Motorcycle Chain Adjustment: 9 Simple Steps You Can Do Yourself

Hi I'm Francois from adventurebiketroop.com. If your chain looks like this

you can be sure it's plotting your murder so please don't let it go that far

With proper chain maintenance you can avoid situations like this and you can

make your chain last so much longer and be much more reliable on a long adventure

bike trip. Now during a three-month trip through Africa we left from Cape Town in

South Africa and rode to Cairo in Egypt on two Chinese delivery bikes me and my

wife. It took us three months to cover the 9600 miles. During this trip halfway

through at Nairobi I did a proper service of the bikes and I had the

opportunity to change the chain to swap out the chain for a new one and for some

stupid reason I decided I'm gonna try to make it on one chain and set of

sprockets now this nearly caught me out on the very last day incidentally our

longest day in the saddle day 90 as we left the Western Desert to enter Cairo

my chain started snagging on the sprockets the sprockets teeth looked like

shark teeth and I nearly didn't make it I had to slowly pull away with a go go go

and we limped into Cairo that evening now the reason I made it was due to proper chain maintenance I should have replaced it but at least because I checked it every single day I checked the tension adjusted it if

necessary and I lubed it up every afternoon after a day's ride and that made the chain last the full

nearly 10,000 miles. And remember this is a cheap little Chinese delivery bike. Now I wrote a post

on chain maintenance in general you can check it out at adventurebiketroop.com slash chains the link

is also in the description below now this video we're just quickly going to chat about the steps

to adjust the tension on your chain step one check the tension so the bike needs to be on the side

stand with the weight of the bike on the wheels and then you check the tension midway between the

front and the rear sprockets. So with your finger or the screwdriver, lift up the chain

and there should be a fair amount of slack. Now it's best to know the specs for your specific

bike, but another thing you can check is put the bike straight up with your full weight

with you and the gear on it, roll the bike until you find the tightest spot in the chain

and then you must still at least see half an inch of lift midway between the two sprockets

You want to check with the weight on the bike because as you ride you go through bumps and the chain will straighten out and tighten and you want at least some slack on its tightest spot with the suspension compressed

Step 2. Put the bike on the center stand. Now if you don't have a center stand you can put it on

the side stand, lift up the right hand side and jam something underneath or in worst case scenario

can just leave the bike on the ground. Step 3 loosen the axle nut. Step 4 loosen

the lock nuts on the chain adjusters and this is where your bike might be

different so it's best to practice this at home before you leave on your long

adventure bike trip because you've got to do this often and I suggest you check

the chain daily and you might have to make adjustments. Step 5 start adjusting

the chain tension so if it was too tight you need to loosen it but it's more

likely that it's going to be too loose because chain stretches as as it wears

so you're gonna have to turn in the adjusting nuts to move the wheel back

step 5 make sure the chain is in alignment so you want your the front and

rear wheels to be in alignment you want the front and rear sprockets to be

aligned and the chain must be straight if this chain is not straight and the

sprockets are not aligned it might come off the sprockets which is not a fun

prospect because that could lock up your rear wheel and send you into a dangerous skid and possibly a crash Step 7 fasten the lock nuts on the adjusters Step 8 fasten the wheel nuts Now it best to know the

torque specs but you're probably not going to have a torque wrench on a long trip. It's quite a big tool so just properly tight, not over tight, you don't have to jump on it, just properly tight and

usually there's a castle nut so you can put in a split pin and that prevents it from backing out

and then step nine check the tension again so again on the side stand wait on the wheels the

normal bike weight check the tension again should be within spec if it's not do the process again

and then just double check with your full weight and the luggage on the bike upright at the tightest

spot to see whether there's some movement there. So that's it for adjusting your

chain. I suggest you check at least check the chain every single day after a ride

and the reason why we do it at the end of the day is it's easier to lube up a

hot chain to soak up the wax so do this at the end of each ride and then you

know the next morning you're ready to go. And that's it for this video on how to

adjust the tension of your chain. If you want to read up more on general chain

maintenance on a long adventure bike trip check out my post at adventurebiketrope.com

slash chains thank you for joining us see you next time