Shortly after I bought my Suzuki DL650 V-Strom (used) in 2009, I took it to the Suzuki dealer to get a service check including adjusting the valves if necessary. At the time I felt it was a good idea because then I had a level of confidence that the bike was fully road-worthy and I wouldn't have to worry about it for awhile. The problem was, that cost about $450. Here I am 24,000 miles later and I need to have the valves checked again, but I'm unwilling (read "too cheap") to take it there again. I've read on the Stromtrooper forum that there are many people who adjust their own and one in particular (BlackLab) that had a detailed post on it on his website.

So armed with that and a service manual for my bike, decided to tackle it myself. The concept is really quite simple. The 650 v-twin is a double overhead cam motor that uses shims to adjust valve clearance from the cams. The shims sit on top of the valve in a little recessed hole on the end of the valve and a steel "bucket" sits over the top of that. Valve too tight? Use a thinner shim. Too much gap? Use a thicker one. Simple. There's even a nice chart in the service manual to help you pick the correct shim to bring it back within specifications.

What's the catch? Well, you have to remove the camshaft to get to the valves. The camshaft is turned by the timing chain. Get it in place wrong and you have a world of problems. This was the only thing that made me nervous. But living in this wonderful high tech age we have cell phone cameras that take great pictures. So I took a picture of the position of the cams before I removed them, so I could put them exactly as before.

Out of the eight valves on two cylinders I had to adjust 5 of them. The other three were within spec so I left them alone. I got the camshafts put back right where they needed to be and everything looked great! Now to put the bike back together.

Too easy right? Murphy's Law says something must go wrong if everything else went correctly. It's true. The cylinder head cover bolts to the camshaft journal holders (the things that hold the camshaft in place) and I stripped one of the bolts. These engines mostly use aluminum for less weight and it is somewhat soft. After a bit of excretory descriptive language, I took to the internet to see what the experts recommend. Helicoil. That's the word. I'd heard of it of course but never used one. YouTube to the rescue! Someone somewhere has recorded what you need to see. I watched it done and figured I could do it too. Found the correct kit at my local NAPA store and got it installed that night. Much easier than I thought it would be.

After that I got the bike buttoned up and it fired right up! It might be my imagination but it sounded better. Of course it's also riding season again up here in Washington, so that might have just been wishful thinking. Anyways, it runs nice again and after flushing the coolant system and putting all of the plastic back on I'm ready for the season.

Would I do this again? Yep. No hesitation. It really is an easy procedure if you're mechanically inclined. One word of caution: torque wrenches can be your worst enemy on soft metals. So be careful when using one on an aluminum engine.

 Happy Riding!!!