Valve Adjustment Interval - K1200S

I know that the computer thingy will tell me when my bike needs to have its valves looked at but I was hoping one of the wizened denizens of maintenance wisdom could give me an idea on how frequently that might be for a bike ridden mainly on highways and not in the city.

Thanks in advance!

well, I'll bite

After doing around 8-10 checks on Wedge engines, I have not found a valve out of tolerance...one or two were headed in direction of maybe needing a shim on a K12GT, but subsequent check had it at same clearance a few years later.

It is a job for the patient mind, as a lot of stuff has to come off and checking all those valves is another Zen experience. It's a two cup of coffee and a lunch break after you remove the valve cover for me.

None of ours or the others I have checked were driven at Warp8 near engine redline at any frequency if ever as I know the pilots. I think it's a good thing to check because every engine is not the same, but as mentioned haven't seen an issue.

There’s a computer for that?!?!?!?!

They call it a countdown to valve check, but I haven't seen a dash code saying it was overdue. Only the service interval warning on bikes with the full onboard computer. Our S's were basic models with miles to go after reserve hit about only info other than general warnings.

henzilla said:

None of ours or the others I have checked were driven at Warp8 near engine redline at any frequency if ever as I know the pilots. I think it's a good thing to check because every engine is not the same, but as mentioned haven't seen an issue.

Click to expand...

Yep, it's not often I hear of a K1200/1300 needing a valve adjustment.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the info, as always.

We've had many K series bikes, four of which were K1200S/K1300S. I have the valves checked roughly every 25k but the wedge engines have never needed adjusting. I'll throw in a humorous disclaimer ..... Way back in time we were on an 8000 mile 3 1/2 week cross country trip, part of which was a stop for a BMW national rally. I asked Frank Stevens, BMW National Service Rep (I probably butchered his title, but you get the idea) if we needed to have the valves adjusted on our 1995 R1100RSL before we got home.
His reply was classic, and I can still quote him, "No, but remember I sell valves."

Another Data Point

Our 2008 K1200GT is getting close to 122,000 miles.

At 40,548 the cam chain jumped two teeth - I could hear the valves hitting the pistons!

The shop did a leak down test, all good; a valve check, all good; and replaced everything to do with the cam chain and tensioner.

Some 80,000 miles later the valves are still where they were when the shop did the check back at 40,548 miles.

These bikes seem to have very tough shims and cams.

Though it is a bit of work to get to the valves, I do plan on checking then as called for by the OEM repair manual, every 18,000 miles.

While all the body work and the radiator is off its a good time to clean everything up, especially the radiator out here in the desert southwest.

Cleaning the radiator was far more valuable than checking the valves on my K1300. It has made a big difference in how quickly the fan kicks ON.

Unfortunately it is almost the same amount of Labour to do valves or do both valves and clean radiator.

Going forward I will be spraying water with simple green thru my radiator more frequently.