I'm on my third week as an NT owner (and member of this forum). I could go on about first impressions of the bike, but lets just say I'm getting happier as the miles accumulate. For me its the Goldilocks bike (not too big, not too small.)
The forum posts have been of great help for farkle suggestions, and for walking through some initial procedures. Kudos to the guy who did the videos on removing the upper plastic pieces.
The valve adjustment procedure is so well covered in this thread that I almost don't want to post another one. Still, I just finished the job and noticed a few things I don't think I'd seen written up.
First, I found that the rear cylinder valve cover can be removed and the valves checked/adjusted without removing the throttle bodies. Just take off the air cleaner body per instructions posted elsewhere, pop off the rear cover plastic shield, take off the breather hose to the rear cover, and then remove the rear cylinder valve cover. So I set the crank to "RT", checked I was on the compression stroke (all rockers loose) and completed the rear cylinder valves first. I reinstalled the rear cyl cover before I even started to mess with the throttle bodies and the front cyl valves. By doing this, once I popped the throttle body assembly off from the intake boots, I just set the assembly back on the rear cover, just enough to get them out of the way to do the front cylinder, rather than lifting them up on the frame rail as one poster suggested. Also, this way you don't have to worry about inadvertently dropping something into the rear cylinder area as you work on the throttle bodies etc.
Many posters report have difficulty loosening the clamp that secures the right throttle body to the rubber intake boot. Here is one more arrow in that quiver: I found that by taking the upper bolt off the coolant reservoir tank and rotating the tank upwards a bit, I was able to thread a longer phillips screwdriver under the side frame member from the side of the bike and reach the clamp screw. You need a longer phillips (#3) and/or one with a narrow handle. Actually works even better if you have a long Japan Industrial Standard (JIS) screwdriver. (The JIS pattern is much less likely to "cam out" from the screw compared to the US pattern.) Even so, the driver will not be square on the screw and its best not to use this to initially loosen the screw. Point is, once the screw on the clamp is a bit loose, you can further loosen (and later retighten) the screw quickly this way.
One other thought not on the subject of valve adjustments. I have been paying attention to the problem some owners have with the pannier latches. I realize most involve latches that fail to secure, but I was troubled by one poster who described a problem with the latches failing to open, and thus preventing the seat from being removed. This would be a PITB on a trip. I am looking at the seat mechanism, and I wonder if a plastic cable tie might be secured around the latch mechanism, perhaps held on the latch with a smaller cable tie, and then have the plastic "tail" of the cable tie run out to the side of the bike. Perhaps a small slot could be cut in the side plastic under the seat, so the cable tie end emerges as a small, unobtrusive tab just under the seat. In an emergency, you could use pliers to grasp the tab, pull, and release the seat. I may give this a try and report on results.
The forum posts have been of great help for farkle suggestions, and for walking through some initial procedures. Kudos to the guy who did the videos on removing the upper plastic pieces.
The valve adjustment procedure is so well covered in this thread that I almost don't want to post another one. Still, I just finished the job and noticed a few things I don't think I'd seen written up.
First, I found that the rear cylinder valve cover can be removed and the valves checked/adjusted without removing the throttle bodies. Just take off the air cleaner body per instructions posted elsewhere, pop off the rear cover plastic shield, take off the breather hose to the rear cover, and then remove the rear cylinder valve cover. So I set the crank to "RT", checked I was on the compression stroke (all rockers loose) and completed the rear cylinder valves first. I reinstalled the rear cyl cover before I even started to mess with the throttle bodies and the front cyl valves. By doing this, once I popped the throttle body assembly off from the intake boots, I just set the assembly back on the rear cover, just enough to get them out of the way to do the front cylinder, rather than lifting them up on the frame rail as one poster suggested. Also, this way you don't have to worry about inadvertently dropping something into the rear cylinder area as you work on the throttle bodies etc.
Many posters report have difficulty loosening the clamp that secures the right throttle body to the rubber intake boot. Here is one more arrow in that quiver: I found that by taking the upper bolt off the coolant reservoir tank and rotating the tank upwards a bit, I was able to thread a longer phillips screwdriver under the side frame member from the side of the bike and reach the clamp screw. You need a longer phillips (#3) and/or one with a narrow handle. Actually works even better if you have a long Japan Industrial Standard (JIS) screwdriver. (The JIS pattern is much less likely to "cam out" from the screw compared to the US pattern.) Even so, the driver will not be square on the screw and its best not to use this to initially loosen the screw. Point is, once the screw on the clamp is a bit loose, you can further loosen (and later retighten) the screw quickly this way.
One other thought not on the subject of valve adjustments. I have been paying attention to the problem some owners have with the pannier latches. I realize most involve latches that fail to secure, but I was troubled by one poster who described a problem with the latches failing to open, and thus preventing the seat from being removed. This would be a PITB on a trip. I am looking at the seat mechanism, and I wonder if a plastic cable tie might be secured around the latch mechanism, perhaps held on the latch with a smaller cable tie, and then have the plastic "tail" of the cable tie run out to the side of the bike. Perhaps a small slot could be cut in the side plastic under the seat, so the cable tie end emerges as a small, unobtrusive tab just under the seat. In an emergency, you could use pliers to grasp the tab, pull, and release the seat. I may give this a try and report on results.