Shim Replacement

To save hijacking This Thread I thought I'd post a question here.

My local shop tells me that even with high revving sports bikes they often dont have to do any shim work until about 40,000km.
Clearly the B1250 engine isnt as stressed as a sports bikes so is there anyone here who had to do the shims at 24,000km? (by the book)
Or are we looking closer to 40 - 50,000 before they become out of spec?

Ive asked the same question and carnt find anyone (1250) who as yet to change a shim .

while shim and bucket has proved to be much more reliable than the old screw and locknut arrangement and usually sees many more kms before needing adjsutment than is speced in the books IMO it does not hurt to have them checked.
I have a car that uses shim over bucket (The bandit is shim under bucket) that is now over 160tho kms and hasn't needed an adjsutment yet. The last check (at 160tho km) saw them very close but still jsut within spec so they will at least see 180tho kms before needing a change. Bit different to a bike I know but it gives an idea of how reliable they are I spose.

If you have the mechanical aptitude and confidence where you can take a rocker cover off and use feeler gauges, do the check yourself to save a few $$$ (last I checked the inspection of valve clearances on a bandit was ~$200). If there are shims that need changing and you are not confident to pull the cams yourself, book it in to a shop and have them do it.

Agreed .Why pay $200 to have someone say " nothing needs to be done " . No one can stuff it up by CHECKING them . Take you time and its an
easy job .(with a manual)

I wasn’t even suggesting I wanted mine checked. Just wondering aloud on how many K’s sees the valve clearance’s requiring re-shimming.
We have some pretty high km Bandits here no and no one has made an issue of it.

30000 and all in spec here

37,000 in spec

When I was in Canberra Motorcycle Centre recently, the service guy said that Suzuki had revised the Bandit valve clearance interval to 48,000kms.

ewok wrote:48,000kms

Wow, that'd be about the furthest I've ever heard of for just about anything exept engines with hydraulic lash adjusters

Yes, when mine goes in for its 24,000 km service I'll be having a proper discussion about it. If it is true, I'd expect to see new Bandit sold with a revised manual that confirms this piece of advice. But I'm still 5,000kms off the service.

Partners Ninja 650 has 48000km valve clearance checks by the book

I've never done a Shim Replacement, but I'd have a go.
Youtube is good for that type of shit.

80,000 on the boldor since rebuild and never been done. no rattles and still in spec

The more you rev it, the sooner they'll need to be done. Bandits are good on shims.

So i went through and did the valve clearance check this morning.

Bike has done 49000km and happy to notify that everything is still in spec

thats great news

45,000 kls all in spec .Aprilia 67,000 kls all in spec .As from new .

Did anyone ever find out if Suzuki had extended the km between shim checking intervals ?

When i'm at my dealer next Paul, i'll ask. Just had the 24K service tho, and per the manual which says inspect, was done with nothing needing to be done, except a fuel filter clean...

Thanks mate , mine is all but out of warranty so will be doing my own service work from now on . I asked my dealer some time ago & they didn't know . (will still check them for peace of mind though.............hope they're ok , don't fancy removing the cams too often )

Personally I'd check the clearances myself . I'd expect them to be good .
Paying $$$ for them to say "yes there fine ' makes no sense .
Once you have checked them the next time it's easy .

gus wrote:Personally I'd check the clearances myself . I'd expect them to be good .
Paying $$$ for them to say "yes there fine ' makes no sense .
Once you have checked them the next time it's easy .

yep not worried about checking them ,quite enjoy it actually ..............the 1200 was screw & lock-nut adjustment but mind you it was every 12000 km not 24000km ...........shim under bucket is just a bit more stuffing around if they need doing