Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 999 / 749 > new 2005 999

[Brogins]

Hi everyone. I will have my new bike delivered in a week or so.. (snow permitting..)
Best way to break it in?? I haven't owned a brand new bike (always second hand) for sometimes..my last Duke was a totally different engine.
Thanks
Fabio

[Rally]

Get it over and done with as soon as possible so you can get on with enjoying it without short shifting.

I have a habit of booking a new bike in for its first service the monday after the week I get it so I have to run it in over one weekend. Must admit that doing 450 miles on the 999S in one day left me wrecked... but after that both me and the bike were broken in

[DAVE HARRIS]

small throttle openings in lower gears (idealy keep revs between 3000 and 6000rpm) for the first 100 miles then progessively increase thottle openings to 500 miles and allow engine to rev up to around 8-9000 rpm in lower gears but not opening throttle fully, then use all the rev range and progessively move to full throttle/max rpm over the next 500 miles. this has worked on all 4 of my ducatis none of which use much oil and avoids the bores glazing and excessive ring blow by. modern oils lubricate very well so much so that too gentle running in causes more problems than thrashing the bike from new! the only thing to avoid is labouring the engine in too higher gear!!

dave

ps, on most modern cars the first service interval is at 1 year/10,000 miles and we get in ex hire cars for servicing and the engines are perfect, nobody runs in a hire car. the only downside to not running in a bike is if some tolerences are too tight you get a siezure etc and the engine will produce less power later in its life

[misterpink]

always let it warm up before taking off, am i right in thinking that the oil in the new motors are thicker for the running-in period and then at the first service it is all drained and lovely liquid gold fully synth (make sure you know what is going in) is poured in????

[Henners]

That's right, mineral oil normally used to run new engines in as fully/semi synthetic wouldn't allow the necessary wear to take place. Dave H is spot on, also Snells recommend that 600miles/1000kms is minimum before first service on a Duc - preferably longer. The key thing is not to blip the engine on first start up, let it start on a closed throttle and then use the fast idle to raise the revs to about 2000 whilst the engine warms up (that also applies to older engines too, especially non testastrettas).

[GsxrAge]

When i had new jap bikes i only ever ran them in for 150 miles then let rip

I never let them rev out for too long. Never had any problems and they always went well

Don't think I would treat a duke the same way.

[Brogins]

Thanks guys, I guess i will follow the suggestions of DH.. I didn't know about the change of oil between mineral and syntetic..as I run full syntetic on my CRF450 dirt bike..from day one... but of course we are talking of two different (completely) engines...
Thanks again
Ciao
fabio