Swiss valves or not

[redsoul]

Just done a search on valves and found a thread where there was excessive wear on the swiss valves after very few miles.
My 92 plate r80gs is going in for a top-end overhaul and with the high mileage on it, valves,guides etc may need to be changed.
The swiss valves are alot cheaper but are there any quality issues with these in general.

 

[DrFarkoff]

I'd be interested to hear what the views are on this with 2 rebuilds on mine to do ?

 

[cookie]

got them in my le mans with no issues. but it's only done about 6K.

don't remember them being cheap either

done a few bmw airheads, and always used bmw valves. never thought to use anything else. i know they can have issues at 60Kish, but my bikes are never going to see that mileage while i own them.

 

[redsoul]

got them in my le mans with no issues. but it's only done about 6K.

don't remember them being cheap either

done a few bmw airheads, and always used bmw valves. never thought to use anything else. i know they can have issues at 60Kish, but my bikes are never going to see that mileage while i own them.

From moto-bins the swiss complete valve kit is £113.00 + VAT.....Thats considerably cheaper than the alternatives.

 

[cookie]

i had the heads done at the cylinder head shop, and they were what les recommended.

looking back, maybe they were just easiest to supply. who knows?

used him since on beemers, but supply my own valves from motorworks.

IIRC last time i specified the cheaper ones for some reason i can't remember, but there was a FU of some sort, so they sent me the genuine items at the lower price

 

[Steptoe]

From moto-bins the swiss complete valve kit is £113.00 + VAT.....Thats considerably cheaper than the alternatives.

Don't forget to factor in the other alternative of buying cheap - a dropped valve.

So your cheap longer seems cheap after that.

 

[redsoul]

Don't forget to factor in the other alternative of buying cheap - a dropped valve.

So your cheap longer seems cheap after that.

Thats why i put this thread up in the first place

For those of you interested i went on a fact finding mission concerning these valves firstly contacting moto-bins and then having a chat with a very helpfull chappy from "the cylinder head shop"(or something like that).He told me he has used these valves on 100,s of boxer engines and would highly reccomend them and went on to say that the quality of these are better than the BMW ones.

 

[Rob Farmer]

I'd take his advice with a pinch of salt.

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242039

 

[redsoul]

I'd take his advice with a pinch of salt.

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242039

Interesting thread that points out that you werent sure the valves were even swiss.
Thread also pointed out several people using the swiss valves without a problem.

 

[Rob Farmer]

Your choice.

 

[redsoul]

Your choice.

This i already know

So far on one side of the table i have a very helpfull guy at "cylinder head shop" who installs these things day in day out that they are good quality and better than BMW valves..........and on the other side i have ulot saying they are no good either purely because they are cheap or because you found a crap valve that you dont even know is a swiss valve lol.

 

[bumpmuncher]

They did say during a phone conversation yesterday that they do not supply valves for BMW but ask their customers to buy their own valves and send them in with the cylinder heads.

I have also spoken to jim cray re valves and his position on them is the same as S.E.D.

 

[ians]

I rebuilt my heads with Intervalve valves which I think is the same as Swiss valves and no problems at all.

 

[redsoul]

Cheers Ians...nice to have concrete information to try and base my decision on rather than what somebody heard from somewhere they cant remember

 

[redsoul]

I have also spoken to jim cray re valves and his position on them is the same as S.E.D.

I am very happy for you that you have spoken to Jim Cray....maybe you could explain why he feels the same way as S.E.D....What evidence he has that these valves are of inferior quality

 

[bumpmuncher]

Having spoken to cray about a top end rebuild among other things. I found he wont use them because they break. I couldnt tell you the presice ins and outs because I had bevel box and driveshaft woes flying around my head at the time.

SED won't use Intervalves for precisely that reason!

I think that is in reference to the riveted tops the thread is about

also

weather the mixture is lean or rich it will have no effect on the tip of the valve . the excuse is utter rubbish, those valves have a material or heat treatment problem. i gave up with multi piece valves years ago, mind you it makes a change from the head falling off.

3 respected airhead tuning specialists
and steptoe

Don't forget to factor in the other alternative of buying cheap - a dropped valve.

So your cheap longer seems cheap after that.

You could argue that the 3 tuning specialists are building engines designed to cope with extended hard use. so willnot use anything that cant cope with heavy use.

The discussion could go on and on with people saying their good there bad blah blah and so on. The people saying they have had no trouble could have only done 3000 gentle miles in the last couple of years. and the ones that have failed could be down to other factors.
I am sure if you speak to any of the above people they will tell you what they think.

 

[fayeslane]

Your choice.

Rob's right. Do your research and choose, doesn't really matter what others reckon. I used them because I couldn't find a concrete reason not to -if I have problems so be it. Bike has done about 6000kms now with them in, regularly gets revved to redline. In light of the above info I would probably go BM valves next time but I wear a belt and braces

 

[Beemerboff]

I fitted the MotoBins cheapies to my R75/7 when I went to unleaded seats , must have been 10 years/60,000 km ago. I run Mobil 1 in all my airheads

I dont use the R75 as a race bike - I have the VFR for when I feel like a good fang.

Cant recall having to adjust the valves on the R75 in that time, so the valves / seats /oil must be working together well.

The VFR hasnt needed them adjusting in 100,000 km either ------.

FWIW Moteren Israel use and supply the Swiss valves too, so they cant have had any trouble with them either.

 

[Bryn]

When my 100 PD had its heads off Steve Scriminger did the job, and sent me down to Moto bins for exhaust valves and guides etc. . Got there and they didn't have any, just the swiss ones. Anyway, no choice at that time but to fit the ones they had in stock.

Motobins reckon they'd had no trouble with them I get the impression Steve would have preferred fitting OE items, but we had to go with what was available.

 

[redsoul]

Rob's right. Do your research and choose, doesn't really matter what others reckon. I used them because I couldn't find a concrete reason not to -if I have problems so be it. Bike has done about 6000kms now with them in, regularly gets revved to redline. In light of the above info I would probably go BM valves next time but I wear a belt and braces

At the moment i have to entirely agree with you....Like yourself i am now doing my research on these and though we have one side saying they are great and able to back it up we have the other camp saying they are cheap and nasty without any concrete evidence to back it up.
I work for a very large egineering firm where we make piston rings,turbo rings,sealent rings doing work throughout the motor industry and british aerospace using some extremely hard materials.Might get in sontact with the company and find out exactly what they are made of and what processes they go through.