Okay, here's the deal. I pulled the side off the bike to check my chain adjuster. I want to do a round trip of 1,100 miles or so in the next week or so, before the weather goes belly up on us here in MN. First off I was amazed at how clean everything in there looks at almost 24k miles. It's like new, just like in the pictures.

But I digress. Upon checking the adjuster I still have 3/8" of plunger left in the tube. I don't want to tear into the bike before the trip if I don't have to as I might not get it back together in time and be stuck not going. The question then becomes - is 3/8" enough of a safety margin for an 1,100 mile, taking-it-easy trip?

As I said I would rather do the major work this winter now that I see the extent of the tear down needed. And then learning to set the valves afterward. Someone reassure me on this.

Jack

3/8" = 9.5mm

the plunger is 30mm long (to the shoulder)

recommended service length 18mm (shoulder to housing)

I think you are there my friend.  (you've got mail)

I'd say 22mm is max (cause that's when I did mine)

I'd say it was sticking out 9mm from the factory.

18mm in 24k miles, I'm guessing that 1k mile trip will put you out to 20mm.