Valve clearances on the VZ800 at long last

Been putting this off since the spring. The book wants them looked at every six thousand miles and I was well past that, so this afternoon the tank came off, which is the bit I was dreading because of the pinstripe. Masking tape along the frame rails, a folded towel over the yoke, and it lifted away without touching a thing.

Covers off and the feeler gauges out of the drawer for the first time in years. Front pot was spot on and wanted nothing. Rear intake had gone a touch tight and the exhaust side sat at the loose end but still inside, so one locknut moved all afternoon.

What I did not expect was the amount of oil sitting in the rear rocker box. Wiped it out and put new gaskets in both sides. The old ones came off hard as biscuit, so something had been weeping past them for a good while.

Half an hour of actual work and three hours of getting to it, which is about the ratio on this bike. It idles quieter now, and the little tick I had blamed on the exhaust for two summers turns out to have been a valve all along.