BREAK IN PERIOD

[T W I S T E R]

KYMCO 250S. How many miles till this thing is considered broken in. The 150 china job took 1200 miles. same here ?

[monty57]

I don't know what Kymco recommends but Yamaha suggested 600 miles of mostly below 4000rpm for the break-in period. I did tend to push that a bit but I have always felt you need to seat the rings with intermittent higher RPM for short periods of time. You need to find some less traveled road as to not drive anyone following you crazy. I have used this process on every motorcycle, scooter and ATV I have owned (of which there were many) and I still have couple in the family that are still running great with over 20 years on them.

[scooterollie]

Monty has the right idea. 600 miles is about 1,000 Kms and that is often recommended by manufacturers. Wouldn't hurt to stretch it up to 1K miles before sustained high speed cruising. I don't use the "ride it like you stole it" method but also feel you need some excursion into the higher RPM range periodically during break-in, especially after the first couple of hundred miles.

[WarrenS]

My experience has been that if you baby it during the official break in period it doesn't seem peppy until you get it on the highway for a run. After that it feels broken in and peppy.

[siestarandy]

The break in issue has many different opinions, Each with some merit. I too just took mine in for the first service, early(450 miles), and the service manager was in agreement that it's well on it's way to being broken in.

At 250 miles, he encouraged me to hit the freeway, although I only did for an exit or two. My recommended break-in is the same as Monty57. But under 4k won't hardly keep up with traffic, and totally rules out the freeway.

I'm no expert, but I'm in agreement with Scooterrollie, in that getting up into higher RPMs for short bursts and/or short distances, after a couple hundred miles, are most likely NOT harmful to the engine, and most like are benificial in the longrun. Most people say "vary the RPMs", so thats what I'm doing. Besides, those higher RPMs are a real blast on a Bergman 400. Especially with the new, high, Givi windscreen.

[A J]

After a half century of driving and many new vehicles, I believe, the essential element of "break-in" is common sense. When it was common for engines to consume a quart of oil every thousand miles after running 60,000 miles, engines were not fabricated with the care and precision available today. The last car I sold had 180,000 miles on it and never needed to add oil between 5,000 mile oil changes.

Many of you have stated the same thing in different words and with some different reasons. All good advise, IMHO.

Baby it a few hundred miles, drive it sensible without undue stress for a few hundred mies and then begin to stress it lightly intermittently and progressively until you have about 1000 miles on it. After that, is when I would do the WOT high speed testing.

I think the manufacturer recommended break-in is conservative to accommodate the mechanically ignorant and try to keep them from making junk out of the engine during the warranty period.

I believe most of the people who frequent this forum are intelligent enough and in tune with the mechanicals to be able to "feel" when the machine is under stress and being abused. Just don't abuse it before it's ready!
A J

[powerride]

Break in dont use the "ride it like you stole it" you could crash..

[T W I S T E R]

1200 miles today. switched oil to Mobil 1-10/40 synthetic. hope this is a good one.

previous engine noise: valve adjustment - 89 octane BP gas and synthetic oil has reduced noise considerably. Now only gets noisy under full throttle. back off on that and noise stops.

High end speed. Don't be misled by others who say the 250S Kymco will do 85 MPH. It won't. I nailed it today for the first time and it ran right up to 75+. It was a very slow climb to 80MPH and I ran out of road.

I am 235 pounds and I have this huge touring windshield on it. this could make the difference between me and others but with my riding experience, I would say this is a solid 65 MPH cruizer with a top end of around 75 MPH without pushing it too hard. That's good enough for me. 75 scares hell out of me.

by the way: the engine noise likens itself to a blender chopping up ice cubes.

[monty57]

I think a lot of 250s are hard pressed to do over 75. I have check my 244 CF Moto with a GPS and 70 to 75 seems to be the top when all the condition are right. The bigger 250s may get close to 80 or slightly above but I would like to witness the actual tests.

I have heard the my Majesty is capable of 100+ being a little under 400cc but so far slightly over 90 seems to be about all it or I want. It has about 1100 miles on it now and may still need little more time but I think the 100+ is an exaggeration.

In general I think we would like to believe these things are capable of more than they really are but in reality the important number is what are they capable of maintaining for long periods of time.... "cruising speed", the max speed we can run on long trips. I think that is much more important than top end. That really only comes into play when we need to merge, pass or pick up speed up hill.

[Gary]

Twister,
I'm curious what it is that is scary at 75 with the Kymco. Is it just the concept of going that fast with no protection (scares me a bit too!) or is it something about the ride or handling?

I routinely do 70 on the freeway with my Viva for short distances, but it definately jumps around a bit as the tires track the grooves in the pavement. This is a bit un-nerving and something I wouldn't want to do for hours on end. My impression was that the Kymco's larger wheels made the ride at speed better.

[T W I S T E R]

just not used to the speed. the scoot does very well and seems very stable and smooth. I just imagine my ass dragging down the blacktop at 75 MPH. ouch.