Wow, just read that rather disjointed post!!! [ of mine ] After my 'Slow', 'Controlled' break in I put a K&N filter and Powercore IV muffler on ( Powerbomb header came later) Took my bike to a guy in town that hot-rods race bikes and had him jet it. He said these are great engines. "Ride it WTFO, you're not going to hurt it' I went out and discovered to my amazement that I could redline this thing. Stopped back a few days later and asked the guy if it was OK to rev so high. He said don't worry about it. Since the headpipe and derestrict I did more jetting. Kind of a long answer to your simple question, eh? I guess maybe I don't really have an answer to what is best, I just know what I did and it sure seems to have worked well.

 

This is one of those topics where you ask two people and get three different answers. Over the many years I've been riding I've had over thirty bikes. I have used both methods and honestly have never noticed any difference.I did a hare scrambles on my 07crf450r the day after I bought it and it runs fine and other than a leaky water pump seal the just happened about a month ago I have never had a problem with it. It runs great after 2 years of hard riding. The minute after I unloded my 09 KLX out of my truck I took it out and ran the DC out of it. It runs fine after 2500 miles and not a single problem. I find it very difficult to go slow on a brand new toy. I would say don't lug the engine or overheat in any way,vary the RPM, and change the oil and filter after the first ride and then every 1000miles or so and you'll be fine. Just .02$ worth.

 

I bougt mine used with 384 miles on it. Who knows what the prev owner did, he did take the snorkel off which leads me to believe he ran it.
I took it easy for the first 1k, with oil changes at 500 and 1k, amsoil at 1k.
A slow break in and regular oil changes have worked on every vehicle I've owned. I'm sure I've driven bikes and cars and trucks 750k with never a motor failure. For that matter I've never had a vehicle use oil.
Transmissions are another story.

 

Sounds good guys! Thanks for all the replies. Never ridden before so I was a bit nervous at first but went over to my buddy's place this morning and got used to his DRZ400. Rode it around all morning so now I'm pretty comfy with at least getting the bike home from the dealer (~80km) I probly won't beat on it since I'm so new to this but I'll push it as much as I can......don't wanna get TOO cocky and end up dumping it on my first ride!!

Pics to follow by Friday...

 

+1

Here's another vote for old fashioned common sense. I'm convinced the factory method was conceived to protect Kawi by artificially lengthening the break in period so as to limit any claims during the warranty period. I have never heard of anyone here having a problem related to break in so I can only assume that the method used is of little relevance.

I bought my '07 with just under 500M on the ODO from a former MX racer who told me that he had wound it out a few times just to see what she would do. Apparently this had no ill effects on the bike, as I continued to notice improvements in performance as it continued to break in up to about 1200M. Thing runs like a top now, better than when I first got it, and ready for the pipe/jet/airbox mods it will get later this spring.

Just ride it and smile.......

 

So after I got the bike off the trailer this afternoon, obviously I took it out for a ride. At the beginning I was following the whole "not above 4k" rule from the manual. Screw that! I could only get about 60km/h out of it in 6th which doesn't really work as most of the roads around here are 80k roads. So, I ended up having fun with it instead. I didn't beat the snot out of it and I think the highest I ever saw was around 7000 but I never kept it at any constant RPM for very long, lots of bringing the engine up under load and lots of compression braking. It had 8km on it when I picked it up and brought it home and I put 92km on it this afternoon.

Long story short, I love the damn thing and can't wait for tomorrow to show up! Quick oil/filter change and I'm gonna be out again! Pics to follow....it's dark now and I don't want the world to see the state of my garage.