Not sure I have a strict process that I follow one way or the other, but after a lifetime of owning a LOT of new vehicles of varied size and type, I can recall only two times that I followed the manual to the letter during the break-in period, and coincidence or not, both of them turned out to be crap!
So personally, right or wrong, I tend to drive them during break-in like I normally will, paying close attention to early maintenance, getting the break-in oil out rather early!
On the Hawkeye, I changed out all of the fluids before 10 hours...I will be doing the same with the 400 HO

 

everyone on here that sais they beleive in driving it hard when you first get it do you guys keep your atvs for long? i have a 1998 and a 2001 and both run great with tons of power.

 

well too early to tell on the two ATVs but I drive a 99 F150 with 175,000 miles on it that has never seen the inside of the dealers shop other then scheduled maintainance, and brakes, and a '00 Villager minivan (wifes business vehicle), with 165,000 w/ maintainance, brakes, and fuel injection sensor...both of these were not babied during breakin period but maintained early!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>everyone on here that sais they beleive in driving it hard when you first get it do you guys keep your atvs for long?</end quote></div>
I have a 96 Breeze, a 03 Bomb, a 04 KFX. How long am I going to keep them? A very long time. How do they run? Perfect. How much oil do they burn? None.
All of thme were warmed up to operating temp and then went WOT then shut down and then WOT again for about 10 to 15 laps.

And now a question for you. What are you afraid of to break them in hard? What is going to happen? Please be specific. Exactly what is going to break or wear wrong?
Do you break your lawn mowers in at half throttle? Do you break your chain saw in at half throttle?

 

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but if I were riding my lawn mower 40 miles back in the bush, Mr. Grizzly's home turf, I would opt for reliability rather than perf at WOT.

Most of the single cyl ATV's, I think, are the most susceptible to damage at hard breakin. They develope most of the power due to a fairly long stroke. A long stroke creates a severe rod angle. A severe rod angle produces a lot of side thrust on the cylinder wall and causes a lot of friction at higher rpm. Once the rings have set in, go for it.

Technology has improved dramatically in recent years along with metalurgy, allowing more severe treatment or rushed breakin. For my part, I prefer the Mfg's recommendation for break in. I can hold my testosterone in check for ten hours. If the engine goes sour at early hrs, I think that chances for an unchallenged warranty claim is a lot better.

BUT, ITS A FREE COUNTRY to breakin your machine your way. I don't think there is a definitive right or wrong answer, only individual preferences.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Doctorturbo

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>everyone on here that sais they beleive in driving it hard when you first get it do you guys keep your atvs for long?</end quote></div>

I have a 96 Breeze, a 03 Bomb, a 04 KFX. How long am I going to keep them? A very long time. How do they run? Perfect. How much oil do they burn? None.

All of thme were warmed up to operating temp and then went WOT then shut down and then WOT again for about 10 to 15 laps.



And now a question for you. What are you afraid of to break them in hard? What is going to happen? Please be specific. Exactly what is going to break or wear wrong?

Do you break your lawn mowers in at half throttle? Do you break your chain saw in at half throttle?</end quote></div>


have you taken multiple engines apart? well i race and i have my engines taken apart every 7 weekends if everything goes right. and it is all of the same to save the life of our jugs. and every engine builder has told us teh same thing to vary the throtle and to rev it alot but don'yt hold it anywere. and to start it and do that in nutral untill it fully heats up and shut it down and at a min of 3 and best would be 5 times. and durring teh first practice and heat seccion to take it a lil easy. engine builders that we don't work with tell up this what are they getting out of it? and yea we are going for performance we are getting over 75 hp out of a 250 2 stroke dirt bike engine.

 

Time to re read the first post. He just purchased a new midsize fun atv. Not likely breaking in Hi Perf machines, rather a family bike.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Mongrol

Time to re read the first post. He just purchased a new midsize fun atv. Not likely breaking in Hi Perf machines, rather a family bike.</end quote></div>

yes i was saying when i said that was some of the people said that if you run it hard you will get better performance and i think that is 100 percent untrue. i would break in anything maby differently not in nutral but eather way i think it is important to break anything in now ive also heard a while ago in street cars with new cams and rev limiters they would hold it pinned for a good amount of time to break in the cams. idk much about that but my dad claims thats what the engine builder said to do.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: sprinter10

everyone on here that sais they beleive in driving it hard when you first get it do you guys keep your atvs for long? i have a 1998 and a 2001 and both run great with tons of power.</end quote></div>

Well I bought mine brand new in 2000 Still works like the day i bought it .....No thats wrong better than the day i bought it engine wise the body has a few battle scars.
And I just got done taking the engine apart to check things over and everything looks great cam has a little wear but that is understandable thinking about getting a webcam anyways.
And on another note my clutching is setup to turn around 7200 rpm another so called no no but hey did not buy it to baby it. I abuse it I will admit it but I am very admit about regular maintenance. maybe I am just lucky.

But if some want to do it the total opposite of me thats fine too.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>have you taken multiple engines apart? well i race and i have my engines taken apart every 7 weekends if everything goes right.</end quote></div>
Ha ha ha ha, ya I've taken a few apart. Check my pict page out. That is the car I wrench on and race. I crew chief on two other round d round race teams. Won a championship last year in the class we race and set several track records in that class. I'm the guy that makes it possibled for people like you to win races.

So ya, I've taken just a few apart in my time. Going to put a freshened up engine in one of the cars next weekend. Guess what we are going to do the weekend after? YEP, I'm going to tell the driver to warm the engine up to op temp to get everything stabile, and go out and try to set another track record on that brand new engine. YES, on a BRAND NEW ENGINE!!!!!! Oh the horrors!!! LOL
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>and every engine builder has told us teh same thing to vary the throtle and to rev it alot but don'yt hold it anywere. </end quote></div>
Be kinda hard to hold our race engine WOT for very long. I don't know anything about the tracks you race on, but we have corners on our tracks. Got to slow down sometime!!!!! My data shows that the driver get on and off the throttle 4 times per lap. Hmmmmmm guess that makes sence, the track has 4 turns. LOL

You still did not answer my questions.
What are you afraid of to break them in hard? What is going to happen? Please be specific. Exactly what is going to break or wear wrong?

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Most of the single cyl ATV's, I think, are the most susceptible to damage at hard breakin. </end quote></div> Really? How so? Please explain in detail?
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>They develope most of the power due to a fairly long stroke. A long stroke creates a severe rod angle. A severe rod angle produces a lot of side thrust on the cylinder wall and causes a lot of friction at higher rpm. Once the rings have set in, go for it. </end quote></div>
I don't know the spec's on your quad engine, but on mine, it has a shorter stroke and bigger bore than my small block and I have seen no damage to the bore or piston breaking them in hard. On the contrary, I don't see the burnished finish on the bores I see on an over fueled lightly broken in engine. BTW, friction is a good thing for breakin. This is what makes your rings conform to the bore to get a perfect seal.
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>If the engine goes sour at early hrs, I think that chances for an unchallenged warranty claim is a lot better. </end quote></div>
Personally, I want the manufacture to pick up the tab if they screwed up the clearances and the engine locks up. Fortunately, for me, all have run perfect and I have had no problems.
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>BUT, ITS A FREE COUNTRY to breakin your machine your way.</end quote></div>
Nothing wrong with that at all. But unsubstantiated claims need to be challanged, otherwise people tend to believe wives tails.