chain tension....

Well I know to many of you this will be no big deal.

I am heading on the road for a 2 day trip and the chain was a bit loose.

I opened the service manual I downloaded here --- loosened the axel bolt...
moved the set nut back and adjusted the chain tension.

then tightened it back and took it for a spin...

WOW ....much smoother ]]I was quite pleased with myself.

Its important. Good job.

Did you give it a good lube while you were at it? :thumbup:

no.... it was already clean and well lubed.... that I already knew how to do from Bicycling.:thumbup:

if i don't keep this chain lubed and clean on this bike i'll kick my own a$$ since it has the nice center stand. I lubed my old bike chain at least 1 time a week and had no rear stand.

Good job on the tightening, it is VERY important to the chain/sprocket life as well as a good preventative step since if the chain comes off and gets jammed in the front sprocket you can cause a lot of damage to the engine.

so thats all it takes to tighten the chain? Just loosen the axle bolts and slide it back to tighten the chain and retighten the nuts? is there anything to watch for when doing this? I just cleaned my chain and noticed it was very loose and needs to be tightend.
Thanks :Sport:

loosen axel bolt... then move set screws back to have room to adjust...

then tighten chain... being careful to keep the wheel straight (there are marks on the frame) then retighten the set screws then the axel bolt.

it is all in the downloadable manual....

good luck

Thanks for the help. Im gonna give it a try. :rockon:

I always try to keep my chain close to the 45 mm tension.

<<< Don't forget to find the tightest spot on the chain and spec it there.>>>

also make sure that you don;t line the tire up by the marks on the swingarm as they are sometimes not accurate, but to just make sure that if you move up one line on the left move up one mark on the right.

reiobard said:

also make sure that you don;t line the tire up by the marks on the swingarm as they are sometimes not accurate, but to just make sure that if you move up one line on the left move up one mark on the right.

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How's about if we measure it from the center of the pivot bolt on the swing arm to the center of the axle and forget the swing arm axle marks as they are only a rough indicator.

HavBlue said:

How's about if we measure it from the center of the pivot bolt on the swing arm to the center of the axle and forget the swing arm axle marks as they are only a rough indicator.

Click to expand...

I just tighten them evenly, one turn on the left one turn on the right, etc.

In general, how often or after how many miles does the chain need to be checked for slack and tightened?
Also, what causes the chain to get loose?

vinpub said:

In general, how often or after how many miles does the chain need to be checked for slack and tightened?
Also, what causes the chain to get loose?

Click to expand...

It depends on a number of factors, How hard you ride, do you do wheelies ect. How well lubricated and maintained the chain is.
Chain wear is simply caused by the transference of the energy from the engine to the front and rear sprocket. If you accelerate hard the chain has more energy to deal with as do the sprockets. Over time the sprockets will start to wear and lose some bite on the chain, this in turn causes mores stretch in the chain. I have only made one chain adjustment in 2000 miles on my bike. I ride medium hard and try the odd wheelie. I do clean and lube my chain on a regular basis. Other ways of maximising chain life are to fit a scott oiler. One of my Dads friends did this on his ZX9. He is a hard rider and only required 2 adjustments in 9000 miles. Sorry I should have also mentioned that it is dependant to some extent on the quality of the chain and sprockets. My old Kawasaki needed a weekly chain adjustment. I check for slack once a week. Put the bike on the centre stand and rotate the rear wheel in the direction of travel. Mid way between the front spocket and rear sprocket check how nuch free play there is. The tight spot is the point that you decide to adjust or not.
Neil

well i lube my chain every 300 miles which equates to at least once a week for me and it is easy enough to check the slack at the same time, I generally only have to adjust it (on my last bike at least) after about 5000 miles and the chain would wear out at about 20,000 miles.

Also do not over tighten as that can cause more wear on the chain/sprockets and is very easy to do. When there is no weight on the bike the rear sprocket is closer to the front sprocket and when you sit on the bike or accelerate the chain swings up on the swing arm pivot point and actually gets further away and you don't want too much tension on the chain at that point (when there is the most strain).

reiobard said:

well i lube my chain every 300 miles which equates to at least once a week for me and it is easy enough to check the slack at the same time, I generally only have to adjust it (on my last bike at least) after about 5000 miles and the chain would wear out at about 20,000 miles.

Also do not over tighten as that can cause more wear on the chain/sprockets and is very easy to do. When there is no weight on the bike the rear sprocket is closer to the front sprocket and when you sit on the bike or accelerate the chain swings up on the swing arm pivot point and actually gets further away and you don't want too much tension on the chain at that point (when there is the most strain).

Click to expand...

The chain should be tightest when the center of the rear sprocket is centered straight out from the counter sprocket. As the swingarm moves up or down from this point it will cause more and more slack to the point of maximum deflection. I clean my chain and lube it roughly every 500 miles with adjustments at every 5,000 miles give or take.. The bike now has a bit over 14,000 on it and the chain has plenty of life left.