fixtures and clamps and grippers for every style ...

RockerGuy said:

Actually the new R1's engine block or pistons were cnc machined. Far from robots. I am not sure of lasers cutting automotive parts. I have heard of cnc plasma

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The cnc machine is a robot, its programmed from a plan, its not some guy turning handles and cranks to drill oil channels and bolt holes. Lasers are for tolerance measuring during and after the process, not cutting.

Basically the point I'm getting at is in the last 50 years we have gone a long, long way towards "perfection" in manufacturing. The tools we have now a days let even low volume manufacturers get tolerances as close as aerospace engineers could 50 years ago, but at a fraction of the price and 1/100th of the time.

This is what I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcpmi-H1dtA&feature=youtu.be&t=650

I couldnt find any videos on youtube of the engine block itself getting drilled out, every "How its made" video kind of skips over it, likely because every manufacturer is using a custom process they dont want to show off. Humans still mostly assemble the parts, but all of the cutting and drilling and welding is done by robots for the most part. Which is why we dont need break-in like you would 50 or even 30 years ago

bobjohnson said:

we dont need break-in like you would 50 or even 30 years ago

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True! But we still need break-in.
New twirling and spinning parts are always going to have microscopic 'high' spots which, when the motor is running, become hot spots.

And the timeless age-old prime objective of a good break-in remains:
The mating of the piston rings to the cylinder bore.
On/off throttle helps. This is why you're asked not to hold a fresh engine at a steady RPM.
On-throttle compresses the piston rings and presses them against the cylinder bore.
Off-throttle relaxes them, and the vacuum within the combustion chamber will suck some motor oil up past the piston rings.
This both flushes any microscopic debris and cools the rings.

Pure low-RPM operation is not such a good thing during break-in. 'Lugging' any motor is always bad.
Sure, keep the revs down - but never apply wide-open throttle in a high gear at low RPM.
Likewise, banging off the redline with a fresh motor and getting it screaming hot is not the ticket either...
Operation around the engine's torque peak is the 'sweet spot'. On/off throttle. Spinning not too fast, not too slow.
Ride a bit, then shut it off. Don't get it crazy hot.

At 500+ clicks you're starting to get beyond most of this...
But here's the thing.
You can 'diagnose' how things are going thusly:
Take a good pull on third gear up to 8-9 grand or so. Chop the throttle closed.
Look for a puff of exhaust smoke. Oil smoke is kind of bluey-grey.

All new bikes should display a bit of smoke! But it will eventually stop (or decline 95%).
Some bikes continue to puff smoke after 1000, 2000 clicks... not good.
Some bikes stop at around 500 clicks... bingo. You have achieved break-in.

Keep an eye on your riding buddies' exhausts next time you're out.
A tiny puff when they close throttle is normal... but it should be hard to see.
If it's not hard to see - if it's quite apparent - then the rings are either still breaking in...
Or (in a mature motor) the rings are struggling. This might be because they have never achieved a good seal.
Or maybe of course, their best has already come and gone (in a well-worn old motor)!

Not too low; not too high; not too hot. On/off throttle.
That is a description of today's brief break-in period right there...
Hope this helps somebody. Anybody!

bobjohnson said:

The cnc machine is a robot, its programmed from a plan, its not some guy turning handles and cranks to drill oil channels and bolt holes. Lasers are for tolerance measuring during and after the process, not cutting.

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I'm not going to consider a cnc machine a robot. I don't know what is defined as a robot but anything with an operator is not a robot in my books. The cnc machine is not performing a complex task but rather a repetitive task. All the tight tolerances can be achieved on a hand mill