As many of you know who have followed the purchase of the new Ducati 749, right now my biggest complaint is the time it takes to break in the engine. The Ducati manual says that you should ride the bike up to the 6k rpm mark for the first 600 miles and then you can go up to 7.5k until 1,500 miles pass. This obviously effects how one rides the bike during the break in period, as you you’re not supposed to get the bike high up in the rpm range, which any sport bike rider will tell you is where the bikes like to be while in the canyons. Earlier today I came across a web page in a ducati forum that held an alternative point of view on the subject.

Basically, the guy who runs the site claims that the best way to break in a new engine is to run it hard - this isn’t exactly a new idea, several people over the years have told me the same thing, almost regardless of which brand or engine they were talking about. It certainly seems that there are two very different views. The basic idea of running a new engine hard is that it help seat the rings. I understand this philosophy if your intention is to purely use a new bike on the track because at the highest levels of racing they use engines only a few times before tearing them down and basically throwing them out. For street use, in the most general terms, you’re not exactly going to toss out your engine so I’m not sure I completely agree with the page… But it does make you think. Here’s the link to mototuneusa.com. See what you think…