Thanks for the help

[jimjr]

Just wanted to give a "Thank You" to the people who spend time answering questions and giving tips on this site. My son bought a GS500 at the end of last summer and this spring it wouldn't idle. He's seen me pull the carbs apart about 10 times over the last 30 years on my 1980 GS750E to fix the same problem. After that didn't help we went to your website and started looking at posts. After seeing people repeatedly recommend checking the valve adjustment thats where I started and sure enough it had 2 tight exhaust valves. I adjusted them and the bike idles like a dream. A pair of GS's ready for somemore summer time rides.
2 tips from me. #1, VIEW THE VIDEO ON VALVE ADJUESTMENT!!! It's made for do-it yourselfers by a do-it yourselfer. Not a production video made by some company trying to sell you something. It shows you exactly what your up against by a guy who's done it, step by step. #2, If your going to have your bike for awhile and can't get the shim kit thats circling around for some time order the 2.15 shim before you pull it apart. Since your probably going to run into tight valves more than loose ones it takes the guess work out of figuring which shims to order. Again, a tip from the video.
Sorry to ramble on but this site was a huge help. Thanks again.

[tt_four]

Ordering a small shim is the next thing on my to do list. I checked my valves over winter and all 4 were tight. There's enough of a gap that the bucket spins, but it's too tight to fight my feeler gauges under. I need to order a small one, I'll probably just go for a 245 or so as all mine are in the 260-265 range currently, and since the buckets still spin I shouldn't have to go too much thinner. Definitely good advice though!