Chain tension adjustment

Are you now satisfied you've proved to all rmt readers that you don't
know how to adjust chain tension?

 

You're angling for another death threat, aren't you Neil? Is this
a new troll or a morph? -- I've been away a few weeks. Torino was nice,
the bus ride down into France from the Mont Blanc tunnel was scary -- I
might not be able to do the last few km on a bike (a bit like the road
Adny Woodwrad took us on back to Ystumtuen from Machynlleth -- I'm scared
of heights so roads with minimal/no guardrails and >100 m vertical
dropoffs worry me excessively!)

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Well, he is such a moron....

I'm in a hotel in San Pedro de Atacama, north Chile, right now. Lovely
place. Spent this morning wandering around th geysers in the Andes, at
an altitude of over 14,000 feet.

 

No, you don't. Hacksaw through it. Use a rivetable master link on the
replacement chain.

 

Lordy Mercy, I thought it would be an old-style master-link chain. No such
luck: gotta remove the swing arm, etc to free the chain.

I did a closer inspection. The rear sprocket teeth look OK to me. There
were some small kinks in the chain. I probably wasn't meticulous about
putting enough lube on it every spring. Saw no rust, though.

I just lubed it liberally and ran it about 1 mile. There's still some
tiny kinks, and there's about 7/8" of play in the chain. I'm thinking
it *might* work out about right after I put 20+ miles on it.

An interesting question (?):
Given a standard swing-arm design, what positive or negative load might
result in a variance in the distance from the center of the driving
sprocket to the center of the rear sprocket?

P

"Law Without Equity Is No Law At All. It Is A Form Of Jungle Rule."

 

It's not all that simple. The swingarm pivot is not in the center of a
direct line between the two sprockets. And if you have a single shock
rear suspension, it's
probably connected to a linkkage that compresses the spring less in
the initial movement and more as the swing arm moves toward the rear
fender.

 

This is the last time I'll let you nibble on my dick. You always bite.

 

Okay I ahve been watching this and this ? guy is either a troll or he
has no clue as to what he's talking about.

I used to sell industrial chains for a living, and the factories that
make them, make the chains for ALL motorcyles, both OEM and aftermarket.
I've been there and trained by factory people about their chains. Some
very high stress industrial chains are in fact the SAME chains we run on
our bikes.

OEMs by the best price chain that meets what their engineering teams say
they need PERIOD. Aftermarket chains that claim to be better usually are.
By a DID or Tsubaki chain made for your bike and you'll get the best
chain for you're money, and possibly the same chain that came on your bike.
OEM sprockets are fine for what they are engineered for, and most times
for anything you make them do. If you race, by a race sprocket. Racing
sprockets typically wear out faster than normal OEM sprockets because
they are not as hard. They are not as hard because of the shocks they
have to take, and therefore don't brake.

Clay

 

If Tsubaki makes RK chain. If you buy a chain with the SAME numbers on
the link as your OEM chain, it IS the same chain.

The main difference between RK premium chains found on new bikes and
aftermarket RK chain is usually the O-ring design.

Some kits have little donit-shaped O-rings that will wear out in 10K
miles.

OEM RK GSV chains have a flat washer-shaped O-ring with two raised
ridges on either side.

Those O-rings will last 20~25K miles...

 

Bwaaahahahahahaha!

You were trolling.

Yeah.

*Right*.

 

The first alternative:

No. He really is that stupid.

The second:

*Ding* with added helping of *dong* and a side salad accompaniment.

 

Jesus. How stupid can you be?

 

Not stupid enough to pick up your rattle again...

 

No, they're not. Not the sideplates, anyway.

You what? Whyever not? It takes maybe a couple of minutes to do.

 

Yeah, I shoulda said "*supposed* to remove the swing arm, etc" (per junk manual).

But I got this picture in my head of po' me hacksawing and hacksawing and
.... until my arm falls off. The chains are case-hardened? No ways easy
to get at with a hacksaw, either.

I, myself, thought of a cutting torch. I suppose I could de-grease enough
of the chain with brake-parts-cleaner that it wouldn't burst into flame.

Hopefully this is academic for now: I'm not yet convinced the old chain is
truly shot.

Maybe a very hi-grade metal-cutting blade in a reciprocating saw ...

The local bike shop (midwest US) has DID master-link chains: $30 without
O-rings, $130 with.

P

"Law Without Equity Is No Law At All. It Is A Form Of Jungle Rule."

 

Thanks. Had I been fully thinking, most/all of these would've occurred to
me.

I'm thinking ... get new chain, loosen old chain, stack some bricks or
a cinder block under it, big old screwdriver with tip ground sharp like chisel
(to get side-plate started), large ball-peen and some regular chisels.

Cheers,
P

"Law Without Equity Is No Law At All. It Is A Form Of Jungle Rule."

 

I've got the same bike, 62k miles. I went through chains every 15k miles
or so, and each time I replaced the chain I replaced the rear sprocket.
Never did the aluminum sprocket or 520 size chain, always stuck with OEM
sizes. During some of my dry economic times, if I found a kink or two, I
always tried to work them out with lube, but could never do it.

As for lifting this bike, before I bought my Lockhart swing arm stand, I
used to take the front fairing off, and used two small trailer jacks
(small stands with a threaded rod that allowed me to adjust the height
of the stand) under each arm of the engine frame. Then I'd stick a small
floor jack under the header pipes (or engine pan if pipes were off),
lift the floor jack, adjust the trailer jacks, lift the floor jack, etc.
until I could get everything even and stable.

I ended up getting a Motion Pro rivet kit to remove and install my own
chains. Chaparral Motorsports ate up all the small, local dealerships,
and I didn't want them touching my bike.

My bike is still in good condition after all these years, however I've
woefully neglected it as I've spent most of my time on my new Victory Vegas.

 

All the while leaving the badly worn front sprocket to tear up the new
chain..........
Have you since figured that out ??

 

Just a hacksaw. Really.

 

I haven't figured out when it became unfashionable to flip you
sprockets over...