How soon before i should use synthetic

Switch it to synthetic immediately - there is zero need to wait for anything.

I don't know why some folks think synthetic stops your break in? I have a friend who is a chemical engineer for a large oil company that creates and sells the base stock (that all oils are made from), and we have talked at length about this.

Synthetic oils are *not* more "slippery", they are just more consistent in quality. They don't have impurities like mineral oils do, and since it's the impurities that burn and clog up at high temperatures, synthetics can be used at higher temperatures than mineral oils.

I prefer to have a good synthetic in there as early as possible, because break-in is when the motor is going to see higher temperatures than usual.

Regarding not breaking in with Synthetic... well, I have 2 Vipers and they both came with synthetic from the factory. I have owned 2 Vettes in the past, both of which came with synthetic from the factory. Ferraris, Lambos, and many other high-performance cars come with synthetic. So if it was bad for break-in, why would all these expensive cars come with it?

But, it's your bike... do what you wanna do

you decide...

There's alot of advice going on, and thats great, it's good to have alot of different opinions. Personally, I DO subscribe to the belief the synthetic does actually impede proper break in, yes it is true ducatis and ferrari GP racers come from the factory with synthetic, but i've owned two ducs, and personally i have plenty of complaints (though they were great bikes, both) and a ferrari is a car, not a bike.

I never run full synthetic, I choose a synthetic blend by motul. You can run it without any worry after about 3500 miles. give or take, your choice. NEVER, however, run anything else than a motorcycle specific synth oil (blend or full) car synthetics contain molybdenum disulfide which is know to cause clutch slippage (the main reason for the alarmist belief in NEVER RUN SUNTHETIC EVER....Actually synthetics are quite good, for many of the reasons these guys mentioned - but i do beleive you should run regular oil to allow the cylinders and rings to properly break in.

The choice is yours - but whatever you do, don't skimp on oil changes durnig break in - 250, 600 and 1200 or so - good times to replace the oil and get that shavings crap out of the system...

good luck

Expensive cars

My buddy just took delivery on an AMG Mercedes. I noticed as we peeked under the hood that it had a sticker that advised to run only mobil syn 1. I asked him about this, it seemed strange to have a new motor with syn already installed. He asked the same question to the Mercedes mechanic ( being about my age with about as many breakin sequences ). Seems that Mercedes ( probably Ferrari too I'd guess ) does extensive Dyno breakin on the motors to seat things, and with their cylinder coatings, they are ready to go once they reach the customer. I'm not really into :bs , just what I've experienced from an ongoing wealth of personal experience with and around motorbike motors.

EVERY bike that I've owned and broken in has been fast for the model, and I WAS sponsored by Kendall oils at one time and heard all the dissertations about bright stock qualities etc. that you'd want to hear. A syn/ mineral blend like Honda HP4 is OK to breakin with, but personally, I would NEVER break in a new motorbike engine in on Syn