You'll be glad you did it when you're finished, it's not hard now that you have the plastic off.
There's a relay above the valve cover that you can unfasten and just set to the side to gain clearance for the valve cover to come off. Take all the bolts off so the cover is loose, then have someone press down heavy on the rear while you maneuver the cover out. Have the wheel on the ground and watch the engine move out of the way of the frame. You can get to both valves easy, set them both to specification. The intake valve on top will likely not need adjusting, but the exhaust valve below is the one that usually closes up. I set mine both to .004 inches.
I did my 500R at 13,000 km, and it needed a bit of adjustment. I just got a salvage 500Ri, and it is very hard to start when it's cold, and that's an indication of a closed exhaust valve. With the fuel injection it should fire right up, but it doesn't. It only has 5,000 km on it, so when it warms up outside, I'll take it apart and check it out.
The 500R starts easy and runs great with a 40 pilot jet and a 125 main jet, whch is quite a bit bigger than the stock 118 jet, but it was running too lean when I mounted a Leo Vince 4 Road exhaust. It started just fine this morning at 15 degrees Fahrenheit, and I rode to work in relative comfort behind the big Givi windshield.
I'm in New Mexico at an altitude of 5,000 feet above sea level, so we have different conditions than everyone at lower elevation.
Good luck and good scooting, the more you get to know your Xciting the more you'll love riding it.
