Chain Adjustment & Maintenance

Face it, with higher horsepower motors coming out all the time, chains are becoming more and more common place. Belts just don’t cut it with high output motors anything over 100 hp to the rear wheel and belts start to snap. So here’s some basic information on how to properly care and maintain that chain of yours.

There are really two main types of chains: O-Ring chains and Non-O-Ring chains. O-Ring chains have small O-Rings built into them. The O-Rings are used to keep grease and lube inside your chain (between all the moving parts). Non-O-Ring chains do not. It is important to remember that the purpose of an O-Ring chain is to keep the lubrication inside.

A chain that is ignored will eventually fail both O-ring and Non-O-ring, typically by breaking. This is not a good thing. It can cause all kinds of damage to you and your bike! A little preventative maintenance goes along way.

You should lube your chain about every 500 miles of riding, using an appropriate chain lube.

A chain without lube builds up a lot of heat and results in the chain stretching. Without lube, your O-Ring will also be exposed to the harmful ozone and ultraviolet rays, causing them to dry out, crack, and even fall off.

Always lube O-Ring chains when the chain is warm (after you’ve been riding the bike for a while). Lubing the chain while still hot will cause the lube to be drawn into the chain as it cools.

You need to spray lube directly onto the O-Rings. The best way to do this is, put the bike up on a bike lift and spins the rear wheel putting on the lube as you spin it. Let it dry for about 20 minutes and wipe off any excess lube to help prevent it flinging off.

Your chain also needs to be adjusted properly. Your owner's manual will have exact requirements for your bike, but the rule of thumb is about 1 to 1.5 inches of slack. Slack is how much the chain will move up and down freely at a point halfway between the two sprockets. (See above photo)

You need slack because as your swingarm moves up to compress for a bump, the chain gets tighter. When a chain is too tight, it will bind on the sprockets, causing quicker wear of both chain and sprockets. A tight chain will also, over time, ruin your countershaft and your countershaft seal (the seal around the shaft that carries the front sprocket) and may even bend the countershaft. Also, a tight chain is more likely to develop tight spots. Tight spots are portions of the chain that stretch at different rates and cause binding between links. Run the chain too loose and you run the risk of it flying off the sprockets. Not a good thing!

If your chain needs adjustment, check your owner's manual for the information you need to tighten/loosen it as there are many different types of adjustment. But basically what you’ll need to do is this…

1. Loosen the rear axle to allow the wheel to move.

2. Turn one of the axle adjuster screws (inward to loosen, outward to tighten) about ¼ turn.

3. Now turn the other axle adjuster the same ¼ turn. (the reason for doing it this way is to maintain proper wheel alignment).

4. Measure to see if you have the proper amount of slack.

5. Once you have the proper amount of slack, Re-check the wheel alignment. If the wheel is crooked in the swingarm, your chain and sprockets will wear really rapidly and you can even get into strange handling characteristics. An easy way to measure the alignment is to take a flexible tape measure and measure from the center of the swingarm pivot bolt to the center of the axle on both sides of the bike…the measurements should be equal.

6. Once you’re sure that the alignment is correct, Tighten up the axle nut and re-check the slack again to make sure it didn’t change when you were tightening up the axle nut.

A good indication of the chain needing to be replaced is if the sprockets no longer come to a point but look rounded or like hooks. (See above photo.)

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"RJL" 5/07