Valve adjustment on higher mileage bikes

[patino]

Hi all,

I bought an '02 R1150R in May, my first bike. Shortly after, I attended CycleRob's tech session in hopes of gaining some rudimentary knowledge of my new machine, and by coincidence met the former owner. Since then I've been following this forum and doing a fair amount of riding, and it's now ready for a servicing. I have no experience with motorcycle maintenance, save an afternoon in Rob's garage and what I have read here; what I do have is time, some newly purchased tools and a desire to understand the motorcycle.

My question is the following: Do you guys with higher miles do valve adjustments every 6k (mine has 67k)? As I understand it, as the miles accrue and the bike ages there is less movement and parts tend to 'settle'. I might do the valve adjustment either way while I have some free time, but I'm curious to know what other people have found.

Thanks

[Boxer]

I would pull the covers and CHECK the valve clearances every 6K...usually the week after I changed the oil or just before heating it up for the oil change. It often needed no adjustment at all, but I would tinker with it to get it even closer. Then right after the valve check/adjustment I'd play with the TB synch.

[snowprick]

I would pull the covers and CHECK the valve clearances every 6K...usually the week after I changed the oil or just before heating it up for the oil change. It often needed no adjustment at all, but I would tinker with it to get it even closer. Then right after the valve check/adjustment I'd play with the TB synch.

+1

[R1150Rclean]

If the valves are quiet why bother even pulling off the valve covers? If a valve is out just 200ths you will hear the valve making a lot of noise compared to the rest (assuming they are all in spec now and have the "normal" sound).

[CycleRob]

It's true that the valve clearances do not change much after the 6K service and even less after that. When I checked them at the 60K service, only 2 of the 8 needed adjusting, and that was only by half a thousandth of an inch. You were in on the valve adjustments at the tech session, so you are hands-on aware of the procedure. If you haven't already, you'll need to fabricate a 6 foot differential water manometer (for less than $5) so you can perfectly synch the TB's.

If you get in a jam, you know my contact info & where I live.

.