Initiall 600 mile tune up

[ixolas]

Ok so its over the 600 miles by 600 miles, 1200 miles total.. and I realized I didn't get the 600 mile check up.  So last weekend I changed the oil, oil filter, air filter, and adjusted and lubed the chain.  But I don't have feeler gauges to check valve clearance, nor have I ever checked valve clearance on either bike or car.  Similarly I don't have jets to rejet, nor have I ever rejetted before on either bike or car.
So my question is, how difficult are both of these?  I do have a copy of the Haynes manual.  I guess its just fear of the unknown but if I run into a snag who can I count on to help out?
Thanks

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

There's a valve adjustment video floating around here, it's also on google video. Go to GV and search "Kerry" + "gs500" should pop up easily. Haven't done my valves yet, they're about 1.5K overdue, I'm working on it. Rejetting is easy. First time I took my carbs apart, I spent more time labeling hoses and rerouting them later then I did actually disassembling/cleaning the carbs. Methinks getting rid of the stock airbox will make that even easier next time. Plenty of tutorials on carb disassembly here, I just followed my clymer's.

[ducati_nolan]

Yeah, there are plenty of how tos on here if you search. Get a good manual though, it isn't absolutly necesary but comes in handy for many things especially torque values, clearances etc.

Valves are really easy to check and feeler gauges are cheap. It's just a little bit of a pain in the ass to change the shims. Not hard but you need  the right tool. Carbs are easy too. Have fun 

Oh and another thing that's part of the 600 mile check is retorqing some bolts and fasteners (including the head bolts I think). Make sure nothing falls off and a torque wrench isn't too expensive. Again the manual has all the required torque values.