Thanks for the insight. As I said, the consistency with which you get 'under the hood' is exactly why I would be willing to part with my cash to have you tune my bike/car/soup de jour. The average weekend warrior is going to do more damage than good, just in all the other sh*t that can and will go wrong in the process of getting to that (in your case) 'easily' attainable 3-5% gain.
Please understand I am in no way being disrespectful of what you can obviously accomplish. If the time and money are there, given that every other process that has to be done to get to shimming the valves is done with equal care and precision, gains can be made.
Dyno time is easy when you own a dyno. Same as milling parts -- once you have the experience and the tools, the actual job is less of a problem. At some point it becomes cost prohibitive to chase that 3-5% HP gain, when it takes the time and money for all the other stuff to get to it.
I know that Kawasaki did a decent job, in stacking all those tolerances, and material choices, to get the bike I bought to where it is. The folks who thought out how long it will take before things go sideways know what they are doing, as well. (except for the SOB responsible for the charging system -- he cut it too tight, IMHO)
I have to balance the desire to modify against the impact that will have, on reliability. Performance always comes at a cost.
For me, the balance is best suited by changing as little as possible, so the reliability stays high. Were I to race, the equation would be different, I am sure. I'd weigh a lot less than I do, now. I'd be in better physical shape so my endurance would hold up.
I see very little value in ekeing out more HP from what is aruably aleady a highly tuned engine. (13:1 compression, with a 13K+ redline?) OEM, this thing is making the equivlent of 140 HP per liter..... that would be a 700 HP 300 cubic inch engine -- how long do those last?
The return for my dollars amounts to more tickets, and a potentially damaged engine. My 0-60 times are already quick enough, the bike handles better than I can make use of on the street (where I ride), and stops just about as well as I could ask for.