16k tappet service in South East? Necessary?

My bike is now 5 years old and on about 15k.

I'm wondering if the tappet service is necessary- I.e. The clearances are normally correct and don't require re-shimming? It's not so much the cost, it's more that I'd rather not have the engine opened up unless it's really necessary.

And can anyone recommend a good independent bike mechanic in the Gatwick area as I prefer to deal with someone that is personally accountable than a franchise after my last main dealer service....

Cheers

 

Valve adjustment appears to be one of those issues that divides us.

For my part, I have stated before, well in excess of 200K miles on Blades and never had a valve check, similar on CBR6s before getting into blades back in 2000.

That's no guarantee for anyone else, just my take, and that's not to say that on any of those bikes the shims did not need replacing, just the fact that so far not had one go pop on me. The highest mileage was 95K in 5 years and no issues. Every bike has had consistant oil/filter every 4k without fail...no idea if that makes a jot of difference.

But if I try and justify it, probably saved on around 30+ lots of labour so around 10 grand....just wish I knew hat I had spun*ed it on.

If you are pinging it off the rev limiter on track all its life, probably a different matter.

 

I had mine done on the RRA earlier this year. I was advised that it's not necessarily that the shims need replacing at 16k but that they can get clogged up if the bikes not road much or hard.

Neither was the case.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I spoke to a local guy and his exact words were "99.9% of the time they don't need adjusting", so thats that.

Just need to order up oil and filters now, provided it goes through the MOT tomorrow Should be interesting after 4 months of not using it!

 

Is yours the 0.1% though? It's a gamble so pays your money or take your chances. Good luck either way

 

Get asked these questions all the time, I have correct three maybe four blades this year, a mates only a few weeks back (see my twitter pics) his had three shims out, not much but a little so I swapped them out anyway, he says his bike is now much more responsive than before and is very happy, well IMO it would be, what you have to understand is a small correction when cold equals a good deal when hot, all the race bikes I do I check often as they live on the limiter, some makes I even set a fraction wide as they make better power and are more consistent on the dyno, that info is what make me and other small workshops worth the time finding (I may blow my trumpet a little here), it does not take long to check a blade and I charged and extra £75.00 if done with a full service, it takes me about three hours in total, I also record the images to show people so they know. I am not saying this to get work, I have no bookings for some time and have had a hard year keeping up with bikes and my other commitments, take your bike somewhere where they let you in to have a look, that way you know it's done, it's easy to check anyway so check out YouTube and get in there and have a look, it's the correction that takes time as it's hard to see the timing marks with the engine in the frame. Me, I do mine so I know it's right and I am getting the most power, blow by past not well seated valves costs power and that's enough to get me in there, good job you don't have a tuned up x'er as they need checking all the time but it's a puss easy so why not just do it..

Good luck.

 

I appreciate the replies, thank you

I completely agree with your reply Arthur, however I think I will leave it as it's actually only on 13k (less than I thought), it lives in a heated garage and I'm nowhere near able to ride it hard enough to be concerned if a couple of horses have ducked out. I've just swapped out the oil and filter and have the air filter left to do. It still goes like sxxx off a shovel!

 

Well I have a two year extended warranty on my '11 HRC 'blade and (simply because not having services recorded on Honda's data base, would, as a consequence, have invalidated said warranty) I recently had 'Brindley Honda' in Wolverhampton do my 16,000 mile (at 15,400) service along with a coolant and plug change. I don't have the itemized bill before me but I seem to remember it said something like 'interrogating/updating the ECU.' along with the required valve clearance check. Now I know it's easy to kid yourself that the bike feels different/better, like it always seems to go better after you've washed and cleaned it, and, due to the shite weather of late, I've only been out on it 4 times, but I keep getting the feeling that it's really zinging along now. It could of course be my imagination for it was no slouch before and there's always the suspicion that I just paid £460.00 for a stamp in the book, but now it seems to be 'eating' the rear tyre and I think it sounds ever-so-slightly different too. I am liking this very much

Nick.

 

The 16k service invariably covers a valve clearance check on most they hardly need adjusting, the 32k service is where I see the need to adjust shims is more likely. Having done hundreds of blades came across only one that needed all 16 shims adjusted where I believe was a factory cock up. Inlet and exhaust out by 50% needless to say the owner could not believe the release of power it produced. Many garages shy away from doing the check as its time consuming and give the owners the option

 

What is roughly the thickness of factory fitted shims (never changed) in 2005 model?

I've got a box full of 7.48-7.50mm shims in various sizes. I was changing them in my ZX6R last winter, but my ZX uses curently 2.8-2.9 and 3.0-3.1 (so those I haven't got).

 

Factory fitted shims vary from 1.95mm- 2.15mm. Diameter is 7.5. When the valve seats take a hammering the valve is pushed further into the head thus closing the gap. My observations on valve operation is that bucket over shim wears closed whilst rocker action wears open