After struggling for many days to try and get the valve shims out, I finally came to the conclsion that something must be wrong.  Upon further inspection, I found that there is NO gap at all between the cams and shims at any time during the rotation.  I have had the bike for about 18 mos, but was able to find the former owners number again, and called him.  He told me that, to his knowledge, the valves have NEVER BEEN CHECKED.  The bike now has about 13,000 miles on it.  Any bets on the odds that the valves are now burned?  By the way, I finally had to resort to removing the cams and chain to get the shims out.  I am planning on removing the head tomorrow to inspect the valves.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Actual help would be rewarded with Bar-B-que and beer.  If you hear a pounding sound tomorrow, that is merely me flattening a spot on my head with the wall.

I live out in Clermont County, Ohio. I have a decent collection of shims, too. What kind of help are you looking for?

Ummm....

Were you trying to check the valves or remove the shims?

My original intent was to check the valve clearences.  Now I am going to remove the head and make sure the valves aren't burnt.  The clearences are so tight that I cannot get even the thinnest blade between the cam and the shim.  The valve clearences have never been adjusted, so I am assuming the worst, that I will have to replace the valves.

Greg, I would be happy to swap/buy shims from you as soon as I figure out what size I need.  As for help, I was hoping that someone else has found themselves in a similar situation and could offer advice, or that someone who had removed the head before would have some tips.  Thanks in advance for any help.

It is tough to guess as to what the valves look like. Make sure you put a rag in the cam chain channel so nothing falls down into the abyss. It is not fun to start pulling covers to recover a dropped part.  :mrgreen:

Were they any performance problems prior to starting to check the valve clearances?

OK the bike will run outrageously like shaZam! before the valves burn, then again there is the problem of you crying into your pillow that it runs like shaZam! and throwing the bike over a cliff... before the valves burn, Check with Richard bateman... he'll concur.
The bike running bad when cold but much better when hot... is a sign the valves are getting tight... sorta... next step, is it wont run at all on 1 cyl...
Next step... you throw off a cliff... Betting the valves aren't burnt...
Cool.
Srinath.

That is good to hear srinath.  My biggest fear was a burned valve breaking and going through the piston, making all sorts of expensive noises on the way.  Laugh, but it has happened to me once before, on a 320 cubic inch air cooled engine.  

After thinking a little more, I decided to perform a compression test tomorrow, and if that comes out ok, I  re-shim the valves, and get back to riding.

OK re shim it and get the clearance set right, then do the compression test... the other way around, you'll get a false low... and think its burnt.
Cool.
Srinath.