Should you adjust your valves before 26K ?

I know the book says do them at 26k for an 04 but i want to know how everyone feels about that. It seems like a really long time. I ride pretty hard, does that mean i should check them sooner? Thoughts??????

just an update, my local yamaha dealer does them at 20k as part of his normal scheduled......book says 26k. he pulled it up on the puter and it said 20K. Cool with me....

Its not going to hurt it to do them earlier.

Except your pocket, my dealer wants like 900 to do them. SO crazy. I would be curious to hear how fast everyone can do theirs themselves.

I'd wait till 26k. Usually most bikes don't make it this far anyways.

most of time only few if that need adjustment. its not that hard of job. its tight getting in there. i think book calls for like 7 hours for valve adjustment. but i can check all mine in less than an hour. i havent had to change any shims, but i would guess that if you had shims there it wouldnt take more than a couple hours at best. but shop is gonna charge what there gonna charge.. more than likely even if they dont change shim and all are okay.. you will get popped for full labor bill.. which can suck if they dont need changed.

I would wait for 26k for the reasons stated above.

I read a post on the other Forum recently referring to the longevity of R1 engines and his were in spec at each service interval. He now has 84K miles and only now the top end is beginning to sound "a little bit rattly".

I was quoted 260.00 to adjust the valves at my local yamaha dealer.I guess that wasnt a bad price after all.

my 05 has 8000 km on odo (5000 mi)..but i worry about the valve adjustment in next time too....coz no big bike mechanic in my city....its really a pain....theres only scooter mechanic here...can i use car mechanic to adjust my R1 valve...?

In my experience it depends on your riding style.If you mince around in high gears changing up early and never exceeding,say,10-11000 rpm then the valve clearances may well go 26k.If you thrash the t**s of your bike,hitting the rev limiter now and again then this will really bed those valves in and close up the gaps much sooner.Had a FZR1000 a few years back.Valve service was 24k but at 16k the engine really lost it's edge and the idle was really rough.Checked the valves and on 2 of them the clearance had closed up completely.This meant the affected valves probably weren't closing fully when hot.Re-shimmed and all was well.Left much longer would have meant burnt valves. Got 13k on my '04 now....will probably check the valves in the next 3-4k.

Today's bikes are built so well you can go a bike's lifetime and not need to adjust your valves. Yamaha recommends they be "checked" every 26k miles, that does not mean they need any adjustment. I've been getting upwards of 60-80,000 miles on my bikes before any adjustment is needed and even then it's very slight. Save your money and wait at least until the 26k that Yamaha recommends. From start to finish it takes me 90 minutes to check valves, but 3-4 hours to adjust them.