Suzuki Vstrom Motorcycle Valve Clearance Adjustment Part I 

IMHO a very user unfriendly design. There are so many motorcycles and cars etc that a valve adjustment takes like only an hour or less...I find it deplorable that one has to take so much crap apart ...people tend to be ignorant and think it is okay because they dont know better. My first experience with bucket and shim adjusting was pretty easy...Kawasaki (back then at least) had a tool that collapsed the valve spring so you could just slip the shim out and replace with right thickness ... Some manufactures CAN accommodate easy maintenance but I think they don't bother because it is not an issue people tend to be vocal about ...I can only imagine what a shop would charge for this! And WOULD THEY really even do it? My guess is a high percent of the time they will simply take your money ...how would you know unless there were audible symptoms? In fact I confess that when I was a Kawasaki mechanic so many decades ago, I often did NOT check and adjust everything on the low mileage service ....I was paid only a fraction of what the shop charged and literally could not keep up with the work flow if I did everything I supposed to ...I feel bad now...was never fair to the customer but you know checking valve clearance on the same model with low miles and they are always still in spec? Tends to make one lazy and just sign it off as done....I expect this is VERY common! My advice is to demand that you see the bike torn down ...not demand to watch of course that is unreasonable ...but just say you demand to SEE the top end torn down for a moment ...because until the engine makes noise or fails in some way? There literally is no way you can be sure the valves were adjusted ....just one crappy thing in life ....I even had several people rave about how much better their bike performed after I serviced it when I KNEW for a fact the ONLY things they possibly could have noticed were silly easy things like lever adjustments , chain adjust/lube maybe, and tire inflation ....a normal air cleaner change where the original is still okay technically? The customer is NOT going to notice performance....I think it is just the placebo effect and chances are you too are susceptible to it ....On the other hand IF a customer paid me to maximize performance? THAT I loved to do for them and THAT was REAL gains! For instance we had model by model standard enhancements where we opened the air box to breath way better etc, maybe cut some of the exhaust baffle out and of course re-jet the carb(s) ...THEN when the customer was all smiles I knew it was genuine! I mean you cant mistake it when the front wheel is lofting without even trying where it never would before! Seat of pants dyno testing! LOL

Very goos job! Congratulations!

What type of marking pen did you use on the cam chain / sprocket? It looks like a Sharpie, but wouldn't that ink wipe off easily? Thanks.

When removing the cam, the chain loses tension. What makes it stay put and not move a tooth, on the crankshaft timing chain sprocket?