Modern Vespa

I drove my new 2022 Kymco AK550 into work today. I was trying
to get more low speed miles on it during the break in period.

The scoots manual instructs to vary the speed and keep the speed
under 48 mph for the first 200 miles. The service guy at my dealer,
and others have told this is not important. Ride it like you stole it.
Just keep moving the speed up and down and do not run long at the
same speed. The manual also indicates do not rapidly accelerate
rapidly for the first 200 miles.

So, what is your take on the run in period? At this point I am following
the manufactures service manual.

Side note: The only way I could get home with my prior Burgman 400,
when it was new with zero miles on it, was on the freeway. I ran
at 65 miles per hour that first day. Had no affect on the Burgman.

Bob Copeland


I do like the new Kymco 550. At my Office.

since I know I'm not an expert and I know different engines models from different manufactures vary plenty meaning opinions on the internet are not perfect, I therefore mostly follow the manufacture's advice for peace of mind.

It's your dime, Bob....and there's probably little you could do to grenade it.
But you seem to keep your maxis for a long time, so maybe follow the manual.
It's only for 200 miles.
O.S.

I've always done break-in by the manual. First few hundred miles, I take a day or 3 and explore in town & some surrounding suburb/rural for plenty of stop and go. Keeps the speed under 50mph and avoids holding the same speed for more than a few minutes...assuming that's not the ONE TIME you catch nothing but green lights. 😉

Something I picked up from my very first scooter: for break-in, I get whiteout or a paint pen and mark a dot on the throttle, then mark off zero, half, 3/4, and full throttle on the switch cluster...thing. First stage of break-in, no more than half, second stage up to 3/4, no prolonged WOT until after first service.
That's just me, though. 😊

If you're in an urban area, or out in the sticks with only twisties around, then just ride it normally - the only real no-no is riding at WOT down the freeway for hours on end.

While it's not even on the same planet as your Kymco I've been running in my low budget 170cc Chinese scooter by listening to it. It's only at 350 miles (the product of having three other bikes) but after every ride it feels different. Every sound, every vibration and how it pulls tells you how close it is to being broken in.

Somewhere there's information on how to break it in. Either in your manual or the web or on the Kymco owners forum.

I feel like this is one of those topics that has already had everything written about it that can possibly be written about it.

If you're curious on FortNine's take:

I go by the manual.

I reckon you can be a little bit naughty and push that 48 up to 50.

I've taken the easy way out: the recommended break-in period is so short, that I've just followed it.

Haven't seen my overall happines degree gone much down with this brief period of strick self-control.

As a side comment: I'm in the same boat right now, Bob.
The Spring is finally here, kind of. I've got my sparkling, brand new Triumph Bonneville out and doing what the owners' manual says: taking it easy.


'Spring' being a relative term around here: the only flash of colour in nature is still my Bonnie...

having purchased and ridden over 75 new bikes/scooters since 1955---I go by the book, which seems better.

Ohhhh, you jerk. And by that, I mean "nice Bonnie T120!"

~a street twin owner 😉

Thanks! Street Twin is a nice bike. I had a Street Scrambler, quite the same but works for mild off/rough roads too.

Mine was all matte (khaki green) and black, very 'serious' looking bike. Kind of nice to have some chrome and sparkle in my life too.

How many folks who obsess about break in still own the bike when the engine wears out? If an incorrect break in winds up shortening engine life by 5% will it matter? How would you even know? Most modern engine machining is so good that combined with the excellent oils and filtration available today you won't wear your engine out. Just don't skimp on maintenance.

Much ado about comparatively little, imo. I bought my 60th bike last October - a V7-850. On day #3 I hit the end of break in, rolling past 1000 miles. Almost all of it was at highway speeds. I just kept varying throttle and RPM, downshifted and accelerated every few miles, and gave some cursory attention to the RPM limits listed in the owners manual. I exceeded those limits many times due to traffic, passing, etc., but not to the point of bouncing off of the rev limiter. I'm sure it will be fine, and if for some reason it isn't I'm sure it won't have anything to do with break in!

That's some strong confirmation bias you have there!

This question is asked all the time. And the result is always the same - the poster receives a broad range of different answers. That has the advantage that the OP can pick any response he or she chooses - the disadvantage is that it doesn't make you any smarter on the subject.

Call it what you want.

I spent about 3 decades in auto and Harley dealerships. I lost count a long time ago of the number of engines I've built in my life. But I'm sure I could count on my hands the number of engines I rebuilt due to excess wear. The most common items that necessitated overhaul were abuse such as overrevs, overheating, lack of maintenance, running out of oil, gasket failures and valves kissing pistons from failed timing belts. The days of needing a ridge reamer to get a piston out of a worn block are mostly behind us. 99.9 % of the people who buy a new bike and worry about break in will not own it when it is old and tired, if it ever gets tired at all.

You don't think "No break in babying needed for our scooters" would be something the marketing department would be trumpeting?
End if engineering were sceptical?

Thanks everyone for your input. I will do the manual for the recommended
first 200 miles. Then I am going open up this 550. I think I will still
vary speed to the 600 first service.

