About to do first TT250 valve lash check
 

I'm at 480 miles and am exploiting the good weather to do some maintenance in the sun on the bikes..looking at the valve cover, is it necessary to remove the tank? I don't mind doing that but if it saves a job...

No

Motocheez has a video on Youtube and he doesn't take off the tank

I couldn't get enough space around the cover bolts to get my shallow socket on them, and they are on pretty tight, so I just lifted the tank.

However, I discovered my existing sparkplug wrench doesn't fit - can I confirm it's 11/16?

Also I can't get the Phillips screws off the CSC cover (for the crank bolt) to save my life - they're absolutely fast, so I am just going to spin the rear wheel instead.

It takes a matter of minutes to take off the seat and tank. Youi'lll appreciate the access, plus you can check for other loose items and wire routing.

Why are you removing the side case? Those screws are impacted on from the factory. (EDIT: My error! I was thinking you may be taking off the entire case, not the small side cover. Apologies....)

For finding TDC, get the valve cover off first, remove the plug and roll the kickstarter. When you see the intake valve close, roll the kicker until you see the top of the piston in the plug hole at the top of the stroke. That's TDC compression stroke.

The spark plug is 18mm. Yes...I had to buy one too.

Make sure the bike is ice cold, overnight for a valve adjustment. I've always set .05mm intake and .08mm exhaust.

Yep I got there in the end, it was pretty quick once the cover was off. A lot the bolts on my bike are pretty tight from the factory; the drain plug before my first oil change, and valve cover bolts required a fair bit of persuasion. They let go with a little squeak.

I took one look at the little side cover as soon as the bike arrived, and I knew from experience the little stainless screws would be trouble to get out. I didn't try hard at all and decided not to bother. They're very hard metal, but they just didn't budge.

Good tip on the piston thing - I never even thought of that, and that's a handy tip if the flywheel viewport is hard to open (I chewed up the one on my Ninja trying take it off, it is softer than chocolate.)

The valves themselves were tight, but the bike wasn't giving any clues they were. I couldn't get a 0.02 feeler gauge in there, but then the feeler gauges are so flimsy at that width that you can't put a lot of of pressure on them. Adjusting them was really nice and straightforward, even if I was chasing the adjustment around a bit.

I also cleaned up and greased the kickstarter lever mechanism and roller-lock, the wet weather had caused it to oxidise pretty badly around the short pin where the kicker arm rotates.

One thing I did notice when I put everything away is that the toolkit has a double ended socket, and I wondered if this was the right size for the plug. I'll check next time.

The oil filter thimble thing was absolutely spotless. Pretty pleased with the engine.

Just use a wrench to remove the bolts it works fine.unless you need to check other bolts you may have not checked before.Everything on mine was tight except a few spokes,they even put red marker on the bolts to identify which ones they have already tighten.I believe they are getting a little better with quality control.

Glad it all went well!...and these CG valves always come very tight...or at least all of mine have.

I thought the valve adjustment would not make much difference as the bike was already running pretty smoothly, but cold starting (below 40F) is much easier; the bike idles and warms smoothly at full choke without needing any encouragement on the throttle - before I would usually give a little throttle and switch to half-choke as quickly as possible whence it would hesitatingly idle until warm.

There's also a touch more power. I know this as there's a 14% grade I have on the way to work and the bike will accelerate uphill in fourth; before I would hold it in 3rd until near the top.

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