Yes, I'll be doing both from now on, not having Bryan's experience, measure + adjust with feeler guages, then do the check Bryan does.
My tappets are probably original, on a bike with 44,000 miles. So, there will be wear. Runs lovely right now though. I had to swap in a better head and rocker cover about 1500 miles ago, as my oil leak proved to be badly damaged gasket faces. Used that replacement head's valves, springs, keepers, but the original cam and rocker gear, which had some wear visually, but not scored (finger nail check) and the lobes were within the shop manual measurements.
So, I may have experienced some bedding in with the tappets?
Still learning the Honda's foibles, so the advice is really helpful. As I say, since the second adjustment, over 1,000 miles ago, no loud tapping noise or running problems. A bit of carb tweaking (mixture screw and balance), now a nice smooth torquey ride. Lumpy idle below 1400rpm, maybe a tired advancer spring, but I'm fine with a 1400rpm idle. It otherwise feels like a happy motor through the rev and throttle range. Enjoy riding it and always look back at it before closing the garage door!
