When did you adjust your valves? was it necessary?

[netdobeiras]

Ok so my motorcycle finally has 8000 miles on it. I am sure valves have never been adjusted. I just want to know when did you do your valves and how bad was it? My dad who is very good with mechanics says everything is alright and so does my coworker. I am sure there has to be symptoms and i think i have one: alot of vibration from time to time and when I am not on the bike you can see her bouncing up and down. Idle is at 1400 and idles fine. There is a popular belief that bad timing belt on cars have no symptoms. However, i can assure you that is not true, at least in a manual car. I have 2001 manual Nissan Xterra that was due for a belt change at 105k miles but me and my dad did it at 110k miles. It was so hard to launch the car and you can feel a lack of power over every 1000 mile it drove over 105k miles. If there are symptoms for a bad belt on car there has to be one on a bike. so my questions again:

A: when did you have your valves adjusted and how bad was it?

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by netdobeiras

.......... A: when did you have your valves adjusted and how bad was it?

The condition of the specified gap between the stem of the valves and the rocker varies from engine to engine.

Please, read this:
http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Do_I_re..._6000_miles%3F

Sooner or later, those gaps become smaller as miles go by under the bike, reducing the breathing time of the engine and performance.

When they reach the lowest limit of the specified range, they don't fully close any more when the engine is hot, which induces leaks of compression and burned seats and edges.
From that point on, it is just a snowball of damage.

Consider cleaning and lubricating the cam tensioner during the valve's adjustment, because that thing can be the cause of unnecessary noise and wear and catastrophic failure.

[FrugalNinja250]

By the time the Ninja engine begins to show symptoms of too-tight valves the engine will likely be totaled. It's tedious but not hard to check the clearances. If they need adjustment you can adjust them to the loose end of the spec and go longer before adjusting them again, though you still need to check them at the specified interval.

[RickM]

I have seen tight valves on the 250 from as low as 600 miles. After the 1st 3 adjustments (600 miles, 4k-6k miles , 12k ) they tend to go much longer between adjustments

[Ghostt]

Valve adjustment is critical, it's the first step for any tuning, and proper operation. Sometimes other problems are misdiagnosed due to the valves being out of adjustment.

[choneofakind]

Adjust 'em. After the second time, they seem to stop moving and it becomes a check rather than an adjustment. No biggie.