Break in and 600 mile service

According to the riders manual I am to tide my new RT at Various speeds during the break in period. No problem, I guess.

My issue runs into the 600 mile service, I'm wondering is that a hard 600?

I'm buying the bike from a dealer that is 300 miles away. So basically I will go get the bike, bring it home, then park it until I have the time to drive it back to get the service done.

So how hard is that 600 miles on getting the service done?


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That makes it easy. Make 600 mile service appointment for day after you pick it up. Ride home varying speeds and throttle position up and down the gear box. Next day get up and repeat as you go back to dealer. It, the 600 mile service, is basically an oil change. There are no value checks or such so it goes pretty fast. Just use the recommended tach range in each gear. Get the receipt for this first service and enjoy the bike...perhaps wrench a bunch yourself on selected services in the future.

Congratulations on the new bike. As MotoDan suggested, it's usually the engine RPM's they are concerned with- on a highway, easily varied with the gears.
Maybe you can find some back roads to make it more fun.
OM

Motodan said:

That makes it easy. Make 600 mile service appointment for day after you pick it up. Ride home varying speeds and throttle position up and down the gear box. Next day get up and repeat as you go back to dealer. It, the 600 mile service, is basically an oil change. There are no value checks or such so it goes pretty fast. Just use the recommended tach range in each gear. Get the receipt for this first service and enjoy the bike...perhaps wrench a bunch yourself on selected services in the future.

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That is pretty much what I did with my F650 Funduro in 1997, though it was only 50 or so miles dealer to house. I picked the bike up Wednesday afternoon before the Saturday open house and unveiling of the new model. I rode it around on Thursday and Friday and returned it to the dealership Friday afternoon. They did the 600 mile service on Friday evening and put it on the floor Saturday for folks to look at while others were out riding their demo bike, the only other one they had.

As for how hard and fast is the 600 number. I'd try to be fairly close but wouldn't shudder at 650 or 700. So ride it home, ride it around to show your friends and neighbors, and head back to the dealer.

How hard is the 600 miles?
I wouldn't go over 1000 before it's done.
The engine has a special break in oil.
The final drive oil looks really bad when they drop it.
As far as taking it easy, ride it like you stole it.
For the varying throttle, just don't set the cruse control for very long.
When I picked up my K16 I asked them about taking it easy for the first
600 miles. They told me to ride it like I normally would.
I hit 100 mph within the first 50 miles.
They have found that if you baby it the rings don't seat well
and now you have an oil consumption problem.
Enjoy the ride.

I've never assembled an engine in a factory.

Over 40 years of building diesel engines, or should I say re-building, break-in happens fast, usually within a few hours. I would build an engine, make sure it had oil pressure, then pour the coals to it. As long as you you are conscious of not being gentle to it, coasting and idle is the worst, the engine will break in fine.
I took a course on asperities and hone angle from a major diesel engine manufacturer once and really, friction is what you need.
I've heard various times that the break-in oil in factory built engines is "special" but a Chevron guy once told me it's the cheapest, least refined and cheapest they sell and they supplied every major diesel engine manufacturer at one time. They know it isn't in there for a long time.
A filter manufacturer told me that "Break-in" filters do exist, not sold to anyone but the OEM and they are tiny micron, capture everything and are generally useless after 15 hours as they are plugged and go to bypass.
As to gear oils, motorcycle manufacturers haven't caught on to the single fill concept. This is an oil, highly refined that will last 1,000,000 miles before needing a change but I suspect that volume and sump capacity to catch crap is the reason why. Don't be surprised the first drain in a gear system that holds so little looks like tar and smells like my shorts do after a close call.

The two service managers I have worked with, both solid veterans, both agree with me that earlier is better, I did my mine just north of 400 (which is about 3X more miles than I usually do before first oil/filter change). In a pinch you can go longer than 600 miles, just keep it under 1K miles.

I followed the "ride it as it will be ridden" break in path and regularly varied RPMs from 3500-6000, even beyond 6000 during periods of deliberate, brief hard accel/decal to seat the rings, and have had no noticeable oil usage since I did my first service. It's a lot easier and far more common to break an engine in too softly, than it is too hard.

These are my personal opinions and not meant to represent any 'official' BMW recommendations (CMA)... FTR.

Thanks everyone for the great advice!! I got a plan now, pretty do what was first suggested ride it home, and turn around and ride back.
As far as break in I will ride it a little harder than my normal riding style (which is a little more aggressive than some).
Getting really excited and just to make sure I do it right. This will be my first brand new vehicle of any kind.


