Valve clearance price

[Maturecheese_imp]

Just been quoted £750 by Thunder road to check the valve clearances during this years service, daylight robbery in my book. I'm old school and remember the eighties when bikes were a damn sight easier to maintain

I will probably sell my 1100RS now and get a Speedtwin as I'm not impressed with the service costs and with the speedtwin I could do that myself.

 

[pdedse]

why cant you do the 1100 yourself? just get in there.

My first thought upon reading your comment was, "yeah, right, it's a different story on the CB compared to..."

And then I stopped myself because I realized I'm basing this notion that a valve inspection is particularly difficult on the CB1100 because I think I've read others have said so in this forum. But is it?

If a CB1100 valve check is more "difficult" than the procedure for other bikes, then...why? Is it simply more time consuming because there are more steps, for example? Or does one have to be more precise / careful with a certain procedure? Are specialty tools required?

My experience with valve checks: did it 4 or 5 times on my KLR650 always guided by knowledgeable KLR-ists at "tech days" (fun!), involved replacing shims. By the fourth time it seemed somewhat easy. Did it just one time on my RE INT650--valve cover removal for both of these was the hardest part. For the RE, easy to adjust, easy access once you get to them. And just recently on my DR650 which has super easy access to the valves, but the hard part is dealing with angles to hold adjusters in place as you tighten down, better tools next time will help, and I've already ordered a few feeler guages made specifically for the DR which will simplify things.

With service manuel, youtube videos, asking questions on forums, taking pictures, making notes as I went along...they all seemed do-able and I'm no mechanic. For those who have done it, what's different about the valve checks for the CB1100?

Cost to have it done seems to vary. An independent garage I like did the CB inspection for me at 14k miles. No adjustment necessary. The charged about $700, but that included oil/filter change, chain adjustment, brake / clutch fluid flush, new spark plugs and I think a few other things I can't remember.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Valve inspection garage cost is similar for the Honda Africa Twin. It is mostly labour tearing down the bike to gain access to the top end.

Thankfully, many Honda owners found that their clearances were in spec after 40, 50 75K kms and more.

 

[misterprofessionality]

why cant you do the 1100 yourself? just get in there.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

 

[the Ferret]

It's not so much the inspection which is fairly straight forward, it's the adjustment which is difficult should any valve be out of spec. For one just the valve cover has to come off, for the other the cams have to come out and different size shims inserted to bring it back into spec using special tools.Also on I-4s there is not a lot of space under the back bone frame to work.

Then again, some people have natural mechanical aptitude and are handy at things like that, while others are not. My younger brother has always had a knack with mechanical things and can work on and fix anything, but he can barely draw stick figures and can't properly diagram a sentence. I'm terrible with tools, but am a fairly talented artist and have co-written a book, been published in 7 national and International magazines and was an associate editor for a magazine for a couple of decades (although it was mostly a figure head title as I didn't have to do any actual editing lol).

He had dark hair, dark eyes and is left-handed, I had blond hair, blue eyes and am right-handed (both gray now). We are completely different, but we both love riding motorcycles, and worked in the same motorcycle shop for years. He as a mechanic, and me as a parts/service manager. Different skill sets put to different uses on the same product.

 

[pdedse]

Fun story, Ferret...and now I remember some of the details about what to do if out of spec. At this stage in life, I think I'll continue with what I've done so far: do myself nearly all on my DR650, do what I already can on the CB1100, and not sure yet on the W800. The CB just turned 23k, so I imagine chain and break pads are next up. I might have a go at those. Tires changes...hmmm, pretty easy on the dual sport bikes, tried on my RE INT650, but felt a surge of 4 letter words welling up within me, and colorful phrases I knew not that I knew. I took it into a shop.

 

[Tev62]

Just been quoted £750 by Thunder road to check the valve clearances during this years service, daylight robbery in my book. I'm old school and remember the eighties when bikes were a damn sight easier to maintain

I will probably sell my 1100RS now and get a Speedtwin as I'm not impressed with the service costs and with the speedtwin I could do that myself.

A lot of owners are finding the bike stays well in spec even with big mileage. It might be worth measuring yourself for peace of mind and as long as they are anywhere within spec no need to re-shim.

 

[the Ferret]

Fun story, Ferret...and now I remember some of the details about what to do if out of spec. At this stage in life, I think I'll continue with what I've done so far: do myself nearly all on my DR650, do what I already can on the CB1100, and not sure yet on the W800. The CB just turned 23k, so I imagine chain and break pads are next up. I might have a go at those. Tires changes...hmmm, pretty easy on the dual sport bikes, tried on my RE INT650, but felt a surge of 4 letter words welling up within me, and colorful phrases I knew not that I knew. I took it into a shop.

