[Gamble90]

I emailed the guy I purchased my bike from and he said that I should loosen the tension on the chain. How do I do this? How do I measure what the tension should be?

 

[joeytheputz]

http://www.ex-500.com/wiki/index.php/Chain_maintenance
http://www.ex-500.com/wiki/index.php/Service_Manuals

You lift the chain with your finger and measure the deflection. You adjust it by moving the rear wheel on the swingarm.

Needless to say, if you don't secure the rear wheel following this procedure it could end disastrously. Bring the bike to a shop if you are not confident.

 

[fog]

Trying to head off a bigger problem. The OP give very loud warnings that he knows nothing about this process.
My advice is to get HELP. There is a thousand ways you can screw this up (well three or four anyway) all of which are dangersous enough to kill you.
Chain adjustment is a fundamental task that comes with bike ownership, and should be learned. but Because your fooling with the wheels, must be done right. Well talk about the String thing later.

Get Help!

FOG

 

[Z71]

Trying to head off a bigger problem. The OP give very loud warnings that he knows nothing about this process.
My advice is to get HELP. There is a thousand ways you can screw this up (well three or four anyway) all of which are dangersous enough to kill you.
Chain adjustment is a fundamental task that comes with bike ownership, and should be learned. but Because your fooling with the wheels, must be done right. Well talk about the String thing later.

Get Help!

FOG

At least this bike has a castle nut and a cotter pin, which will prevent the nut from backing off even if one did not tighten it propoerly Quite a few bikes have a regular axle nut with a hardened washer under it and no cotter pin. If one forgets to tighten a nut like that, consequences can be bad. I find it interesting that just about every chain driven bike I had, the rear axle nut torque spec is almost identical - about 80 ft-lbs. At this is on bikes ranging from 500 cc's to 1350 cc's. An easy round number to remember.

 

[fog]

you want a list of the ways to screw up?
The best one is a combo, the axel nut was left too loose (but the cotter key was in),and the adjusters wern't locked properly.and one of them fell off,and then the tire cocked sideways and jammed against the swing arm, and the rider fell.and ,and ,and'


'FOG

 

[Guest]

My favorite is the adjustment and swingarm plates falling off the bike. Those are classic.

 

[Gamble90]

You guys are scaring me, maybe I'll leave it for now and find a local who knows the bike inside and out to look at it.

 

[fog]

That's what I suggested in the first place, Ask if you can watch.

FOG

 

[Guest]

You guys are scaring me, maybe I'll leave it for now and find a local who knows the bike inside and out to look at it.

At least MEASURE the damn tension yourself.

 

[Gamble90]

How do I measure it?

 

[Guest]

Was already linked, dude.

 

[floridaex500]

Love to know why the po said to "just loosen the chain" in the first place.

 

[FBX]

People never specify the gear (neutral or in gear and if in gear what point should the tire be on) and if they mean both up and down range or just upward range. Likewise they do not specify if you are measuring from one point of a link to another or if you are measuring from the top of the link at rest (or lowest point) to the bottom of the link at it's highest point. There is over an inch of difference depending on what you are measuring from.

After several tries I eventually learned to just say **** figuring out if your measurement matches spec and just go by "is it tight but not 100% tight" in neutral. Basically it shouldn't look like there is slack on the chain and the chain should give at least a link's length if you push up on the midpoint between the front and rear sprockets.

If you are in doubt any reasonable bike tech will check your slack for free.

 

[Guest]

You just push it up. There's not much slack if you push down for obvious reasons.

 

[Gamble90]

1.5" in neutral or in gear?

 

[Guest]

You are going to make me fucking facepalm, dude.

It doesn't matter.

Instead of reading and posting in these threads, if you had gone out there after reading the Wiki linked in this thread thoroughly (it's a damn good Wiki article), you would see that it doesn't matter.

I mean, why the **** would you measure from the top of the link at rest to the bottom of the link when stretched? What kind of bullshit assumption is that? Ignore FBX's post entirely because it's fucking fail.

After several tries I eventually learned to just say **** figuring out if your measurement matches spec

Great attitude there, buddy, giving up on something as easy as chain maintenance.

 

[Gamble90]

You are going to make me fucking facepalm, dude.

It doesn't matter.

Instead of reading and posting in these threads, if you had gone out there after reading the Wiki linked in this thread thoroughly (it's a damn good Wiki article), you would see that it doesn't matter.

I mean, why the **** would you measure from the top of the link at rest to the bottom of the link when stretched? What kind of bullshit assumption is that? Ignore FBX's post entirely because it's fucking fail.[/color]

After several tries I eventually learned to just say **** figuring out if your measurement matches spec

Great attitude there, buddy, giving up on something as easy as chain maintenance.

That's why I asked. Good looking out.

 

[FBX]

Actually it does matter you dumbass go try it. Stick it in first gear then go push the tire one way then the other then measure the slack. One will tighten the chain the other loosen it. If you have it in first gear odds are your tire is in one of those positions and will screw up your measurement.

I do chain maintenance. It's not worth trying to get the chain slack perfectly in spec it will just change after you ride it a week or two anyways. Is the bike riding funny, maybe herky jerking a little or you hear te chain strain when you roll te bike? Too tight. Can you see a sag in your chain? Too loose. Is someone bitching that your chain measures 0.25" too tight or loose but exhibits no symptoms? Punch him in the face

 

[Guest]

Well, I should clarify that you're not completely wrong, that's why you measure several parts of the chain.

Pushing up on the chain, however, should pull the wheel forward a bit, enough to get you the right measurement. If you stop in 1st gear at a certain point, then yeah I suppose you can get a tighter reading.

Of course, why the hell is anyone in gear before or after putting their bike on the centerstand?

 

[joeytheputz]

With the disclaimer that I'm talking out of my ass because I haven't yet actually done it myself (except for poking it with my finger and eyeballing it), it sounds to me like some of you are trying to make this process way too scientificamalical. In gear or not, on the bike or not, third Saturday of the month between sunset and three minutes before midnight with an ambient temperature of at least 69 degrees and a black cat not within a fifty foot radius or not, I can't believe all this crap makes a damn bit of difference. If you're racing, maybe. For street riding, cripes, the factory spec has a quarter inch of slop in it. You're not setting the crankshaft, so quit making it so complicated and just go out there with a ruler and poke at it.