Thursday, September 1, 2011

SV650 Tune-Up at Lloyd’s Motorcycle Performance

SV650 at Lloyd's getting a tune up

I usually do most of the maintenance on my SV650, but there are a couple tasks that I do not enjoy on this particular bike. One of them in syncing the carbs and the other is the valve adjustment. The main reason is taking the entire bike apart – radiator, tank, handlebars, airbox, and seat. I also prefer adjusting valves on screw adjusters rather than the bucket/shim setup.


It has been about 17,000 miles since the valves were last adjusted (supposed to be 15,000), so it was time to make a visit. I was last there in early 2010; you can read about that visit here: http://www.everydayriding.org/2010/04/sv650-service-at-lloyds-motorcycle.html

Lloyd was nice enough to squeeze me in and went to work on the SV right away. You can see here most of the stuff is removed and he is just about to remove the valve covers. All photos compliments of Lloyd except the first one which I took.


Valve covers removed. Front cylinder:

SV650 at Lloyd's getting a tune up

Rear cylinder:

SV650 at Lloyd's getting a tune up

All four intakes stayed right at .0055” where he left them 17,000 miles ago! Three of the four exhaust valves needed to be slightly adjusted.

The carb sync was also pretty close.

Before (look at 3 & 4):

SV650 at Lloyd's getting a tune up

After (look at 3 & 4):

 SV650 at Lloyd's getting a tune up

He also changed the radiator fluid since he had to take it off and dump out the fluid anyways. I had new clutch and throttle cables waiting to go on, and again since everything was torn down it was only a quick job.

I bought a new rear tire – another Q2. I will install that myself in another 1,000 miles or so. I asked him to look at the front tire too, it had developed some cracking in the tread. He took it off and is sending it back for a warranty replacement. Nice!

I also thought it was cool that he mentioned that he doesn’t see many 35,000 bikes that run as nicely as mine.

Just as with last time, I’m happy with the quality, speed, and price of the work performed. Thanks Lloyd!

5 comments:

  1. Oh, I see now, the cam is actually loose to get to the shims. Otherwise, the sprockets would line up...

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  2. My first comment got lost.

    I was looking at your pictures and couldn't figure out why the cam sprockets weren't lined up.

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  3. RichardM: silly blogger! yes, that would explain the screwdriver then too that the cam is loose to get to the shims. I like that he takes pics as he works.

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  4. Totally agree re the onerous level of dismantling required to get at the valves to check them! Had I known this beforehand, not sure I would have ended up with the V-Strom!

    Give me an Airhead or even an Oilhead's exposed jugs any day. Actually, if I might insert a Riepe-esque comment, exposed jugs are a good thing any day!

    dom


    Redleg's Rides

    Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner

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  5. Dom: It is a pain, but fortunately it doesn't have to be done often. 15,000 mile is a decent amount of time compared to the Ural. My WR250R requires dismantling the bike to check the valves too (even worse than the SV if you can believe it).

    Trade your v-strom for a guzzi and you get exposed jugs on a v-twin ;)

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