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I'm curious how often people check and have to adjust their valves. A local Honda shop told me yesterday they should be checked every other ride. I have a new 06' crf 250x that I want to take care of but every other ride sounds extreme. He was encouraging me to do it myself, not to bring it in. I'm not racing, just woods riding.

I have checked my valves once since owning the bike. I have about 2000 niles on it and its time to look again. It starts and runs well, so it's probably not bad.

Joe

JAWS wrote:I have checked my valves once since owning the bike. I have about 2000 niles on it and its time to look again. It starts and runs well, so it's probably not bad.

Joe

Same for our CRF250X. About 2500+ miles and they were perfect at about 1000 miles. Bike still fires first touch, runs well.

That's the stance I took with my 450x (only 520 miles on it). It starts right up and runs great so I haven't check them yet. 250x has only been out once.

It's actually a good discussion point unfortunately.

Once the bike becomes hard to start, that means the intakes (usually) are hung open slightly. Odds have it that you were out riding when the needed clearance worked its way down to 'not enough'... which means the wrong side of the intake valve(s) have become a part of the combustion process (a.k.a. burning the valve).

This is the 'not-good' part. The stock titanium valves have a coating which helps them last, but that coating will burn off if the valve hangs open during the compression/power stroke. Once this happens, you will get very good at shimming.

For this reason it's always better to check more often than you might think is necessary, but I agree - every other ride seems a bit much. I like doing mine every 300 miles (3-oil changes). Which when you think of it could end up being 6-8 rides, depending on how long you're out for. Not quite the 'every other ride' but I think often enough to keep an eye on what's happening, to see which way the gaps are trending. (usually never bigger, though).

In my opinion your interval should be based on how high you rev your motor and how long you keep it there. My bike is 3 years old now and I've only had to adjust the exhaust valves once, and even then they were just barely out of spec.

I don't come anywhere near red line and in fact, have never hit the rev limiter. Even my 04, which is supposed to be the worst of the lot, has been just fine.

I'm down to checking them once every 6 months and haven't needed to adjust them now for 18 months.

In my opinion your interval should be based on how high you rev your motor and how long you keep it there.

I agree. Very good point.

I'm down to checking them once every 6 months and haven't needed to adjust them now for 18 months.

That's excellent. Especially noting it's the '04.