Chain Slapping - Tight, lose, Tight...

[Skinnyninny]

Hello guys, I have an issue with my bike. Have had it since the day I purchased it from a dealer, and that is my chain slapps. When I lift the rear wheel off the ground and disengage the gear (Neutral) and turn the tire i get different tentions in the chain (it is noisy as well). I.e. it tightens and loosens.I can feel it when i ride, The problem is as i sit on the bike the chain tightens even more at the tight spots so i am scared i am going to ruin my sprockets. I thought it could be a miss aligned inner sprocket but that looks fine, i thought the wheel could be miss aligned but thats fine too. At a loss to what i can do or how much it will cost to fix. I think i will take it to the place i bought it as a few things were never done when i got it that i was promissed, such as an oil change (Was black and dirty when i changed it the other day with me only haven ridden about 1000k).

Thanks guys!

Dan

[tri boy]

Chain does sound like it is knackered. Nothing you can do for it now. Get a new one, and have the sprockets checked also.
Oil does get dirty very quickly, (modern oils have detergents to capture gunge etc).
If it is very thin/viscous, then change it.
Good luck.

[Subike]

replace the chain, its fooked...streached...too many wheelies
you may need a set of sprockets too, they also could be fooked, or worn to a point that they will fook a new chain.
go talk to the dealer you bought it from , try and get him to replace it all as a set, be prepared to either pay the full cost, or at leat the cost of the parts.
Bad luck in getting a bike with this fault.
Dealer would have known about it, hoping you as a buyer would not spot it.
good luck

[Ixion]

Chains fucked. Replace it, have someone experienced check out the sprockets before you do.

[Tony.OK]

Does the chain have excessive sideways slack when you push it towards the wheel? If it doesn't move too much it could be in need of a serious clean and lube.
If you were to adjust it as it is then you need to find the tightest part when on the stand then adjust till you have the correct slack at that (tight) point.

[stify]

ditto with the above, although i had a gsx250 from new, an the local south auckland "dealer"(aka fucking usless twats) they adjusted the chain far too tight at the 1000km service, and it highlighted the runout in the sprockets, even after readjusting it to spec it was still noisy as..good luck

[speights_bud]

Have it checked out, but i reccomend changing BOTH chain and sprockets, from experience with bikes and my work you'll feck the chain pretty quickly if you only replace the chain and not the sprockets.

any uneven wear in the old sprockets will continue to unevenly load and wear your chain

[rainman]

Yup, time for a new chain and sprockets...

[Skinnyninny]

Hey guys thanks for all the info. I did what you said Tony and adjusted it at the tightest point. Chain went slightly quieter. I then cleaned for about 20min then re-lubed. Sounds alright now although i have a feeling that at some point in my bikes life as what happened to stify, i think some twat tightened the chain too much. O alas my poor baby, and just before christmas as well .

Will still take it back to the dealer, see what they say. Might drop a tooth on the front to try and get my hippo of a bike to take off a little quicker, what do you think?

Dan

[Skinnyninny]

Hey guys quick update at where I am at now that I took the bike back to the dealer. Firstly the chain that they fitted was probably the cheapest chain that they could have fitted (Standard - not even an O'Ring) and as I said before I have a feeling it was overtightened from day one. The dealers would do a discount on the labour which would come to a total of $330 for front, rear sprocket and a new O'Ring chain. The warranty I got with the bike had just finished as well, very dissapointed that they could not do anything better.

I Then went down to cycletreards where they will fit an X'Ring Chain and throw in the front sprocket for free + install a new rear sprocket all for $230.

So thank you all for your great advice and thanks to cycletreads for saving me $100!!!!!

Dan

[slimjim]

good stuff....pays to look elsewhere forsure....don't forget to lube it every 500km or so