Read something AMAZING yesterday.

[Anderw]

This week I had my bike serviced. It is 2.5 years old and has covered just 6k miles.

I treated mine to a £200 [$314US] dealer service, reduced from £279 ($438US) after I complained; ALOT!  

As a precaution I had the valves checked and brake fluid changed and chassis bolts tightened etc etc. I have to say the bike is slightly smoother and quieter, so I am happy that a decent job has been done. But I think I have been a little over zealous with my comprehensive servicing after I read this:  

138,000 miles on one of mine... never did get round to adjusting the valves or doing the carbs...

They are bullet proof if you change the oil, and survive being overrev'ed (don't ask), crashed at 70mph, off-roaded, overloaded with camping gear, as well as being abused by learners up and down the land...

Go thru all the usual stuff... then check:

Main problem is the tank rusting through. Get ride of the rubber strip round the bottom, it just collects water which then rusts the seam. Also make sure any pinholes in the paint are repaired. Water also gets into the tank and rusts it inside out if it's left in the rain. If you get rust in it, expect it to run rough, and possibly the carbs to flood.

Fork springs are straight out of a biro and will be completely shagged at 20k - Progressives are a good bet, likewise rear shock spring - the shock out of a GSX600F is a direct swap (same dimensions, but stronger spring and adjustable damping) and the result is far better handling. It's these deficiencies which give rise to the "doesn't handle" label it has, with half decent tyres and suspeinsion that doesn't bounce it's on rails round bends.

Pipe will probably be a bit dodgy at the 2:1 collector too... but not difficult to get a replacement, but avoid a MOTAD - takes about 10mph off the top end. The pipe off an early 90s model is identical to the 95-on ones externally but less restrictive.

Watch the front disc - being a single, it takes a fair bit of hammering and aftermarket pads can wear them very quick - avoid Ferodo. I used SBS for decent wear and predictable response.

The new shape ones that came out about 03/4 are quite a bit heavier than the early ones (dunno why since the engine is the same - must be low grade gaspipe steel for the frame) and way down on power - Suzuki actually had 44hp on their website for a bit, presumably till someone pointed out that you need 46.6hp for a DAS bike, cos they magically went up again.

Put it this way, I propose 3500 mile oil drops only until the bike tells me something needs doing to it. Massive money saving tip and a testament to the durability of these bikes!  

[GI_JO_NATHAN]

I agree with pretty much every thing above.

[reload]

that's pretty cool. it's pretty hard to argue with 138,000 miles.

[The Buddha]

138K without a valve adj ... I am sorry I call BS on that.
Mine needed them pretty regularly starting from ~35K, it also used a bit of oil, bit, as in a qt in 300 miles by the time I got into the mid 40's.
I sold @ 48 so I dunno what happened after that, but it did need a rebuild by then for sure.
BTW the one and only case I have heard of a 225K GS was one that was rebuilt with hand fitted rings before it had 5K. I dont think they made it that far without a valve adj ... prolly several dozens ... but it didn't use hardly any oil. He said @ 225k it felt down on power from new.
Cool.
Buddha.

[tt_four]

Mine has 17k miles and all 4 valves are tight. I can still ride it with them how they are, but I wouldn't want to leave it another 120k miles without looking into it.

[The Buddha]

Mine has 17k miles and all 4 valves are tight. I can still ride it with them how they are, but I wouldn't want to leave it another 120k miles without looking into it.

Funny, mine always went loose. I can see how you can have just about the right amount of wear on the seats, valve stem, and cam shaft to not need any for a while, 20-30K is my limit on equal but opposite wear ... 138K is just asking for trouble. You could get very very very lucky and get a bike that isn't loose @ the rings, and doesn't start using oil ... but valves I really dont think can be ignored past 30K. I'd atleast open it and make sure. I had to check a few times before changing it.
Cool.
Buddha.

[gsJack]

Mine has 17k miles and all 4 valves are tight. I can still ride it with them how they are, but I wouldn't want to leave it another 120k miles without looking into it.

Funny, mine always went loose. I can see how you can have just about the right amount of wear on the seats, valve stem, and cam shaft to not need any for a while, 20-30K is my limit on equal but opposite wear ... 138K is just asking for trouble. You could get very very very lucky and get a bike that isn't loose @ the rings, and doesn't start using oil ... but valves I really dont think can be ignored past 30K. I'd atleast open it and make sure. I had to check a few times before changing it.
Cool.
Buddha.

My exhaust valve clearances have always gone tighter with the miles, never looser!  Intake valves change little if any and the exhaust valves probably won't change much either if you give them enough clearance to start with.   Based on 80k miles I put on my 97 GS that I bought new and now at 84k miles on my 02 GS I bought with 4k miles on it.  That's 160k miles of personal experience with 2 GS's doing all my own service and maintenance work.

Check new bike valves at 600-1000 miles and make sure you have plenty of exhaust valve clearance and at least the specified intake valve clearances.  It's worth the price of a new shim or two to get enough exhaust valve clearance that will give the valves adequate cooling time on the seats.  Check the valves every 10k miles or so after that but there should be few if any further shim changes required, I see no need for the Suzuki scheduled 3500 mile valve checks.

I now check my intakes for .001-.003" standard clearance and exhausts for .003-.005" clearance.  Your bike, your choice, but at least keep those exhaust valves to the wider side of the standard spec.  I expect my 02 GS to go to 100k miles with mid size shims still in it while my 97 GS had an exhaust valve down to a minimum 215 shim at 80k miles.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/GSvalvelogs.jpg

[The Buddha]

Someone told me that the fact that they go loose is atleast partially due to shim wear, I started micing the shims too late in the life of that bike to be certain. But I know I ended up with some odd size shims. A good many started out as something and ended up being near about 1 size thinner. Again not sure if it was all in my bike ... cos obviously I had shims from other bikes, getting em from bike shops, our rotating kit etc.
Cool.
Nuddha.

[GI_JO_NATHAN]

Yeah that was the one part of it I was iffy on. My '04 will hit 35k on the way home from work today, I checked the valves around 20k shortly after I got the bike, they were within spec but at the far end of some being too loose and some being too tight. So I swapped some shims out mostly to justify haveing Kerry's kit on hand. I checked them around 28k and then were good, exaust maybe a little tight. I plan to check them this winter whenever the weather forces me to stop riding, like snow and ice.

[ojstinson]

I don't know about the GS but I put 93,000 pretty hard miles on my Yamaha V-Max without ever even checking the shim clearances, and when I sold it it still ran like a freaking demon and didn't burn oil. Plain old Castrol 10-40 with 2000 mile oil changes---filter every 10,000.

PS-I'm not advocating not checking clearances----I was young and didn't know any better, or maybe I just didn't care.

[The Buddha]

Shim under bucket motors like the V max actually dont tend to need checking as often. Also yamaha put in a bit more care into making that bike, just cos it was a nightmare to get into and they didn't want warranty work on it that they'd ahve to pay for. Also in the 80's jap companies built bikes to last.
I had a maxim 5 valve with 30K I never checked em on, neither did the previous 2 ... from 5K.
Cool.
Buddha.