I bought a new motorcycle today (brand new, odometer read 0) and about 3 hours into a VERY cold ride home, my numb extremities failed me. I missed a shift and redlined it pretty hard.
While everything seems fine, it got me wondering: apart from the obvious risk of instant catastrophic failure, what are the “later in life” repercussions of such abuse during the break in period, and how do they differ from abusing an engine later in its life?
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Modern engines are assembled to very high tolerances, necessary to have high compression ratios and long service intervals (eg low blow past piston rings to minimise oil contamination). The oil from the factory may have additives to help the engine bed in during the first hundreds of miles.
Decades ago, engines weren’t nearly as well made, and you’d have to run them in, to smooth out imperfections and loosen up tighter parts. Then at a certain mileage you’d flush the oil and gearbox oil, so that any metal particulates were flushed. You also changed the oil more regularly because it wasn’t as good and would get contaminated faster with exhaust gases, traces of fuel, and traces of metal from engine wear.
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