Another GS another noise

[Steve]

Before closing the camshaft cover, I checked the valve clearance.
Guess what? One of the exhaust valves was at .20 mm and two others were at .10mm.
On the inlet side they were all OK at .05mm except one that was almost at zero clearance
I wonder how this is possible as I checked the valves less than 1000 km ago?
FYI, I had a complete valve job done a year ago and some of the valves had to be shortened as the seats had sunk further down the head.
I believe the valve stems are hardened at the factory and maybe that shortening them might have created this problem?

It is when an engine is "new" or "freshly-rebuilt" that the wear is the greatest. That is why the first service is usually around 600 miles (1000 km) on a new bike.

There are threads about "cam walk" causing noise on shim and bucket GS engines. I don't know what this particular noise sounds like but maybe that's part of the issue with your engine.

I don't think that's the case here, Ed. "Cam walk" sounds like a mild hammer thumping at a bit less than engine speed (cam speed is half of crank speed). On my bikes that have evidence of "cam walk", it is usually only noticed after the engine warms up, and fades away with increasing engine speed, usually totally gone by about 1500 RPM. It also goes in cycles. It will sound for a few seconds, then go away, then return. John Kat was saying that his noise is greatest about 4500 RPM.

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[John Kat]

It's hard to judge a noise over the internet but GS engines are not overly quiet even on their best day. My guess is your engine is normal.

You are right, I'm convinced the engine is normal but ...my two other GSs make less noise.
Judging a noise even when you listen to it carefully is quite elusive in any case.
For instance at rest, the engine can be revved with no significant noise.
On the run at around 4500 rpm the noise appears and seems a little different if you coast or if you accelerate.
Sorry to bother you guys with this but I suppose it's in human nature to try to understand what's happening in our beautifull machines