In all the posts regarding valve clearances as a maintenance item, I don't recall any valves ever being found to actually be out of spec. One contributor talks about finding a burnt valve and this is what Im talking about when I say abuse. A burnt valve would display obvious symptoms and that is not what we are discussing here. Another contributor Bud Callaghan talks about the clearances being on the low (tight) side. What are you talking about? If the clearance is within spec it's fine. Moving the clearances to the middle of the range will do absolutely nothing except make you sleep better at night. As a matter of fact increasing the clearance decreases the valve lift, not something I would want to do. You, my friend, give the worst possible kind of advice and that is unsubstantiated and TOTAL OVERKILL. The point is, that if you are worried about engine problems in a C14 you are just being paranoid. This engine is bulletproof, unless you totally abuse the sh... out of it. And even that is hard to do with the rev limiter and quality of construction. Of all the motorcycles I have owned this is by far the most dependable. And believe me I am a maintenance freak. However, too many shade tree mechanics have listened to advice form owners like Callaghan, who may actually be able to accomplish this task competently, and attempted to service the valve train themselves by replacing shims with disastrous results. I have seen charts and programs and videos and heard all the comments. You are seriously risking total and catastrophic engine failure if you, or your so called qualified Kawasaki mechanic, makes one small mistake. Why would you rather take that risk over the infinitesimally small risk, and you would decide based on ridiculous and unqualified posts in this and other Concours forums, that the valves were found to be out of spec and require changing? Which by the way requires removing the cams, not something you really want to ever have to do. During the manufacturing process the valve clearances are all checked and double checked by a qualified engine builder. The engine only passes if the valves are found to be IN SPEC. It would be impossible for an engine to slip through this important quality control check and be further assembled. As far as the warranty is concerned. Maintenance done by owner. Period end of story. However, it is your bike. You can listen to the kooks who have nothing better to do then take their engines apart or do the research and see just how many engines are actually found to have valves truly out of spec.
What thread were you reading? Look at the 3rd posting :
Listening to a motor will NOT tell you what the clearances are. Mine sounded fine. 15 out of 16 shims needed replacing. One of those was within specs, but was close enough that I changed it to bring it closer to the middle.
There were several other posts in this thread that stated they had one or more valves that needed adjusting, suggesting they were out of spec. There have also been several threads over the last few years where lots of owners stated they had valves out of spec.
When I checked the valves on my 2010 (myself) at 24,463 miles,
2 were out of spec, and several more were at or near the limit. I also moved them all to the middle of the spec.
For a bike that's never been checked, I think the biggest reason to check them is to establish a base line. If the factory assembler messed something up, it's better to find out earlier than later (and they do mess things up, regardless of what you think of their "
quality controls").
As for you're statements about Bud and those like him being paranoid, one could argue that you are also being paranoid, on the opposite side of the issue. Many C14 owners have adjusted the valves on their C14's WITHOUT disastrous results (well, except maybe Haraldo), and if they have the skills and patience, should not be discouraged to do so. It will not bring on the downfall of society, or cause the planet to stop spinning, or make the sun go out. It will just result in them being proud of doing the job themselves, or humbled when they take it to the dealer to fix whatever they did wrong.