Chain adjustment

[old commuter 87]

For a newby to motorcycle mechanics can someone give me a guide on how to adjust the chain tension on my NC700x. Says take it in to the dealer but others tell me it is fairly straightforward.

Any guidance appreciated.

[usabikes 440]

Yes pretty easy Old One. All necessary tools are in your bike's toolkit.

 

Good place to start:~

 

and here

http://www.nc700.co.uk/index.php?/topic/3247-adjusting-the-chain-question/

and do some more searches here as there are no doubt other answers on this site.

 

Turn one flat (of the 6) at a time, either in or out depending - probably in, as this tightens the chain - do one side then the other and check tension. If it needs loosening, loosen one flat, get the weight off the wheel by titling the bike over on the side stand and give the tyre a good kick towards the front.

 

Recheck tension after main spindle nuts have been tightened. You can use a torque wrench if you really want to but not needed if you just tighten the axle nuts as tight as you can get. It's good to stand on your spanner with the extension tube on the left side - gets it quite tight enough.

[trisaki 2,029]

First thing you have to do once you have the wheel off the ground is to find the tight spot in the chain and there will be - you check the tension at this point if you are anywhere in the Sussex area pop by my wshop and will run the procedure past you

[Guest marekm]

[Guest sykospain]

What an excellent video, Marek.  Well-done in finding it.  And congrats to our Ozzie or Newzie friend Iredale.  That's the colonial pronounciation of the word for an Airedale puppy....( attempt at humour...)

[Mike5100 2,061]

I spent some considerable time with a vernier calliper and the spanners and came up with a method for quickly and easily checking the chain sag.  If you have the bike on the side stand and try and flap the midpoint of the chain against the underside of the swing arm it should just miss it.  If you put the bike on the centrestand it just touches it (with a clacking sound).  (this gives you 35mm of chain slack)

Mike

[shiggsy 529]

You can use a torque wrench if you really want to but not needed if you just tighten the axle nuts as tight as you can get.

 

You really do need a torque wrench for this, if you over tighten you put too much pressure on the bearings causing them to fail early, and the stock ones don't seem to last that long anyway.

[old commuter 87]

Thank you so much everybody.

[usabikes 440]

You really do need a torque wrench for this, if you over tighten you put too much pressure on the bearings causing them to fail early, and the stock ones don't seem to last that long anyway.

Thanks very much for this. I'd never heard about it. I'll use mine from now on.

[Andy m 23,473]

OMG he used a tape measure! When the tip of your boot can make the chain touch the swing arm it needs adjusting.

More serious thoughts:

Uncalibrated torque wrenches are just spanners with numbers. You may as well assume the medium sized one gives 13Nm. Tight is when the spanner in the tool kit won't turn with the fingers you can get on it. Leave the 10 foot bar and trained gorilla stuff to the dealers yeti, he has helicoils ready to go and will sell you a new adjuster as required.

Copperslip the threads. One matcheads worth means your nuts won't be sticky come spring.

Slack is better than tight by a factor of about 100:1.

Dirt is the big issue. Get a brush and clean off salt. If there is sand or grit about best not to oil it at all.

Andy

Edited September 2, 2016 by Andy m

[Spindizzy 7,109]

There are times when a torque wrench is called for. The axle nut is not one of them. Standard combi spanner almost as tight as you can get it.

[Wedgepilot 727]

Hope I'm not going OT here, but I've been wondering if my chain needs adjusting yet. It's the original chain and has about 5000 miles on it, never been adjusted.

This is on the side stand, and me pressing as hard as I can in roughly the mid-point. I think that's just where the rubber pad ends. I reckon it's about 40mm, but the general opinion seems to be if it's not touching, then it's fine. If I press closer to the engine sprocket, then the chain will touch the rubber pad.

It's my first bike with a chain, so not entirely sure, and would be interested to hear people's thoughts.

Edited September 3, 2016 by Wedgepilot

[Grumpy old man 4,670]

Hope I'm not going OT here, but I've been wondering if my chain needs adjusting yet. It's the original chain and has about 5000 miles on it, never been adjusted.

This is on the side stand, and me pressing as hard as I can in roughly the mid-point. I think that's just where the rubber pad ends. I reckon it's about 40mm, but the general opinion seems to be if it's not touching, then it's fine. If I press closer to the engine sprocket, then the chain will touch the rubber pad.

It's my first bike with a chain, so not entirely sure, and would be interested to hear people's thoughts.

Hi. The hand book gives the tolerance of 30-40 ml on the side stand I would say yours sounds about right

[Andy m 23,473]

Looks fine to me.

Give it two minutes with the brush to de-gunk it then a 60 second squirt of lube.

All this adjust every 20 miles, take if off and boil in whale blubber, buy a shaft drive Bring My Wallet setup as soon as you can stuff went out with the Ark.

Andy

[Guest machinman]

Yep, looks fine. I used to be paranoid about my chain, but they are very tolerant of adjustment and now I tend to leave alone. I just keep it wet with oil (commute in all weathers).

[larryblag 14,236]

I'm lucky, we have a calibrated torque meter at work so I can check my torque wrench regularly.

Yes, it's a bit OTT but I do actually use it for the axle nut. An uncalibrated torque wrench isn't ideal that's true but is probably more accurate than the subjective spanner-only method. Also, the "modern" method of a nyloc nut or similar is probably more safety critical than the castellated nut / split pin combination?

There may be times however when you don't have a torque wrench to hand and for many years (and loads of bikes) I didn't have the luxury of a torque wrench myself. I'm just conscious that we should be advocating best practice from a safety perspective.

Edited September 4, 2016 by larryblag

[Mike5100 2,061]

I will test the cheapo long torque wrench that I have been using with the expensive Halfords one that I got as a birthday present, and will report back.  

Mike

[old commuter 87]

Thanks all, thanks Marec. Doing the jo9b this weekend. Love Gdansk by the way, beautiful city.

[old commuter 87]

Did te job fine following these pots. thank you.

 

 

[Guest Hati]

I just bought the Tru-Tension chain adjustment tool. Was a little sceptical at first but it was cheap enough to take a punt. It was worth it. Works as advertised, very quick and easy to set chain properly. I was running mine a bit too tight BTT (Before Tru-Tension).

[Tex 36,817]

2 hours ago, Hati said:

I just bought the Tru-Tension chain adjustment tool. Was a little sceptical at first but it was cheap enough to take a punt. It was worth it. Works as advertised, very quick and easy to set chain properly. I was running mine a bit too tight BTT (Before Tru-Tension).

 

My son has one of those so, just out of interest, I tried it out. Works well.

[Spindizzy 7,109]

4 hours ago, Tex said:

 

My son has one of those so, just out of interest, I tried it out. Works well.

 

Simple rule: is it slapping the rubber pad like a wet fish joke on Monty Pythons flying circus, No? Chain tension is fine. Yes? Tweak it until it doesn't slap the rubber pad like a wet fish.

 

[Guest Hati]

11 minutes ago, Spindizzy said:

 

Simple rule: is it slapping the rubber pad like a wet fish joke on Monty Pythons flying circus, No? Chain tension is fine. Yes? Tweak it until it doesn't slap the rubber pad like a wet fish.

 

 

Whatever floats your boat. Your chain, your bike.

[Guest sykospain]

Seems reasonable for twenty squidlets.  ( A squidlet is now all that the Sterling is currently worth )

 

http://www.tru-tension.com/motorcycle/

Edited October 25, 2016 by sykospain

[trisaki 2,029]

Chain  monkey is fine but they forget to tell you  to find the tightest part of the chain first and adjust on that point  not just anywhere  along the chain length