Everyone knows conventionals are more abrasive and wear away the metal like a polishing compound for proper break in. If you use a synthetic you'll be left with too much metal not being removed from the engine.
Conventional or Synthetic for break-in???
- Thread starter flhr
- Start date
Additive response refers to how the additive reacts to load, friction, and temperature. Different base oils affect how an additive reacts under different conditions. Other additives also have an impact which is where synergy in formulating comes into play.
The piston rings to cylinder lap-in is the most important aspect of break-in. What helps that happen better than anything is how the engine is ran during the break-in period. Running full synthetic oil isn't really going to prevent that from happening. Want lots of cylinder pressure variations and piston speeds ... lots of short bursts to max break-in RPM (and a few little above that RPM once and awhile won't hurt) with some good throttle opening/loads, and lots of closed throttle vacuum events. You want the piston rings to be forced against the cylinder walls to lap them in. I break in all my vehicles with lots of that kind action, I never "baby" them too much during break-in, but I don't go crazy either. I've never had an oil burner in all the new vehicles I've broke-in.
Most motorcycle engines are ran to near redline on the factory dyno to check engine health ... so it's probably half broken in by the time it goes into the shipping crate. Then the owner rides it another 600-1000 miles for more break-in on the factory oil.
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Congrats on your new ride. Those new 1050’s are like Hen’s teeth, hard to find. They came out in 2020 and I don’t think they sent any 2021’s over, the 2020 XT were the Marlboro colors and the 2022 is your color. The XT Adventure is the yellow now. it will probably be bullet proof like everything else from Suzuki, tried and true engineering.
Most important would be the high cylinder pressure part.
Love the Vstrom's! On my new bikes I change out the factory fill at 1k and then run Rotella T4 dino 15w40. I like the break in with a healthy dino HDEO. After another 3-5K, I'll move to a synthetic blend and then full syn at around 10K.
@ sw99-Read my post, no clarification on what I'm questioning. Thanks.
Here in Thailand its 10c (in a freak winter morning) but ussually 26c-36c. In this range the owners manual recommends 10w-40 to 10w50, 15w40 to 15w-50 & 20w-40 to 20w50. T4 would fall in there but unfortunately can't find Rotella here. Thanks.
Pretty much what I do except easy roll ons increasing to 1/2 wot to max break-in rpm & engine break down to 1,700-1,800 rpm. Easy to do with the rolling twisties here. Thank you!
Thank you & hope you're wright. Lots of top end engine noise when it warms up. Like my Harley' with cam chain whining to boot, but hear that's normal. Unfortunately it looks like Suzuki is getting out of the motorcycle market.
Either conventional or synthetic oil will allow break in if you employ the right method...
I was stationed in Japan years 1979 to 1981 as a member of the USAF
and I witnessed Honda build a motorcycle in 12 minutes and then run at
red line in neutral... I asked about the "break it in gently" in the
owners manual and the replay was the "break it in gently" are written
by their corporate lawyers not by their engineers... if you follow
their engine rebuild steps in their official shop manual there are no
reference to any "break it in gently" warnings...
Your not thrashing your engine... you're doing what your engine requires... The purpose of high
rpms is initial seating of the piston rings to the cylinder walls. The run is conducted at full power
because that is where greatest B.M.E.P. (Brake Mean Effective Pressure) occurs and a high
B.M.E.P. is necessary for good piston ring break-in.
The cylinder walls of a new engine are not mirror smooth as one might imagine. A special hone is
used to put a diamond like pattern of "scratches" over the entire area of the cylinder wall. The
cross hatch treatment of the cylinder walls plays an important role in proper break-in of piston
rings to cylinder walls. I mentioned that B.M.E.P. was necessary to the "break-in" process. Here is
how it works.
How do you know if break is done??? take a compression test... if your
engine shows factory compression then break in is complete... if your
engine shows less than factory compression then more break in is
require... more B.M.E.P. (Brake Mean Effective Pressure)
I was stationed in Japan years 1979 to 1981 as a member of the USAF
and I witnessed Honda build a motorcycle in 12 minutes and then run at
red line in neutral... I asked about the "break it in gently" in the
owners manual and the replay was the "break it in gently" are written
by their corporate lawyers not by their engineers... if you follow
their engine rebuild steps in their official shop manual there are no
reference to any "break it in gently" warnings...
Your not thrashing your engine... you're doing what your engine requires... The purpose of high
rpms is initial seating of the piston rings to the cylinder walls. The run is conducted at full power
because that is where greatest B.M.E.P. (Brake Mean Effective Pressure) occurs and a high
B.M.E.P. is necessary for good piston ring break-in.
The cylinder walls of a new engine are not mirror smooth as one might imagine. A special hone is
used to put a diamond like pattern of "scratches" over the entire area of the cylinder wall. The
cross hatch treatment of the cylinder walls plays an important role in proper break-in of piston
rings to cylinder walls. I mentioned that B.M.E.P. was necessary to the "break-in" process. Here is
how it works.
How do you know if break is done??? take a compression test... if your
engine shows factory compression then break in is complete... if your
engine shows less than factory compression then more break in is
require... more B.M.E.P. (Brake Mean Effective Pressure)
Remember... The break-in period is for the whole bike and the rider. The Owner's Manual says to ride the bike easily so that the rider can get a feel for the bike. The brakes are new and need to wear in a bit to become most effective. The tires are new and need to be scrubbed in. The clutch is new and needs to settle in. All these things "break-in" during that first 1000 miles.
Ride safe and enjoy your motorcycle!
Oil base will not make a difference, your riding style and throttle application will to some extent. Enjoy your new ride and stop worrying 
There are no issues breaking in those engines. In normal operating conditions, synthetic oils don't provide additional wear protection related to oil film thickness or metal-on-metal contact. The benefits to running synthetic oils are better flow/pumpability at very low startup temperatures (e.g. 0w oils are all synthetic), and better resistance to shearing and thermal breakdown. This means that synthetics hold up better during extended service intervals, and synthetic oils can provide better engine protection when temperatures get very high.