[Curley]

Hello, all:

I'm new to the board and had a question I was hoping you guys/gals could answer for me.

I'm currently riding a Vulcan 500 LTD but plan to move up to the 750 or 800 next year. I like the shaft drive and self-adjusting valves of the 750, but I also like the 800 and had a maintenance question: How often do the valves have to be adjusted on the 800?

I have a Rollastand, so chain maintenance is not a big deal to me, but the valve maintenance could be the deciding factor. Thanks for your help.

 

[woodchucks800]

Curly first off welcome to the forum. I adjusted my valves at 8000 mi. A couple of them needed adjustement. Will have it checked in march when I hit 16,000 mi. From what I hear from other 800 rider's is that they rarely need adjustment after the first time. I'll have an answer on that in march. Just got done replacing my chain an sprockets after 14,000 mi. Probably didn't need to yet but I decided to put a forty tooth on the rear an with that many milesalready on the chain I decided to swap out everything. Maintence on the modern day o-ring chain isn't as nesseccary as they say because the o-ring chain is self lubricated which is suppose to last the life of the chain. I clean an lube about 3000 mi. just keep the road grime an rust off of it . I clean an lube it after I ride thru alot of rain . I'd get the 800 over the 750 mainly because accessories for the 800 are plentiful an the 750 has been around for almost 20 yrs. Kinda out dated.Plus the 800 look's better. This is just my opinion an ride whatever you an your bank account want to . PS my wife ride's an 500 an I do on occasion, its a nice bike also.

 

[Curley]

Thanks, woodchuck.

An adjustment every 8K miles is not bad at all. I was thinking it would be more like every 3K, which would get to be a pain fairly quickly.

 

[woodchucks800]

ya'll curly there's a lot of 800's out there with 15 or 20 thousand miles that probably haven't had the valve's adjusted, an they still run fine. If it's not tickin a little have them checked. Of course most dealer's will tell you that they needed adjusted just so you would be back next year.