I got 37,000 out of my original chain & sprockets and have over 37,000 on the replacement set now.

Brake pads however seem to last me about 20,000 miles.

I do what I can to my CB which is oil/filter changes, I've changed the tail light bulb myself, I can adjust the chain ..anything more complicated than that it goes either to my brother or to the head mechanic at my local shop.

BTW if we go out for cheeseburgers, I will order mine no pink with pickle and catsup. Brother will order his med rare and get catsup, mustard, lettuce, pickle, onion, tomato and ask them to throw on some jalapenos. we're just different lol.

 

[pdedse]

Fun story, Ferret...and now I remember some of the details about what to do if out of spec. At this stage in life, I think I'll continue with what I've done so far: do myself nearly all on my DR650, do what I already can on the CB1100, and not sure yet on the W800. The CB just turned 23k, so I imagine chain and break pads are next up. I might have a go at those. Tires changes...hmmm, pretty easy on the dual sport bikes, tried on my RE INT650, but felt a surge of 4 letter words welling up within me, and colorful phrases I knew not that I knew. I took it into a shop.

I got 37,000 out of my original chain & sprockets and have over 37,000 on the replacement set now.

Brake pads however seem to last me about 20,000 miles.

I do what I can to my CB which is oil/filter changes, I've changed the tail light bulb myself, I can adjust the chain ..anything more complicated than that it goes either to my brother or to the head mechanic at my local shop.

BTW if we go out for cheeseburgers, I will order mine no pink with pickle and catsup. Brother will order his med rare and get catsup, mustard, lettuce, pickle, onion, tomato and ask them to throw on some jalapenos. we're just different lol.

Good to know about the pads...cleaned a few months of winter grime off the bike yesterday and noticed the pads getting on the thin side...at 23k miles it might time to look a little closer.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Fun story, Ferret...and now I remember some of the details about what to do if out of spec. At this stage in life, I think I'll continue with what I've done so far: do myself nearly all on my DR650, do what I already can on the CB1100, and not sure yet on the W800. The CB just turned 23k, so I imagine chain and break pads are next up. I might have a go at those. Tires changes...hmmm, pretty easy on the dual sport bikes, tried on my RE INT650, but felt a surge of 4 letter words welling up within me, and colorful phrases I knew not that I knew. I took it into a shop.

I got 37,000 out of my original chain & sprockets and have over 37,000 on the replacement set now.

Brake pads however seem to last me about 20,000 miles.

I do what I can to my CB which is oil/filter changes, I've changed the tail light bulb myself, I can adjust the chain ..anything more complicated than that it goes either to my brother or to the head mechanic at my local shop.

BTW if we go out for cheeseburgers, I will order mine no pink with pickle and catsup. Brother will order his med rare and get catsup, mustard, lettuce, pickle, onion, tomato and ask them to throw on some jalapenos. we're just different lol.

Those onions are gettin' mighty close to you, Ferret.

 

[the Ferret]

across the table is too close

 

[Cormanus]

:rofl:

 

[noroomtomove]

G'day Mature Cheese

The "Observed Valve Clearance" started by Pterodactyl many years ago, it is a table of actual check results by members of the forum at various distance ridden points and the results found.
Based on that I made the decision to not do the check at the interval recommended.
My chain and sprockets are near to change out but not there yet at 60.000km.
I change the oil at 6.000km as per Hondas guidance for my year model, I understand it is now 12.000km stand to be corrected.
I have a recollection of a bike having 160.000km on the clock with one adjustment (still in spec) in that time but all other checks in Spec.
I hope that on reflection you might retain your CB1100.

Regards from Downunder
Noroomtomove

PS 'Blessed are the cheese makers"

 

[Whoops]

It's not so much the inspection which is fairly straight forward, it's the adjustment which is difficult should any valve be out of spec. For one just the valve cover has to come off, for the other the cams have to come out and different size shims inserted to bring it back into spec using special tools.Also on I-4s there is not a lot of space under the back bone frame to work.

Then again, some people have natural mechanical aptitude and are handy at things like that, while others are not. My younger brother has always had a knack with mechanical things and can work on and fix anything, but he can barely draw stick figures and can't properly diagram a sentence. I'm terrible with tools, but am a fairly talented artist and have co-written a book, been published in 7 national and International magazines and was an associate editor for a magazine for a couple of decades (although it was mostly a figure head title as I didn't have to do any actual editing lol).

