Drive chain adjustment

[midden]

Chain adjustment according to the manual is checked with bike on the centre stand.
Is the  30-45mm slack range designed to allow for addition of rider weight and luggage with maximum load being 183kg.
If so is it best to make adjustments according to situation ie  if touring with her indoors riding pillion clutching her handbag containing the kitchen sink, would the aim be to have 45mm slack unloaded and say aim for the 30mm if lucky enough to get away with just the kitchen sink and leaving her in doors.




Does the suspension setting also come in to play

[red98]

yep....thats about right......if your taking swmbo and luggage you want to stiffen up the suspension as well...... :rolleyes 

[BBROWN1664]

:agree up two clicks on the rear preload at least from experience.

[VNA]

FZS1000 is up to 2 inches if I remember correctly.

This is my thinking.  With a Scottoiler fitted my chain pretty much does not stretch.

I know a few folks who have suffered chain breakages, the money is always on a tight chain.  It can cause you serious injury if it results in you loosing control of the bike or ending up have a collision etc.  Chains usually break on the throttle, engine revs take off, the chain gets pulled in by the front sprocket but the last link often goes straight on sometimes punching a hole in your engine casing.  Another pal has his side panel nicely chewed up by a broken chain, preferable to having yer leg chewed I guess.

A tight chain can also kill your gearbox.

A slack chain, unless it's way slack just increases the wear rate on your front sprocket, perhaps the rear too.

So I set mine towards 2 inch, and whether I'm solo, loaded up, carrying a pillion, well I don't have to bother with it.  Set it when I get a new tyre, and that's where it stays till the next un.

[chris.biker]

Just follow the manual, the slack is needed due to the geometry of the drive shaft the swinging arm pivot and the drive wheel axle. 

[nick crisp]

I think it was Bimota who first put the swing-arm pivot concentric with the o/p shaft, thus maintaining constant chain tension no matter the compression of the rear shock? It must be quite awkward to design, or surely others would have followed suit.