how do i break in my bike?

[bmac]

2 is the same as 1. Vary throttle but do not ride as certain RPM's for PROLONGED periods.  
Far too many folks think that they should keep the RPM's low during break in yet nothing in the manual recommends that. 

#2 is decidedly not the same as #1.  One method is designed to reduce the number of warranty claims, the other method is designed to ensure the best seal between rings and cylinder walls.

You need to reread the owners manual. Varying the throttle as described by Motoman easily falls within the recommended parameters of "Break-in" as described in the manual. No one can effectively argue that brief full throttle bursts is anywhere close to PROLONGED operation above 5600 rpm's.
 
It constantly amazes me how many folks think they need to baby a new engine.

[wessie]

#2 is decidedly not the same as #1.  One method is designed to reduce the number of warranty claims, the other method is designed to ensure the best seal between rings and cylinder walls.

You need to reread the owners manual. Varying the throttle as described by Motoman easily falls within the recommended parameters of "Break-in" as described in the manual. No one can effectively argue that brief full throttle bursts is anywhere close to PROLONGED operation above 5600 rpm's. 
It constantly amazes me how many folks think they need to baby a new engine.

it harks back to the days when engines were very crude and had a high infant mortality rate so taking it easy until you were sure everything was machined and bolted together properly was a good idea as you might end up dead. 
These wise tails then get passed on and remain in our culture despite modern machining and assembly meaning that a break in period has not really been needed since the 1940s when Fordism was honed by the requirements of WW2 to have safe, reliable engines from the 1st hour of delivery. 
 
What confuses me now is the need for a 600 mile service on a motorcycle. I haven't had a 600/1000 mile service on a new car for three decades. 

[2damax]

I do Motoman Hard break-in method on my Versys and when I eventually get the Tracer, I'll do the same. Basically for the first 100 miles, proper warms up prior to anything else, avoid localized hot spots from mechanical interactions within the engine by allowing proper cooling after each sets of revs up and down, then an oil change.

[jimf]

These wise tails then get passed on and remain in our culture despite modern machining and assembly meaning that a break in period has not really been needed since the 1940s when Fordism was honed by the requirements of WW2 to have safe, reliable engines from the 1st hour of delivery. 
 
What confuses me now is the need for a 600 mile service on a motorcycle. I haven't had a 600/1000 mile service on a new car for three decades. 

No argument from me that the older engines needed babying just to make sure they weren't going to explode under you, but one thing about modern engines is that they have far finer tolerances.  It's not so much they'll explode as that the parts fit so tightly that they're going to do some shaving as things expand. 
This is why the slowly increasing stress on the engine; you're trying to get it to expand bit by bit, bedding in slowly.  I expect that most of the time the machining is accurate enough that it makes little real world difference, but should you happen to get the piston with a small flaw in the alloy or the last one machined with that CNC drill before they swapped it out or any number of other things that might cause small deviation from design it might matter a lot.
 
As for car service, there's a heck of a lot more oil volume in a car, and better filtering, and you're not running the engine oil through the transmission, and the machining and materials tend to be closer to the state of the art.  Look at how long cars had Nikasil coatings on the cylinders before we ever saw that on bikes, and even today it's not even close to universal.

[stvnfardid]

Does anyone recommend or not recommend to use a mode? Is shuffling through modes have any affect on break in? 

[wessie]

Does anyone recommend or not recommend to use a mode? Is shuffling through modes have any affect on break in? 

 
Use whichever mode feels right for the conditions and your confidence. The engine won't give a toss, the mode is about how confident YOU feel with the throttle. Then use whichever break in method you prefer. I use the ride it like you always do mode as I rarely over-rev a bike and come from the short shifting school of riders. Occasionally I use lots of revs when overtaking a convoy of traffic but YMMV.

[yamaham]

It continues to amaze how so many people think they know more than the engineers that designed this motorcycle...............pure and simple, follow manual procedures.