[bevel450]

Why does it need a valve job ? Call me hopelessly ignorant, but all that I read in your message is that it [has]..."carbon stuck all over the place".

Is this justification for taking the heads off ?????? Something sounds completely wrong to my mind. If carbon deposits are the the only issue, then....and you are going to wince badly when you hear this....warm up your engine until you get to normal operating temp. Then put it at very high idle and squirt a bit of water into each injector. The water expands into steam and will produce a FILTHY exhaust stream and sparkly aluminum surfaces in the combustion chambers PDQ. Just a TINY squirt and then open the throttle a bit. Remember the engine is not under load when you are doing this.

I did this on my high compression Monster several times ( not to mention lots of cars) over the years and it works just fine.

Are the mechanics telling you that the valves are actually leaking ? Have they done a compression check and bleed down ? Frankly I always worry when a shop is so eager to pull my engine apart, although there may be other issues on an R with as many miles as you have, that you have not addressed here.

Good luck whatever you do. And yeah, I agree with the others. Keep the bike. The worst of the depreciation is way behind you and the best miles are ahead.

Perhaps this more thinking out loud but here it goes.

I own a 2000 748r. I have 18k miles on it and its main purpose is that of a track tool. I also take it out to the canyons but in its older age that is becoming less frequent. I have never had any major issues with the bike and have always keep to the service. It is currently getting a 6k service done. The bike needs a valve job which means big bucks. With the amount of carbon suck all over the place the bike just no longer performs. I do not think the problem will go away but at 18k its probably long overdue to be cleaned up. At this point I could probably sell it for a decent amount though being a 2k (no ohlins) and with so many miles I will not be getting that mutch. If I keep the bike I can expect to put around 2000 miles a year on it and hope to ride it for several more years before I part it out.

Is it time to sell and look into a 749s or R6. Or do I stick with it fix her up and ride it till she dies.

749s 15k
R6 9k

MY 748r worth maybe 5k but needs 2k worth of work done.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Adam