He had dark hair, dark eyes and is left-handed, I had blond hair, blue eyes and am right-handed (both gray now). We are completely different, but we both love riding motorcycles, and worked in the same motorcycle shop for years. He as a mechanic, and me as a parts/service manager. Different skill sets put to different uses on the same product.

It sounds like you and your brother are the Click and Clack of motorcycles.

 

[pdedse]

G'day Mature Cheese

The "Observed Valve Clearance" started by Pterodactyl many years ago, it is a table of actual check results by members of the forum at various distance ridden points and the results found.
Based on that I made the decision to not do the check at the interval recommended.
My chain and sprockets are near to change out but not there yet at 60.000km.
I change the oil at 6.000km as per Hondas guidance for my year model, I understand it is now 12.000km stand to be corrected.
I have a recollection of a bike having 160.000km on the clock with one adjustment (still in spec) in that time but all other checks in Spec.
I hope that on reflection you might retain your CB1100.

Regards from Downunder
Noroomtomove

PS 'Blessed are the cheese makers"

"...for they shall inherit the earth"

 

[Cormanus]

Well, that's better than any number of other options I can think of pdedse!

 

[pdedse]

to check, its easy. write down the results, and if they need shimming, then pay somebody to do it. But pulling the valve cover isn't hard. that reduces a bunch of the labor costs.

Not a bad idea particularly given that most seem not to need actual adjusting whether at 1?,000 miles or however many.

 

[The Gecko_imp]

It's not so much the inspection which is fairly straight forward, it's the adjustment which is difficult should any valve be out of spec. For one just the valve cover has to come off, for the other the cams have to come out and different size shims inserted to bring it back into spec using special tools.Also on I-4s there is not a lot of space under the back bone frame to work.

Then again, some people have natural mechanical aptitude and are handy at things like that, while others are not. My younger brother has always had a knack with mechanical things and can work on and fix anything, but he can barely draw stick figures and can't properly diagram a sentence. I'm terrible with tools, but am a fairly talented artist and have co-written a book, been published in 7 national and International magazines and was an associate editor for a magazine for a couple of decades (although it was mostly a figure head title as I didn't have to do any actual editing lol).

He had dark hair, dark eyes and is left-handed, I had blond hair, blue eyes and am right-handed (both gray now). We are completely different, but we both love riding motorcycles, and worked in the same motorcycle shop for years. He as a mechanic, and me as a parts/service manager. Different skill sets put to different uses on the same product.

The explanation of all this - in terms of genome - is more than obvious.
No bashing please

 

[Gone in 60]

G'day Mature Cheese

The "Observed Valve Clearance" started by Pterodactyl many years ago, it is a table of actual check results by members of the forum at various distance ridden points and the results found.
Based on that I made the decision to not do the check at the interval recommended.
My chain and sprockets are near to change out but not there yet at 60.000km.
I change the oil at 6.000km as per Hondas guidance for my year model, I understand it is now 12.000km stand to be corrected.
I have a recollection of a bike having 160.000km on the clock with one adjustment (still in spec) in that time but all other checks in Spec.
I hope that on reflection you might retain your CB1100.

Regards from Downunder
Noroomtomove

PS 'Blessed are the cheese makers"

Well, obviously it's not meant to be taken literally; it refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.

All this talk about how much it costs to check the valves on a CB1100, and all of the comments about how they've been checked and guess what, they were all in spec...

My history of Honda ownership has shown that after digging down however far, they've been in spec (well, except that Nighthawk 750, no checking there).
I will maintain my stance of "It's a Honda, I'm sure it's fine" for my CB1100.

Not so much, of course with the Interceptor 650, which requires, not suggests, requires a check every 6,000 miles, and for good reason. It has been reported that if you don't maintain the schedule on this bike, Vishnu, the God of Preservation will come down from the heavens, do the work for you, all the while making a big deal about how lazy you are, annoying your neighbors. Thankfully, they made this task laughably easy with a simple-to-remove tank and screw adjusters rather than shims.

 

[Yata-Garasu_imp]

piece of advice no one asked for, but its useful. Valves will tighten up , not loosen up on these bikes as miles go on (typically unless theres a mechnical failure). an early indicator of this is loss of compression on one (or more) cylinder. a down and dirty check is a warm engine compression check on all 4 cyls. if one is lower than the others beyond the allowable range, (20-30 psi i would guess) good bet that cyl needs a valve/shim adjustment. (if all else is ok). .02

Good info. Thanks for sharing.