The encouragement is as follows:
If I can do it, anyone can.
Ok here's the story. I don't wrench. In fact, the very fact that I own a ratchet set is an oddity. I do fair decently with electronics, but mechanics..... Negative. Until this point, my only maintenance has been cleaning the chain.
I got Kerry's kit from Chris on wednesday and really wanted to give it a go. I watched Kerry's video (for the second time, I was a beta tester a few months back) and took detailed notes on each step.
Kerry deserves special notice here... man... the video is invaluable. Not to mention all the tools included in the kit that were an absolute necessity. The next video version needs a cameo appearance by Srinath though :mrgreen:
Long story short. It took me three hours. 2 of the four shims were within spec. (.06mm and .035mm) Obviously the .035 is an estimation. The 0.04mm spacer thingy went in fine, just dragged a little. One of the valves out of spec was replaced with a 2.60 shim and now has clearance of .06mm. Unfortunately, another one of the shims was already a 2.60 and needs to be replaced with a 2.55, but there was no 2.55 in the kit. The bucket rotates so I'm not too worried until I get to the shop.
Anyway. If I can do it, you can do it. Save yourself some money, and take care of your bike :)
EDIT: Oh, and my fuel hose is like a hose in a hose. I couldn't get the outer hose back up around the petcock spiggot thing. Whats up with that??
My stock hoses were flexible rubber, feeling sort-of like neoprene. But they were covered with a thin, stiff plastic hose cover. Is that what you're talking about? If so, don't worry. The outer cover is probably to keep the hose from kinking, and has no need to be near the petcock.
Yeah that's exactly what it is. Cool, thanks for the info :)