Maintain That Chain
Added on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Maintain That Chain
Don’t know your correct chain tension?
Sit on the bike (stands retracted) and touch the floor only lightly with one foot so that most of your weight is on it. If the chain has 15-20mm of movement half way along its length you won’t be far out.
Then get off, put the bike on its stand as you would when adjusting the tension and note how much movement there is now. If it’s, say, 30mm, in future adjusting to 30mm slack will be okay.
Note that it is difficult to sit on the bike and feel the chain tension yourself at the same time, so either get someone to do this or even better, someone of your weight to sit on it.
Another point to look out for is that a worn chain has tight spots - the correct slack must occur at the TIGHTEST spot. So spin the wheel, or move the bike three or four times by a few feet, then check chain tension.
What you must avoid is the chain becoming too taut at any point in the suspension movement- this wrecks wheel and gearbox bearings!
