The chain works out in the open, in the dust and the water, and every time you open the throttle it carries all the engine’s power. Look after it a little every so often and it lasts longer, and so do the sprockets.
Left dry, it eats the teeth off the sprockets. It also needs the right slack, neither too loose nor too tight: a slack chain makes the bike snatch on the throttle and at worst comes off, while a tight one strains the bearings and the gearbox.
Cleaning and lubing
- Put the bike on a stand so the rear wheel turns freely.
- Clean the chain with a chain cleaner and a soft brush. No harsh solvents and no pressure washer, because they damage the O-rings in the links.
- Dry it with a clean cloth.
- Lube the inside run of the chain, where it sits on the sprockets, turning the wheel by hand. Use chain lube, not a general-purpose spray.
- Give it a little while to set before you ride, and wipe off the excess so it doesn’t fling onto the rim and the tyre.
Lube it regularly, and again after rain or a gravel road.
The most common mistake is too much lube, which picks up dust and turns into something like sandpaper. The other is lubing a dirty chain.
The slack
Slack is how far the chain moves up and down on its lower run, halfway between the two sprockets. With the bike set up as the service book says (on its stand or on its wheels), push the chain up and down and measure the travel with a ruler.
The right figure is in there too, and often on a sticker on the swingarm. Turn the wheel and measure at a few points. If the slack changes a lot from one point to the next, the chain has worn unevenly.
You adjust it with the adjusters at the back of the swingarm. Measure rather than judge it by eye, and check at the end that the wheel is still straight.
When the kit needs changing
The chain needs replacing when it goes slack again soon after every adjustment, or when the adjusters have run out of travel. The same goes if some links have seized with rust that won’t shift. Look at the sprockets too: teeth that have gone pointed or bent over like hooks mean the kit is finished.
There’s another way to check: pull the chain backwards where it wraps round the rear sprocket. If it lifts far enough to show the tooth, it’s due. Chain and sprockets wear together, so they’re changed together, as a kit.
If your chain is hanging slack or you can’t remember when you changed it, give us a ring or fill in the booking form.