Well does it need to be done and are they easy enough to get the feelers into I heard they are shim under bucket type is this the case all info apreciated.

 

the check is very easy. all you gotta do is remove the tank, then remove the head cover. it has a few bolts and a rubber gasket that is infinitely reusable. with the head cover off, you can easily see the timing marks on the cam sprockets - pull a spark plug to make the motor easy to turn and rotate to top dead center of compression stroke - you can just put it in gear and roll it to get there, or pull the plug on the stator cover and insert wrench - the timing marks on the cams will be pointing directly at each other - pay absolutely no attention to the mark on the flywheel, no need to pull that plug. a typical feeler gauge can then be inserted to measure.
IMO I would not bother messing with anything that's .004 or greater, if they're all at least .004 I would wait til 50 hours and check again.

typically, the intake valve clearance closes faster than the exhaust since the intake valves are larger and tulip easier as a result. after 50 hours my intake clearance had to be adjusted but 300 hours later and still has not needed readjusted. exhaust on my bike has never receded, yet anyway.

 

Thanks for the info

If shims are needed are they easy to get hold of

I used to do the shim clearances on some of my road bikes but found if they needed changing that i needed such a selection of shims it was cheaper to put it to a shop to get done as they had shim boards

how do you find doing the job on the ds , any sucess in calculating the size of shim needed ect

 

the shims are over bucket type not under. and Kawasaki shims from a kz1000 (police bike) will fit.

 

Thanks for the info[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

also shims can be gotten at bmw dealer
or RWR can ship to your door $5 each

but best and quickest and cheapest is to calculate what the thickness needs to be, then take your stock shims to a local machine shop with a magnetic based surface grinder and have them ground down to the right thickness. my local shop ground all 4 of mine for me a while back when I changed cams for $10 total, took them 10 minutes while I waited.

 

I just want to know if it really is so important to check the valves so often. I had my DS for 18months and never did check, the bike ran just as good or better than it did when I bought it. Now Jetsnow has had it for like 10 months, and he hasn't had it checked either, he said it runs awesome????