Intial Break-in?

[Woofy]

Is it true that after the intial break-in, harder riding smooths the 'Strom out?

I had it in for service last Saturday and was told after they took it apart and looked it over, the engine appeared to be in a state almost like it hadn't been broken-in and the 600 mile old 2nd change of oil in the bike was almost indistiguishable from new. Oddly enough, the 1st oil change was almost clear without a speck of metal as I'd used an old "gold filter" from a coffee pot to strain out any trace of metal shavings.

I was told to take the bike out and and give it a good workout, making sure to rev it into the upper ranges in all gears. I'm not of a speed demon, but I did what they sold me on Sunday. Dang! This bike is insanely fast!

Oddly enough, the engine and transmission seem much smoother, though the clunk when shifting from first to second gear seems to be a bit more pronounced. Has anyone else noticed much change in the the engine, transmission and other parts of the bike once it's given a good workout?

After yesterday's workout, I'm changing the oil and filter tonight and will edit this post if I find anything scary. Thanks!

[rider1951]

The harder you ride it the smoother it will get. I didn't break mine in hard enough and with over 16,000 miles I think it is still breaking in. A few weeks ago I did a 525 mile trip. The first day the bike was running pretty good on day 2 the bike ran rougher until I came to a section of road where I just kept it in 2nd gear and ran it to about redline between corners. It was a section about 4 miles long, ever since the bike has been running smoother and it has been all city riding since then. I can not wait to get it out on another long ride.

[JerryB]

I picked up my '03 on Dec. 31st, the ride home (long way over a mountain) was only 75 miles. I pretty much kept to the recommended rpm limit, with an occasional run up to 5k or so. After I read another post somewhere about just running it harder (7k or so I guess) and not worrying about it, I started hammering it harder. That was about the 475 mile mark. I went on a 230 mile ride yesterday including mountain (tight) and l-o-n-g valley straightaways with sweeping turns, I got up to an indicated 120mph (around 7-7500rpm) It runs smooth as silk at that speed, solid as a rock too. I am getting that so-called "idle hammer" I think, but I've had bikes with noisy clutches before, the noise goes away when the clutch is disengaged, so I may already have the worn areas. I never noticed the "chudder" even when I was lugging the motor up the mountain. I'll have to check that soon I guess.

JB