Hello all,

1. The adjustment is made at the solenoid by pushing the shaft out with a finger from the frame side of the decomp...correct?

2. Do I need to have both valve covers off or can I just set the notch to TDC and not worry about intake?

3. What are the consequences of a mal adjusted decomp. I.e. can it be mal adjusted and still run?

Ummmm let's see....

I'll throw in a, what's the meaning of life?

I don't believe the decompression solenoid really needs adjustments once it is set at the factory.  It is important that the lever arm be able to return to the "off" position completely, and there should be enough slack in the cable to allow the lever to return to the "off" position.  In this position the decompression cam inside the head is not in contact with the rocker arm.  If the cable is overly tight and pulls the decompression lever up too much - you will either get a tapping sound when the valves return to the closed position.....or worse case is that it is so tight that it does not allow the exhaust valves to close completely.

Yes, in most cases the engine will start with the decompression solenoid taken off or disfunctional - however cold temperatures, thick oil, or a weak battery can affect how well the engine can turn over on that first compession stroke.  The potential problem is that when you turn the engine off it could stop rotating with the piston part way up on the compression stroke....and the next time you hit the start button the electric starter will not only have to overcome the inertia of the non rotating crankshaft and piston - it also will have to overcome the compression in the cylinder without any momentum.....and that is hard on the starter.  Suzuki designed this bike to be operational at all temperatures and tried to make it reliable.....so they installed the compression release to make it easier for the starter to get the engine spinning on that first engine rotation when it could possibly be on the compression stroke.  I have the decompression solenoid removed on my bike as the GT550 tank did not allow room for the decompression solenoid.  I have a Wiseco piston installed......and about 1 out of every 100 tries the starter could not push the piston up on the compression stroke and I had to let up on the starter button and move the bike in gear to rotate the engine past TDC.  This winter I installed a handlebar mounted lever to operate the decompression feature when I need it.

Dave, how about a pic on that bar mounted c/r? Sounds classic.
Last summer I had a car in front of me stop short as we were leaving a green light. I grabbed the brake no problem but stalled the bike. That's when "Murphy's law of piston position" insures that the it will be in the wrong spot for a quick restart.

I switched my bars over to 7/8" bars, and I used a BMX bicycle brake lever.  It may be possible to bore the mount to 1".


I had to make a longer lever to go with the longer movement of the brake cable, and a new mount for the cable that lined up with the longer lever.

Yup,.. the manual calls for some spec measurement at the solenoid, but that's kinda' dumb... because you adjust at the lever...
I just make sure there is some slack on the cable when the sol ain't engaged...