Closest powersports dealer to me charges me about 5 bucks PER SHIM, for valve shims and about 30 for a head gasket. the gasket yea, thats a typcial price i guess, but how much you you all pay for valve shims? per unit

I'v heard of people on here just swapping theirs out for some from a dealer for free, but none of my local dealers stock them, so idk?

Consider yourselves lucky.

In late 2007 I paid 14 EUR - which is nearly 19 USD at present exchange rate - for a single valve shim @ my local Suzuki dealer.

Just for curiosity.

EDIT: forgot to mention they weren't available straight away, but had to be ordered and shipped there.

One of my GS500 bookmarks (which someone else posted here, but I'm not looking for the original post) is

http://www.z1enterprises.com/SearchResult.aspx?All=True&KeyWords=gs500%20valve%20shim

That suggests that 5 bucks isn't a bad price, especially if you can walk in and get them.

Yep, I've always heard about them being $5 each. That's why I haven't been able to adjust my shims yet. Mine are too tight for my thinnest feeler to fit in, so I can't determine what the current gap is to do the math to see what size I need to change them to. Normally I'd order a couple and try them out, but obviously you can see how that would cost me $60 before I even knew what happened.

Quote from: tt_four on March 30, 2010, 11:34:14 AM
Yep, I've always heard about them being $5 each. That's why I haven't been able to adjust my shims yet. Mine are too tight for my thinnest feeler to fit in, so I can't determine what the current gap is to do the math to see what size I need to change them to. Normally I'd order a couple and try them out, but obviously you can see how that would cost me $60 before I even knew what happened.

Nope. $25, max (if they are all that tight, and that will cost you a lot more than $60 if you don't fix it.)
Don't be like the lady that was broke down beside the road yesterday - car died. Got her jumped, but there was no fan belt - car probably overheated and definitely sucked the battery to nothing. "Oh yes, it's been squealing for a week!" Delaying maintenance until something really breaks always costs more.

Get one of the thinnest shim. $5.

Pop out current shim. Pop in thinnest shim. Measure. If still too tight, I was wrong, it will cost you either your pride (sleazy used motorcycle sales before it actually breaks) or a valve job.

If not still too tight, measure the gap, figure the right shim. Repeat 3 times to check the other valves. Measure your current shims, see if any can be moved to a new spot where they will work. If not, order shims to fit where you need new ones (between $5 & 20)

Dealer charges $12/each here.

I know there not much cheaper here, but you wouldn't have to mess with dealers

http://www.z1enterprises.com/catalog.aspx?pid=SPEN1A

Last time I bought shims at my local dealer they were $13 each, up from $5 when I first bought them there.  Some here have been getting them from CRC for $5 each but they have recently increased them to $6.95 for Suzuki size.

http://www.crc2onlinecatalog.com/Index_Main_Frame.htm

That's why I set them now so they don't need shim changes anymore.     My 02 GS with over 78k miles on it hasn't had a shim change for almost 40k miles now.  All shims are still between 250-265 and my previous 97 GS had an exhaust valve down to a minimum 215 shim at 76.8k miles.   

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

mine were $6 a piece.

i got really lucky! i went to my neighbors. suzuki dealership next door and they just traded me for mine. free:-) i went from a 2.78 to a 2.75 and it still is too tight though. doesnt make sense because minimum clearence is only.03. which is what i should have gained by changing the shim.

if you run out of clearance the tolerances don't sit still magically.  when you remove a tight shim you can discover that the valve was pushing up against the bucket and shim by up to .1mm.

I paid $13 at a stealership a few years back.... They had it; I wanted it. 

well then from im hearing, ill go with the 5 bucks. i know they wont trade me cause they dont stock them. I have to drive 20 mineutes there, place the order and pay, and then wait for them to come in. oh well. no riding for some time then. also gotta order a head gasket while im there.

bike bandit works well for the patient. I think it was 5 a shim, maybe 6.

i was the one that posted the Z1 link in the east coast shim kit link that has died due to the kit being hijacked by a jack hole.  they were IIRC the cheapest place to get them and also shipped them to me in michigan IIRC its been 6 months or so since i did mine in like 2 days from order to my door.