my first valve clearance job

[kilrcalikawi]

Finally got the Givi case from happy trails on saturday (no thanks to UPS) and right afterwards I got a call from my sweetie (who was working right down the street) that she was sick and was going home, which meant that I had to go get her and bring her home, it actually worked out perfectly. I had the whole afternoon to work on the bike while she spent the whole afternoon resting. I unpacked all of my Givi stuff first, got the top plate mounted and decided it was too far forward, so I used the two bolts on the very back of the rack instead of the ones in the middle, the Givi plate is still extremely solid, I think the stock rack would come off before the mounting plate would. Then came the backrest, it's kinda un-nerving that the first thing I had to do to my brand new givi case was drill two holes in it for the backrest, but it turned out great, Beth is much happier now, and the backrest seems to keep her sitting a little more still which helps in the twisties, it also sits her a little closer to me, which makes the bike handle better (before I had a Milk crate for her backrest, it worked but I think I had it placed too far back, when she would lean back on it the front wheel didn't seem planted as well). The case is big enough (barely) to hold all of our gear when we stop and leave the bike alone. Next came the idle mixture screw, I took the tank off, undid the allen bolt from the choke lever so I could have some slack in the cable, loosened the clamps and very carefully turned the carb sideways. Drilled out the silver plug (not the brass one and turned the screw all of the way in and then back out 2 1/4 turns. Put it all back together and was surprised at the difference in the bike, it doesn't backfire on decel now, it actually has some control between closed and part open throttle now too (which makes wheelies much easier, I haven't tried it yet but I may actually be able to do one with a full tank of gas now). Sunday took me and Beth to pleasanton to meet Bmrbill and go to the car show, the car show was fun, we walked around the swap meet for a while (Bill and I both thinking about all of the money we could spend on our trucks). I did manage to find a replacement for a wobble extension I broke a while ago, I hadn't run across one until the show. It's really incredible the time and money people put into these cars, and how good some look and how awful others are. Beth and I are camaro and big truck addicts and there were quite a few of them there. I was hoping to do some riding with Bill but time didn't allow for it, we got there late and spent a lot of time at the show. We didn't get home until 9:00 (we stopped at Beth's parents and watched the second half of the kings game (not good)). It was a fun day though, and I now know that my bike will do 85+ two up, uphill in pretty good wind without too much hassle. Thanks again Bill for leading the way and the parking, we hope you had a good time. Trev A16

[Wilson John T Civ 53 CSS/SCNS]

Many thanks to Mark for his excellent set of instructions at http://klr6500.tripod.com/valves.htm. I just followed the instructions step by step and all went well. The bike has 7000 miles on it and I called the previous owner and asked when the last valve adjustment was. He replied that he didn't know it needed to be done. I guess I lucked out because they were all within spec, but just barely. If any other green horns were wondering if the instructions are reliable, they are. The pictures helped immensely. JT Wilson 882-5887 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]