Where to buy Valve shims

[se3388]

I am in need of some valve shims for my 1980 GS550E, where is the best place to get them (besides the Stealer)? Thanks for any info.

Steve E............

[almarconi]

There is a shim club on this forum. Try doing a search for shim club.

z1 enterprises sells shims if you'd rather buy them.

[rodm850g]

shims

Guys,
I did a resto on my old GS a few years back, after being in storage for about 5 or 6 years. It became apparent it was in need of a full service....I set about rounding up all of my tools,parts and set up some time to get into my "Old Guys Garage" to do the job. All valves checked, found some way out some not too far off and drug out my shim box to find I was short several I needed.
Out of desperation I went to the local shop to find they had none in stock or in the shop at all! Imagine that I thought...I checked the next friendly independent shop tofind he had sold off all of his "old stock",the last local shop had one but that wasn't quite enough and I ended up traveling a 60 mile round trip to acquire the last one I needed...well it was not quite the ordeal I got to check out a few new bikes I've read about in person so it was OK....
later onm after the job was complete I found this link to bags of shims ...they are feom K&L and are of high quality most don't have the little extra angle cut on the edge like they used to but are of the correct diameter.....take a look if you like ...here is the link

http://www.procycle.us/hotcams/shim_refills.htm

Good luck
Rodm850g

[Steve]

Not too bad if you need five of the same size shim. Price works out to $4.99 per shim for the group.

If you only need one or two of a particular size (like most of us), Z1 has them for $5.28 each.

.

[Tim Tom]

Z1 Also sells a big shim kit with a whole lot of sizes included. It is a bit spendy but back when I had more disposable income I picked it up. Its kind of nice knowing that I have any shim I could possibly need. No waiting for shims, or hunting them down. It make a valve adjustment into a 45 minute job

[Mop Bucket]

My dealer just raised prices and I didn't want to wait for them to be shipped. So I forked out $32 for the two I needed . I found a guy parting out a gs650 and picked up 8 shims for $1,0 shipped. Don't really care that I don't need them right now. I hope never to by a shim from a dealer again.

[tom203]

I hope never to by a shim from a dealer again.

Be careful what you hope for! bad karma

[drejal]

I just picked up a couple for my 550, checked all the oem parts places, Z1 had easily the best prices on shims like Steve said. about 5 bucks each, reasonable shipping, and they get them out right away.

and you get a cool little sticker to put on your tool box!

[tkent02]

Some Suzuki shops still swap them for free, any bike wrecker will have them. They show up on Ebay sometimes. It's nice to have a big stack of them.

[herostar]

I say go for a trad-in at a local shop. I've had the best luck at "mom and pop" motorcycle shops, and they've generally just let me trade them shims.

Be careful doing this, though, and use a micrometer to measure the shims (I've gotten screwed by receiving a polished-down shim with the wrong label).

As another option, join the GS Shim Club. GhostGS (I think is his name on here) runs it, and is great to work with. I'm semi-local to him, and he drove an hour to help make sure I got the right shims for my valve job...

One thing I've realized is that you should always have at least one extra shim that's thinner than what's needed. It will work wonders as a place-holder during valve adjustments...

[Jestercinti]

I went to the local dealer. I needed 2 shims. $20. I feel like I got ripped off, but I needed to ride, so what is a GS owner to do?

[cowboyup3371]

The Shim Club by Ghostgs1...it should be in the services section here and really really reasonable rates