Tonight while riding home from my gf's father's softball game I got waves from little kids and a guy on a cruiser headed the other way. There were two Harleys parked away from the cars and I just parked right in line behind the bleachers.....just so I could turn and admire it every once in a while however the Harley to my left kept giving me a glare from the chrome. I used to see a decent amount of dual sports a few years back. Thus far in the past two years I've only seen one and that was 2 weeks ago, a guy was on a newer Suzuki, I believe it was the 400. I agree on the unique factor, I haven't ridden past any police cars as of yet but I imagine I'll get a second look and thats it.

 

Yeah Deej, that is where I saw it. I was coming back from I-90 Motorsports in Issaquah(my friend bought a new Triumph 675..AWESOME bike!)and we came back on the old highway to avoid I-5. Traveling through a couple of those little hick towns, I thought we were in Arkansas. [sm=yikesomg.gif]

 

I am a new KLX250S rider (at 400 miles now) but, I totally agree with the turning heads thing. First day riding it to Hickam a roofer truck pulled to the side on Kamehameha highway and the dudes in the front were yelling nice bike! Then on the way home by a bus stop a man pointed it out to his kid and the kid waved (I waved back). Amazing. I never got that type of response from my Nighthawk.

I haven't noticed any Harleys doing the buddy wave though...

Also, I just finished my MSF course Friday (required for a base decal) and the class was pretty impressed with the bike. Now, if I can just get past that whole break-in thing...

 

Yes, I do definatley get a ton of people talking to me about this bike. I have alot more compliments, questions on my KLX then on my VTX, and I mean alot more. "How did you make it street legal", "Wow, aren't the cops gonna get you for riding a d. bike on the road" "Hey man, I haven't seen an enduro in forever, I used to ride one when I was younger, I was thinking about getting another one, bla bla bla...." Oh, by the way, I had 5 cops (different days) coming the opposite way spin their tires in an attempt to do a quick U-turn and then run up quick behind me, I'm guessing they are thinking that they can get this person riding the dirt bike on the road and impound the bike, then when they get close enough "Doh, its a damned dual sport bike, arrggggg!!!" They do that alot.

 

Some good reading for those who think that the break-in procedure from the bike companies is the only way to go. www.mototuneusa.com

Scroll down to the break-in secrets and read some interesting stuff. Luckily I read this information before I had one mile on my bike.

 

This is interesting and I've read it before, but I'm also a little skeptical. His theory is that the gas pressure gets "behind" the piston rings and forces them outward, causing them to be pushed outward against the cylinder wall and a much higher force than normal. I'm not really buying that. The gas is going to go in the direction of least resistance. If the gas slips behind the ring by way of the groove in the piston, why would it stop there and refocus its direction outward against the tiny tiny surface area of the inside of the ring to spread it apart? The physics of that just doesn't make sense. The inside diameter surface area is too small for the gas pressure to produce any kind of appreciable forces in the outward direction. The rings act like springs and that is the dominant outward force. Any forces added by "gas on the inside of the piston ring" are negligible.

He also states that the rings exert 10 lbs of pressure against the cylinder wall and that pressure cannot keep the 1000's of lbs of gas pressure from above from going by. Again, I'm not buying that - he seems to be misunderstanding the direction of the forces as the forces he is comparing are perpindicular to each other and are not working with or against each other - they are unrelated.

He also has created an "out" for himself in the case where people that use the traditional break-in method yet have excellent break-in results. His out in this case is that the mechanic that set up the bike before delivery "must have" ridden the bike for a hard test drive first.

I'm not saying this method won't work - just that I'm skeptical of the reasons stated.

Traditional break-in basically says you take it easy for a few hundred miles to allow the engine parts to wear together and smooth each other out. Sort've like rocks in a tumbler - after a while they polish each other to a silky smooth finish. Regarding the rings, they are not a perfect fit in the cylinder wall. The friction of engine operation hones the rings and the cylinder together against each other so that they fit each other perfectly after a few hundred miles. I've seen many folks on this forum alone, myself included, report that after about 600 to 700 miles, they notice a distinct power gain as this honing becomes complete. This goes directly counter to what he states in his section titled "The problem with Easy Break In". That alone casts doubt on his logic. Again, I'm not saying it doesn't work - just that if it does, I don't think it is for the reasons he has stated.

I will soon be replacing my 250cc cyclinder and piston with a 300cc one. When I remove the 250cc components, you can be sure that I will be studying the wear on them. I broke my bike in traditional, keeping the bike at or under 4000 RPM for about 375 miles. I then started to open it up a bit more, but did not exeed 5000 until about 500 miles. If that didn't work properly, I should see discoloration below the rings on the piston where the combustion gasses leaked past. If I don't see that, then the traditional method must have worked properly and the debunking of his logic will then be complete.

 

Well unless he's lying about the pictures and his record of engine rebuilds then that's one thing, but other than that, the way he describes the break-in process is exactly how my stepdad and all of his buddies broke in new and rebuilt engines in the 70's and they never had a single problem with any of those engines.

 

Regarding the photos - that is totally uncontrolled data. How is he supposed to know the history of an engine he rebuilds? It's more like - lets seperate the good looking pistons from the bad looking ones, label the good ones "mototune" and the bad ones "traditional". This is just hearsay and inuendo. Without a controlled experiment, that data is useless - worse than useless since he's defending his logic and has a vested interested in the outcome being in favor of mototune. I think I'd need a more objective sample before I draw any conclusions about that.

And what about all the folks who report a noticeable power increase at 600 to 700 miles? His logic does not support that result, yet it is real, I felt it myself. He distinctly says that cannot happen with a traditional break-in. But there it is.

Finally, note that I am not saying you can't or even shouldn't break-in your engine by "ride it like you stole it" as you like to say. What I'm saying is that his logic has some serious gaps as to why that works.

Once I get my 250cc cylinder and piston out and look it over closely, I'll then decide which method I use to break in my 300cc components.

 

I give, I give, I give let us know what you find out with you're engine, thanks Brian.

 

You know it, buddy!

I also plan to do a step-by-step for the 300cc upgrade. Unless someone can point me to one. I'd much rather _use_ one that already exists, than _create_ one