so i just left the dealership and was flabbergasted about the price they wanna charge me for a 16,000 mile tune up, which is nothing but replacing a few gaskets and adjusting the valves (if i am not mistaken). and on top of that they wanna keep my baby for a week... i was like wtf first you wanna charge me close to 700 dollars to do this and you wanna keep my baby a week???? can anybody tell me what exactly is performed at this tune up and if its possible for someone like me, who has some mechanical experience, to do this? thanx for helpin

 

don't know itf this helps but i had a 900RR which i bought new and when it came up to it's 16k service the pro mechanic that i go to said forget it...the bike runs great, don't mess with it. sold the bike with 21k miles on it (no 16k service) with no problems. as a matter of fact basic maintainance consisting of oil changes, tune ups, brakes and tires was the only service done to that bike. hondas are great!!!!

 

I am in the process of doing the valve adjustment myself, and am not surprised at the price. I would say I am mechanically competent, but this job is as deep as I have ever gone into a bike. Let's see, to get to the valves you must:
1. remove mid and lower cowls
2. drain rad
3. drop rad
4. remove fuel tank cover
5. remove fuel tank
6. remove upper air box
7. remove secodary fuel injectors
8. remove air filters and bottom portion of air box
9. remove thottle body
10. disconnect assort vacuum lines, a few electrical connectors, and other hoses along the way
11. remove front air inlet out from beneath the steering head, over the rad
12. now you can access the spark plug leads, and also pop off the coils
13. remove cylinder head cover, first fighting with it for 15 minutes, and then realising it will only fit out forward, over the rad.
14. now check the clearances, while using the $170 CDN tool to hold tension on the cam chain.
15. check them again, because the feeler gauges don't like getting stuffed in at a sharp angle
16. remove cam covers.
17. use bubble gum on the edge of the spark splug socket to get the copper washer out from the spark plug cavity that a magnet can't pick up.
18. take out cams.
19. take out the lifters and shims, calculate sizes required.
20. order $100 of washer seals for the disconnected fuel lines, valve cover gasket, and $7 for each of the 7 shims I need. Probably going to do spark plugs, and it was a bunch more for the air filters too.
That took about 8 hours of my, "medium pace" time. I'm waiting for the parts to come in next week, and then I still have to bolt all that **** together, and it will hopefully run! In other words, they are justified.

 

Your the first person I have heard that actually needed to adjust the valves at that mileage.
All accounts (myself included) found the valves to be spot on at the check-up interval.

It is a PITA, and I wouldn't do it for fun.

FYI: With the Throttle bodies removed (and rectifier) the valve cover will *just* come out towards the fuel tank,
it doesn't HAVE to come out the rad side. You need to hold your breath just the right way.