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New bike break-in

diablo

Member
When I bought my new car last year the oil in the motor was change at 5000 miles after break-in. Question why should I change my oil in the Ultra classic at 1000 miles after break-in.
 
I'm sure Chopper or Glider or many of the other knowledgeable sources will chime in here soon, but I think a lot of it has to do with the air cooled engines. They operate quite differently than a car engine. Am I close on this Oh Great Ones? :s
 
When I bought my new car last year the oil in the motor was change at 5000 miles after break-in. Question why should I change my oil in the Ultra classic at 1000 miles after break-in.

I guess I did it at 500 miles just to make sure everything was breaking in properly (check for large metal shavings [especially in the transmission and crankcase], etc). I go fully synthetic now (Mobil1 V-Twin) after reading quite a bit about it on this forum. But I only change the crankcase and primary oil every 4k miles (compromise between the 2.5k and 5k popular changing intervals) and every 10k in the transmission (Spectro 6-Speed Synthetic). It costs more money to change the oil in my Harleys (including the oil filters) than all of my cars combined. :newsmile093:
 
I am with Smitty, no body knows Harley's better the the engineers at Harley Davidson. I've always told my customers I would rather see them for their first service at 700 miles then 1001, it good to get that break-in fluid out and a good syn in. Don't drive the bike like a little old lady going to church on Sunday, but drive her with respect, don't get stuck in heavy traffic, don't let it sit and idle any longer then you have to, keep air flowing through the fins, if you're on the interstate do not pass a rest area, stop and let the bike cool a couple, very your speed as much as posable while riding but keep a eye behind you for other drivers and above all do not drive 55 mph on the interstate, I don't care what the owners manual says, getting ran over from behind is bad for a new engine, it's ok to do 70 mph.
Here a service chart I use. Pay attension to the notes for seasonal changes at the bottom, you can go wrong. My opinion anyways.
View attachment 2008_Touring_Service_jpg.pdf
 
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