Hey guys,

I just joined these forums, and I also just re-joined the awesome world of ATV's two days ago, when I got my new 2004 Honda TRX 450R. Besides from getting a pretty decent deal on a new '04, I still would've gotten it in red if I had gotten a '05.

I have a couple of questions which perhaps some of you guys may be able to give me good advice on; the first being about how long I should wait to fully break-in my new ATV, before "seein' what this beast is really made of"? I've only taken it slow, but being that I live a few blocks from a huge dirt riding area (the site for a new residential neighborhood [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]), I'm anxious to really let this baby rip some dirt!

Also, I live down in Tijuana, Mexico; therefore I'll be the one doing all of the regular maintenance on my bike, and I'm wondering when I should do the first oil change, since we all know a 450R doesn't come with any wimp atv features like an electric starter or an odometer.

Almost 10 years (I'm 27 now) after I sold my previous toys - a '92 Slowzuki Quadrunner LT230E and a '87 Honda ATC 250 SX; all I can say is that it's SO sweet to be back in the sport; and look forward to swapping some stories, good advice and even a couple of flames here and there with all of you ATV freaks in here... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Break in advice:
1. Run the bike for 20 min (getting it hot) about 6 times....that works out to 2 hours of easy riding varying the throttle up and down.
2. Change both oils (motor and gear box)

Your break in should be complete....

 

Great! Thanks for the advice man. I'll go pick up some oil later today.

Hey by the way... I couldn't help but notice we're practically neighbors dude. Let's Baja!

 

Are you familiar with Hacienda Ste Veronica??

 

Keep the oil fresh in that quad in particular. You can use automotive oil for the engine, but make sure you are putting a quality, clutchfriendly oil in the tranny. I don't know what the owners manual recomends, but I would change it after the first tank, and then after every second/third tank of gas after. For break in, I just let my YFZ warm up to operating temps, then go give her he**. The key is to put a good load on the engine on both acceleration and deceleration to really seat the rings.Try this link [L=]http://mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm[/L]

 

Yup, my brother in law's family own some land in that ranch. I haven't been down there since I was a kid, but I've heard it's a great place to ride. When will you be going next time? Also, a friend of mine owns the Cantamar Sand Dunes down in Rosarito, Baja California. Pretty friggin' far from being Glamis, still it's a cool little sand box to spend a whole day playing with one's toy.

 

Thanks for the good advice & link man, checking it out now.

 

There is tons of advice on these forums about break in. (you can do a search and then pick which ever advise you want) I perfer a different way than Mrbaja. I like to let the machine warm up to normal tempature, then ride it just like your going to ride any other time. There have been alot of debate over going easy or running it harder at break in, but the facts show that as long as you don't over do it, breaking it in a little harder will give performance gains, and does not hurt anything. The key word here is don't run the crap out of it. If you've ever seen NASCAR engine builders start one up the first time, you'd die. Alot of those guys start them up with no water in them and run them at wide open for 10-15 minutes (after its warmed up) right off the bat. Scared me, and I would never try it. But it goes to show how diferent people do diferent things. Have fun!!

 

scratch that...look for him in the open forum section.

We are putting together a trip to Ste Veronica....soon.

 

As scooter says, break it in as you are going to ride it.
Do your first oil change at about 5 hours, engine and tranny, then about every 10 hours after that on the engine side. The tranny can go a little longer between changes.