[burkbuilds]

I paid the local dealer to do it for me the first time out, they charged about $75 which wasn't bad, and they did a good job. A few weeks ago I mentioned to my friend Jim that I needed to have this done again since it had been 6 months and 6,000 miles since the dealer adjusted them. Jim told me to bring the bike to his house and he'd teach me how to do it. I jumped at the chance since Jim worked (rode) for Suzuki for years in the 70's, taught at a motorcycle mechanics school for several years and was the service manager for my local Suzuki dealer a few years ago. He talked me through it and checked behind me to make sure I was setting the valves correctly, it was great to have someone there to confirm that I had it right, or show me why it wasn't! He had me set them at the "mid point" in the specs, Intake 5mm Exhaust 10mm. I really appreciated his help because I'm not sure that I would have done it correctly on my own. Sometimes the printed words can only take you so far and then somebody has to pull a feeler guage through and tell you "that's what it should feel like". Jim describes the correct amount of resistance as "magnetic drag". It's a feel, and it took me a couple of tries before I understood if I had it to loose or to tight, not really sure how you can put that in print so there's no confusion about what you should end up with. I'm very thankful for a good friend who knew what he was doing and was willing to teach me!