Bob Copeland

I'm not saying "no babying needed" I explained the methods I used - vary the rpm frequently, accelerate and decelerate, run through the gears. I believe in the benefits of allowing parts to bed in. But what I believe in even more is watching the road, staying safe, not being a roadblock in traffic, etc. Even if I did everything wrong there likely isn't going to be a known difference in power output, mileage or longevity.

There is a theory that at least part of the reason for break in requirements has as much to do with breaking in the rider to an unfamiliar machine as it does to do with the nature of how modern mechanical parts bed in. I don't know whether or not that's true. I don't bounce new engines off of the rev limiter in the first minutes of their lives, but I've also concerned myself with break in less and less as the years have gone by. Even as a heavy powertrain specialist in the auto biz I usually told people to try to vary speeds and avoid short trips in cold weather for the first few hundred miles. That was about it.

There was a time when new cars had a break in period for the engine. They were shipped with break in oil. I believe that the break in period was 500 miles. At that time the engine oil and filter were changed.

That said I wonder why scooters stiil have a break in period and cars don't.

Honda too has some minor experience in high volume motorcycle manufacturing for global markets. For the latest Africa Twin, they sum up the break-in period quite nicely: (borrowed from the manual)

'During the first 300 miles (500 km) of running, follow these guidelines to ensure your vehicle's future reliability and performance.

Avoid full-throttle starts and rapid acceleration.
Avoid hard braking and rapid down-shifts.
Ride conservatively.'

So 'to take it easy' at first stays in their menu, where as the good ol' glazing of the cylinder walls because of too steady or mild throttle input (and thus looser seating of piston rings) has gone away.

Mayby they've figured out that excess warming is worse than the steady throttle riding, or just have better materials/manufacturing capabilities than the rest, who knows.....but as my manual still says to vary the throttle, that's what I'll do for these agony filled few days that I'll have to keep my inner racing spirit in a leach

I had a Honda 360 once. It was a nice little car.

Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.

The Eagles, like my Owner's Manual, get it right: Take it easy. The manufacturer designed and built the damned thing, so who're you going to trust, especially after spending your (presumably) hard-earned cash for it? Is not giving it the beans for 300 or 600 miles going to kill you?

I've followed the break-in instructions for every bike I've owned. The BV 400 has the most generous instructions I've seen:

During the first 1000 km do not use this vehicle at over 80% of its maximum speed. Avoid completely engaging the accelerator and keeping the vehicle at constant speeds for long periods of time. After the first 1000 km progressively increase the speed where allowed until you reach the maximum vehicle speed performance.


I guess the lawyers didn't catch that last sentence. I'm 300 miles in — mostly putzing around town with some short 3-5 mile stints on the freeway. I guess after 620 miles I'll be forced to check out the BVs top speed (progressively of course) if I want to stick to the book.

Time to plan a desert trip.

Damn....now I'll need to whip out my Owner's Manual when I get home. Maybe I'll photocopy the page and keep it in the glovebox in case I ever get pulled over.

cars don't rev as high as bikes ... ?

wonder what the break in is for a Ferrari or some other high reving sports car

Revs don't really matter nearly as much as piston speed. The longer the stroke, the faster the piston speed at a given rpm.

good point. so I wonder (without trying to do the maths) how that number would equate for average cars and also for sports cars vs scooters

There are cars with short(er) stroke engines, and cars with long(er) stroke engines. Stroke is a major player in generating torque, which cars tend to need more of than motorcycles to get their mass moving.

It isn't difficult to calculate and compare piston speeds:

Stroke x 2 x RPM.

If stroke is 4 inches, the piston travels down 4 inches and up 4 inches for each revolution of the crank. Therefore, at 5000 rpm an engine with a 4" stroke has a piston speed of 40,000 inches per minute. Divided by 12 yields the result of 3333.3333 feet per minute.

If I recall correctly, the BMW K12 engine (the brick, not the later wet
Clutch model) had one of the higher or highest piston speeds in production motorcycling.

What are the instructions for a car?

The instructions to ride gently may be about breaking in the rider as much as the engine ( which could be done more carefully in the factory).

Varies by make and model. Many don't even have specific break in requirements for engines anymore. I have a new Chevy Duramax truck. Here is what Chevrolet says about break in, copied from a duramax forum. I drove the truck as I would drive any truck, which means I pretty much adhered to everything but their speed limit:

Here is what GM says -

New Vehicle Break-In
The vehicle does not need an elaborate break-in. But it will perform better in the long run if you follow these guidelines:
. Keep the vehicle speed at 88 km/h (55 mph) or less for the first 805 km (500 mi).
. Do not drive at any one constant speed, fast or slow, for the first
805 km (500 mi). Do not make full-throttle starts. Avoid downshifting to brake or slow the vehicle.
. Avoid making hard stops for the first 322 km (200 mi) or so. During this time the new brake linings are not yet broken in. Hard stops with new linings can mean premature wear and earlier replacement. Follow this breaking-in guideline every time you get new brake linings.
. Do not tow a trailer during break-in.
Following break-in, engine speed and load can be gradually increased.

Conversely, GM also electronically limits the corvette to a 4000 rpm redline for the first 500 miles.

Porsche has a break in procedure for 2000 miles, but supposedly they load and redline their engines when they get tested at the factory.

Nice. Might've come in handy for this guy:

https://carbuzz.com/news/owner-totals-his-dodge-challenger-hellcat-just-an-hour-after-purchase