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Break-In

The advice that I got from the person that I've gotten the best motorcycling advice from, over the last 40 yrs, is also to have multiple heating and cooling cycles during the initial metal to metal contact (gnashing?) of all of the parts. Hard to prove, but psychologically good for your relationship with your new ride. Bonding if you will.
Pick a cafe/restaurant/coffee shop for a stop that has a seat facing outside with a view of your bike and smile during a brief cool down. Then repeat.
Break-in is a fine situation to be in. For me, there are very few things in life as nice as a new bike. I'm envious.
Congratulations
Charlie

haxbmw said:

This will be my first brand new vehicle of any kind.

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A great choice for that distinction!

You could just buy the fluids and such that you need from parts when you pick up the bike and do the service yourself, if you are comfortable with that. You are mostly going to change the fluids and oil filter, check brake fluid levels, clutch adjustment and look for loose hardware. It will all be laid out in your manual. I would be willing to wager that the tech at the dealer is not going to perform all of the checks that are called out in your manual.
Jeff

FWIW, I think there are advantages to have the dealer perform the first service. Chances are you get a check over, software update, reminder reset and, for me, it lets me get a feeling for the service department.
OM

Keep in mind that the bike's software will record certain performance stats, so if you flog the bike and repeatedly redline it or miss gears, the service tech will see that.

And I agree with Omega Man that you should have the dealer perform the 600 mile check. Even if you normally do your own periodic maintenance, it's nice to have the dealer look over the bike at the outset. Plus, when you ultimately sell the bike, I think the 600 mile service stamp is meaningful, especially if you never use the dealer for subsequent periodic servicing.

haxbmw said:

According to the riders manual I am to tide my new RT at Various speeds during the break in period. No problem, I guess.

My issue runs into the 600 mile service, I'm wondering is that a hard 600?

I'm buying the bike from a dealer that is 300 miles away. So basically I will go get the bike, bring it home, then park it until I have the time to drive it back to get the service done.

So how hard is that 600 miles on getting the service done?


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My dealer advised not to bring my new 2015 R1200Rt in until it had 1000 miles on it.

Tscoots said:

My dealer advised not to bring my new 2015 R1200Rt in until it had 1000 miles on it.

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So we have corprate saying do it at 600 miles, two service managers saying sooner is better and one dealer saying wait till 1000. Huh??

Given that I vote for 600, or if I wanted a numerical mean of the advice, say 400 +400 +600 +1000 divided by 4 = 600.

PGlaves said:

So we have corprate saying do it at 600 miles, two service managers saying sooner is better and one dealer saying wait till 1000. Huh??

Given that I vote for 600, or if I wanted a numerical mean of the advice, say 400 +400 +600 +1000 divided by 4 = 600.

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Math rules!!


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What do Service Managers really know?

Paul makes a good point about opinion vs. BMW specification of 600 mile for first service.

I have a concern that opinions of service managers are not in line with BMW recommendations. Sure, there is a tolerance range of miles around the BMW service intervals, but it makes sense to try to hit the target approximately.

Of more significance perhaps is service manager choice of oil grade. I went to a dealer the other day to get a filter, crush washer, and oil. The manual for the 2015 RT says 5w40 and we have all heard of the BMW / Shell branding deal. So the parts guy says the only oil they have is 10w/40 because that is what the service manager specifies.

He knows more than the BMW engineers?

I don't want to highjack the thread, just want to suggest we compare what the BMW manual says with what the service manager says. I for one am quite willing to discuss such issues with the manager, if I become aware of them. Without the parts guy mentioning they would be using a non-specified 10W40, I would have assumed they would be using the BMW recommended grade.

Buyer beware still applies.

haxbmw said:

Math rules!!


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+1. Otherwise it's whatever the guy says who slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

BMW Triumphant said:

I don't want to highjack the thread, just want to suggest we compare what the BMW manual says with what the service manager says. I for one am quite willing to discuss such issues with the manager, if I become aware of them. Without the parts guy mentioning they would be using a non-specified 10W40, I would have assumed they would be using the BMW recommended grade.

Buyer beware still applies.

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Oh yes, oh yes. I know of literally dozens of cases where dealerships used the high-zoot BMW branded 75w140 synthetic gear oil in final drives where BMW specifies 90wt, with 80w90 as an acceptable substitute. The 75w140 stuff was specified as OK in transmissions but not so in final drives but dealerships were dumping it in both. Coincidentally (maybe?) this time period was the period of the large spike in FD failures.

I've run in 15 new BMW moto's since 2001. Rode all of them hard after 10 miles. Changed oil at 6-700 miles and had the first service done at 8-1300 miles.
None used oil and were all good till I sold them after a year and bought another. All were sold to friends and have done well after the sale.