I just rebuilt the clutch master on my TE510, and I didn't even need to bleed it. I can't believe it. The clutch feels better than before. I tipped the piston end of the master up when it put the new piston in, pushed it in with an Allen wrench, and snapped the retainer ring in. The entire process took about 10 minutes. I've always thought this bike was easy to work on, but this is a new high point. I love this bike.
I've done mine twice ($100 total parts cost), it still leaks, imperfections on the cylinder walls. But a definite YES on ease of work on the big block Huskys, I am really not looking forward to having a bike that the cams have to be pulled to adjust the valves....I might have to go to a Honda/Suzuki platform....
Many of the well designed ones these days almost never need adjusted. I had a YZF that I thrashed hard for 4 years, never needed adjustment. My TE511 has 4500 miles on it and is still spot on. If designed right and the right materials used the cam-on-valve setup can be very long lasting. Thats the beauty of that design IMHO.
Shim and bucket valvetrains have significantly less inertial mass than rocker arms with screw adjusters. This allows for higher revs and/or more aggressive cam profiles. Everybody always wants more power and/or less weight, so maximizing power from a given engine displacement is very important. Never have to adjust valve clearance on a 2-stroke...
The cam follower design that the 450/510s use is a good compromise between the two. I have about 8,000 miles on my 510, and I've adjust the exhausts one time because they were getting close to the limit. I guess that $80 set of shims was a bit of overkill. Still less than a 2 cycle top end rebuild though.
