An easy question for motorbike mechanics!

Question

I have a honda crf 230 bike and i let my friend ride it.But when he rode it he always had it in a high gear but he was going slow with the throttle open wide and then engine sounded like it was getting wasted.

Another thing he did was he would be in gear 3 or 4, he would go at an idle speed (really slow) then he would open the throttle really wide.After he stopped i told him he needs to change down a few gears so the engine doesnt struggle.The question is:How bad is this for the engine?Is my engine gonna be permanantly damaged?I have no idea how reliable engines are these days so i wouldnt know.All i know is that low revs in a high gear is not good for the bike.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Lugging the motor isn't good for it, but I highly doubt that any damage occured.

Answer 2

None of the things he did were good for your bike, but none of them would have done any damage after only one ride.  

Answer 3

The worst thing would be fouling the spark plug (plugs)

Answer 4

The engine should be fine. What a kooky way your friend was riding. What was he thinking?

Answer 5

No worries one ride will not kill a motor with low revs.  Remember you got a Honda because they are so well built.

Answer 6

To be on the very safe side, change the oil and filter.  Most likely every thing in the motor is ok, but if you want a little bit of insurance, change the oil.  Turning the throttle wide open at very low rpm's brings in a fair amount of gas.  Does that extra gas get past the rings, probable not.  Again, in my mind, oil is cheap, engines are expensive.

Do not let your friend ride your Honda again.  At least until he starts riding his own machine and demonstrates he can ride correctly.