For those of you out there putting off doing your own valve clearance check yourself......DIY for crying out loud! And here's why:
A quick history of my valve clearance checks go something like this. Had the first one done at around 31K by a local recommended bike mechanic. No adjustments needed, I was happy to hear that and promptly rode the 8 miles to home. Got home, looked down and saw that my right boot was covered in oil. WTF! Brought the bike back to have him fix the screw up. He told me that trying to get the cover on and keeping that seal properly aligned was tricky business, but he'll get done right. Anyways I ended up taking it back to him a third time before my bike quit puking oil on my boots. WoW I'm thinking, that gasket must really be a bisquit to get on correctly.
Next check was around 82K to a different mechanic recommended by a fellow rider from here. Guy says it'll take a week and ended up taking nearly 3. This time 1 valve needed adjustment, no biggie, I was pleased with that. He also replaced the CCT and did a TBS. Bike seemed to run OK when I brought it home. In the next few days I had to adjust the idle speed up to keep the bike running at stop signs and discovered that 3 of the 4 rubber boots (that need to be removed for the TBS) were severely cracked. I normally did my own TBS, but 2 months earlier I discovered my cheapo tool had developed bad seals, but at that time those rubber boots were in great condition.
Now last weekend carlson_mn was kind enough to ride over to my place and teach this old dog a new trick. Checking your own valves is not that hard. What we also discovered in the process was that the previous mechanic had the timing off by at least 2 teeth. Well shit howdy! And here I was thinking my bike was feeling old 'cuz it had 121K on the clock. Actually these past 2 yrs I had felt my bike had lost some it's zip. Well lemme tell you, 2 teeth makes a huge difference. Thanks to Matt, I've got my old girl back.
I'm thinking these mechanics, independant or otherwise, basically have a buck to make. Maybe if you're not one of their "regulars" or they think you don't know much about bikes, they must think that as long as your bike runs they must have done their job. They hand you the bill and you ride off not knowing they didn't do a top notch job (or even a job done correctly).
BTW, my valves didn't need any re-shimming at this time either. I'm finding that by doing as much wrenching yourself as you feel comfortable with is the way to go. Sure there will be those times when you may have to do something twice in order to get it right, but at least you'll know it's done right eventually. Unless my next bike has a YES (or something similar), I'll be hard pressed to bring a bike to a mechanic to do something on it.
My rant is over. This seemed like the appropriate thread to put this; not really worthy of a new one. Besides this thread already has tons of info on it and maybe others (new members) might read all of it and glean some knowledge from it. Let me reiterate for the valve clearance checking virgins out there, it ain't that difficult nor that mysterious. Just take your time and you'll get it. But I do have one tip. Tighten those cap bolts exactly as the manuel says. If you just tighten them willy nilly, you'll likely hear a lot of racket when you start your bike and it'll vibrate like a tractor. Don't ask me how I know, I just do.