Uneven wear of chain

[HungusMaximist]

Ok, just tightened up my chain and felt my way through the chain and realised there's long sections with heaps of slack and others with lots of tightness. Just worried that I've tightened it up too much as the real tight places are quite tight while the other section is actually quite loose!

So I got a case of uneven wear chain. Anything I can do?

Any tips of what I can do next time to prevent this shit from happening?

A case of neglect?

Cheerio

[Squiggles]

Find the tightest spot, then adjust to 1-1.5" at that point, If the chains coming more than 1/2 a tooth off the rear sprocket when you pull back on it, you're up for a new one. Dont leave it overtightened.

Get a good quality chain and show it some love :sunny:

Edit: When adjusting, have a sit on it to see if its still got the correct amount of slack with some of the suspension travel taken up

[Winston001]

Good advice from Squiggles - do it. I have learnt the hard way about this myself. :( http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=92572&highlight=loobman

Chains wear unevenly because of sudden moments of stress - heavy acceleration etc. Plus chains are made of pieces of metal which are not perfect. There are impurities which mean each link will move/distort ever so slightly over its lifetime.

Avoidance is achieved by regular lubrication. Something like a Scottoiler or Loobman which delivers a constant oil delivery to the chain is the answer.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=90189&highlight=loobman

[HungusMaximist]

Find the tightest spot, then adjust to 1-1.5" at that point, If the chains coming more than 1/2 a tooth off the rear sprocket when you pull back on it, you're up for a new one. Dont leave it overtightened.

Get a good quality chain and show it some love :sunny:

Edit: When adjusting, have a sit on it to see if its still got the correct amount of slack with some of the suspension travel taken up

Chur, that's exactly what I did.

Because I realised an overtight chain is no good for the bike and tightened it according to the tighest section of the chain.

Thanks for the other tip about having a sit on it aye.

Just another point, I am quite weary about getting it both sides of the rear wheel axle precise, some people even suggested getting a ruler/veneir metre to measure it out, counting/remebering each time you turn the adjustment nut.. shit like that.

I've done it through mostly eye and balanced by sides with the meter/guage!

[xwhatsit]

Weary or wary?

I just set it correctly one time (by measuring from the swingarm nut, screwing it right in to the swingarm end itself then taking it out turn by turn etc., whatever floats your boat). Then each time I go to retension it, I just turn the bolt on each side the same amount. I normally work in half turns, so do a half on one side, half on the other, check tension, rinse and repeat if needed. I do my chain fairly often (as the gear shifting turns to shit if the tension is even a little way off), and often just a three or four half-turns is enough, so it's hardly labour-intensive.

It's pretty easy to see if you're generally correct by fanging down the road and taking both hands off the bars. If it wants to pull to one side then you've cocked up. But I don't think you'll get it 100% perfect because the bike will still `crab' to a minor degree.

[TLJimmy]

The best way to set wheel align ment is to ignore the pre-set notches in the swingarm - they are often incorrect.

Put bike on race stand, or get someone to hold it upright. Put a brick or similar on each side of the rear wheel, and loop a pice of string around the the back of the bike so that each brick holds the string an equal distance out from the rear wheel, and touches the front and back of the brcks. This will make them come off the the back in a straight line. The ends should be long enough to run past the front forks. Pick a point on the forks that is the same on both sides, and measure the distance between this point and the string, adjusting the back wheel until the distance is the same on both sides. When you have it right, mark the swingarm and use this as a future reference point.

[Racin Jason]

The best way to set wheel align ment is to ignore the pre-set notches in the swingarm - they are often incorrect.

Put bike on race stand, or get someone to hold it upright. Put a brick or similar on each side of the rear wheel, and loop a pice of string around the the back of the bike so that each brick holds the string an equal distance out from the rear wheel, and touches the front and back of the brcks. This will make them come off the the back in a straight line. The ends should be long enough to run past the front forks. Pick a point on the forks that is the same on both sides, and measure the distance between this point and the string, adjusting the back wheel until the distance is the same on both sides. When you have it right, mark the swingarm and use this as a future reference point.

Exactly! I do this to all new race bikes and have never found one with an acurate chain adjuster yet.