Quote Originally Posted by jimmi View Post
valve wear has less to do with how the motor is run and much more to do with maintance. keep clean air and fuel going in and you'll extend the life of valves.
of course keeping up with things helps, just as much as having a mild stock cam, and if you have a stock cam im sorry to tell you this but its not running very strong .......shimming even just once means valves are worn, and starting to cup, and once worn to the point of needing new shims, the only way they last is not running hard, the cleanest fuel mixture wont matter any coating is already gone...cam selection has as much to do with longevity as being clean, so in this way yes how the motor is run does matter, as I said they last a long time when not running it hard!!!

I change oil every tank, clean filter every ride, and c12 only ..and there is no chance in hell it will make 200 hours on my valves, my top end gets rebuilt every 50 hours max