That my bike will only start when it's hot outside. It starts in the morning for me to go to work, but won't start at night when I get off, so I can go home. It's happened to me twice now. Really bugging the crap out of me. I'm going to order the tool, but it'll take a week to get to me. This sucks. A lot.

have you ordered the tool?I have a motion pro I give $25 for make me a good offer.

$19 + actual shipping?

Pm me your info so I can calculate shipping.I do take paypal or money order.

You can push start it, but it aint gonna turn over with the button.  Mine was like that for a while.  You can get the shims out without the tool.  It's tough, but it can be done.  Just get a decent magnet.  out of spec valves are really dangerous, so if that's your only transport, I'd try and get it done without the tool.  Nothing worse than the bike shutting off on you mid corner, or coasting to a stop.  good luck getting that fixed.

>NGFL:

(just for curiosity/personal knowledge)
how much are your valves out of spec?
Too much or too little freeplay?
Year/miles?
I wonder they must be *quite* out of range...
I've just performed valve clearance check on my '01 with 18600 miles on it...left exhaust valve is below 0.03 mm, but I quite couldn't tell by normal everyday operation...

Thanks in advance

Haven't done the check yet, for lack of the tool.. but mine's and '02 with 15K miles on it, never had them done. I'm assuming it's the valves, because it's the only thing I can think of that's temperature dependent. I used to think it was the carbs, but I took em apart and cleaned em thoroughly, and the issue persists. I'm assuming I'll see at least one badly out of spec valve when I tear into the head.

^^^^^^
I see...oops, I thought you had performed valve check and so you could know your present clearance values. My bad.
Anyway, from my very personal experience (which I assume to be far less valuable than yours ), I'd think that if valve clearance is the culprit here, there must be something terribly wrong with it.
As I said in my previous post, I just have one valve out of spec, yet my bike performs quite normal (even if not top-notch, prolly due to this) in all weather conditions, i.e. it starts fine, revs well and so on.
but a '02 with just 15000 miles...sounds strange to me...

Anyway, best of luck and keep us informed.

You don't need any special tools to do the valve clearance check...just a 6mm allen key, 12mm/10mm sockets and ratchet, and a feeler gauge that goes to 0.003mm.

It's the motion Pro tool you need to do the shim changes...

Or is there something I'm missing??

Ummmm yeah, you're missing the fact that if he has to pop the cover off to check he might as well go ahead and change the shims so he doesn't have to open it up twice.

you can get the shims out with a antenna style magnet, flat head, and a jeweler sized flat head, or pocket knife.  I have done it.  That motion pro is cool, but if they are that far off, and you're still riding, just use what you got for now.  out of spec valves are DANGEROUS! 

I doubt the valve clearance is affecting your starting unless one or more is much too tight.  A quick finger in the hole compression test will check for tight valves.

Pull the plugs, tie the clutch lever back to the grip, turn key on and with one finger pressed firmly over a spark plug hole crank the engine with the starter.  Your finger will blow away from the hole with a loud pop if there is enough compression to start and run.  Check both and if they are OK look elsewhere for your starting problem.  If you want to repeat test with a hot engine, wear a glove.     

I checked valves and changed shims many times without the tool, then bought a tool and never used it.  Can use a couple screwdrivers to change shim.  Easier than that motion Pro tool I think.

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