Break in Long Distance

[anjumkha]

Hello all,
I am thinking of riding my newly purchased R18 c from Chesterfield , MO to Atlanta, GA. ( 600 miles ).

The motorcycle has 18 miles on it.

Question: Will the long distance and speeds up to 80 mph affect the break in?

 

[Red64]

Hello all,
I am thinking of riding my newly purchased R18 c from Chesterfield , MO to Atlanta, GA. ( 600 miles ).

The motorcycle has 18 miles on it.

Question: Will the long distance and speeds up to 80 mph affect the break in?

only for the better.
just dont sit at a constant speed for too long

 

[Anibal]

You will be fine, just don’t abuse the engine too much and vary your speed often.

 

[anjumkha]

You will be fine, just don’t abuse the engine too much and vary your speed often.

Can you describe in details, how to to vary speeds( I have to keep with traffic speeds though. )
TY

 

[Anibal]

If 90% of the journey will be on highways , then change lanes often so that you can be in the fast as well as the slow lanes. Don’t stress too much about it, as long as you don’t do the whole nine yards at 80mph you will be fine. If you are going to have a mixture of highways and slower roads, then ride accordingly to the flowing traffic, that’s all. Main key points here are not to rev above 4K rpm or sit at a constant speed for too long and by too long I don’t mean 20 minutes, I mean hours. Even small increments or reductions in speed will allow the engine to distribute load and dissipate heat.

 

[Erniecat]

Agree with all the above. Rode mine home from Chesterfield (Gateway BMW) and enjoyed every moment. Much shorter trip (160 miles) but stayed on the two lane roads and varied my speed. You'll be ready for break-in service when you get to Atlanta. Hope the weather cooperates!

 

[anjumkha]

Erniecat,

What bike do you have?
Enjoy it? !!

 

[anchovyD]

Hello all,
I am thinking of riding my newly purchased R18 c from Chesterfield , MO to Atlanta, GA. ( 600 miles ).

The motorcycle has 18 miles on it.

Question: Will the long distance and speeds up to 80 mph affect the break in?

Oddly enough I just did this. Picked up an R18 from Gateway on July 19th and rode to Louisville where I was for a week training, then on to Memphis for a couple days before riding back home to New Orleans. By the time I got home I had racked up 1200 miles. I commuted to about 80 miles to work a couple times this week. Going to perform the break-in service this weekend. I rode about 200 miles in the city when I was in Louisville and the rest was all highway between riding ranging from 70 to 85mph. I think at 80 it's only turning over at 3000 rpm.

I was a little hesitant about doing a fly and ride with the long distance since the only long rides I'd done in the past were on my touring bike with a fixed fairing and windscreen, but the standard R18 was fantastic. I imagine the Classic with the windscreen, better seat, and built-in saddlebags would only be better. I strapped my 40-liter tail bag to the pillion seat, and it took a while to figure out the best way to secure it as the bags built-in straps were dicey, that bag was shifting all around St. Louis. Had it figured out by Louisville, Rok Straps to the rescue.

The staff at Gateway were great and the shop is the largest BMW dealership I've ever been in, lots of bikes, gear, and stuff. Total first-class experience buying from them. Rachael in parts gave me some motorcycle tie down straps just in case after I told her my plan to attach my luggage. Didn't think I would need them but about 100 miles down I-64, I pulled onto the shoulder and used them to secure my luggage for peace of mind. She saved the day.

The guys at Gateway thought doing the break-in service at 1000miles wouldn't be an issue. Left Gateway in the rain but when the weather cleared up during the week in Louisville, you couldn't get me off the bike. It was a blast.

Blown away by how stable it felt, I've got an M109R which feels locked in on the highway, it has about the same weight and wheelbase as the R18 but the R18 is in a different league with its stability, maybe it's the lower center of gravity I don't know but the on the highway the R18 is on rails. Crosswinds and turbulence from trucks were tossing my body around when I left during the storm but the R18 was rock solid.

 

[anjumkha]

Hello all

I agree. This bike is rock solid on the highway.

In another vein, I will also practice Police maneuvering/cornering.

Harley Road King Police is surprisingly agile in competent police officers hands. So should the R18 be. R 18 may even prove better than HD RK/p in the city.

True , Gateway BMW Ducati of Missouri are a great place to do business.

I enjoyed reading your post. You gave me the courage to ride the bike back home. Next week!

 

[Petrus]

You will be fine, just don’t abuse the engine too much and vary your speed often.

just change gears.
It is not about the speed but the revs. You should not run it prolonged at same revs.
As the engine pulls just about any gear from low revs , you can use 4th, 5th and 6th, briefly even 3rd at 80 km/h during running in.

Concerning agility you should take the long wheel base into account:
The rear wheel will ´lag´ in response and also take a notably tighter turn. This tends to ´push´ the front which is accentuated by the steering head angle. Call it understeer if you want. As such the turn radius is not tight.
You can push the bike down to make it turn tighter but the weight and the above make it tricky to correct the line if needed.
As agile as it is on the road, tight manouvering is not it´s strong point.
On a side note I find it responding very favourably of trailing the rear brake through tight low speed bends/corners.