How To Adjust Your Motorcycle Chain (My Easy Steps). 

Motorcycle Chain Adjustment is a common and regular motorcycle maintenance item, and a quick eye-ball check of the chain should be done before each ride. You an adjust your motorcycle chain in a few easy steps.

Now the eye-ball chain slack check comes from practice; it’s a quick look at your chain before riding the bike to ensure your motorcycle chain looks in a good safe condition.  

This comes with experience, but doing your total motorcycle chain slack measurements and adjustments helps you get that needed experience quicker.

I will cover how I thoroughly test my motorcycle chain slack measurements and adjust the chain as needed.

Motorcycle Safety Note: Adjusting your motorcycle chain can significantly affect the safe rideability of the bike. If you cannot safely adjust your motorcycle chain, get a professional to make the adjustments.

Check Your Motorcycle Chain Slack Measurements.

The first step I do is prepared for both the measurement and the chain adjustment by collecting and staging my tools.  

Motorcycle Chain Slack Measurement Tools I use:

• Small ruler or measuring tape.
• Combination wrenches sized for motorcycle chain tensioner bolts.
• Socket/combination wrenches for loosening/tightening the rear axle.

FYI: Must Have Motorcycle Tools.

Chonda Tip: Whenever I loosen or tighten a bolt, I have a thread locker ready to use. LockTite is a well-known brand, but I’ve gotten away with type-blue thread-locker from bargain tool stores.

Working in a safe garage is always a good step: (Motorcycle Garage Safety Rules ).

Now some needed information is necessary when measuring your motorcycle’s chain slack.

How Much Slack Should A Motorcycle Chain Have?

With my TaoTao TBR7, a Chinese dual-sport motorcycle, and my Boom Vader Motorcycle, I can find the chain slack specs in the motorcycle owner’s manual. If you still need to get your owner’s manual, a quick search online should get you some fast results.

For this post, I will use the recommended chain deflection for my TBR7 motorcycle, 20-30mm. Please refer to your motorcycle’s owner’s manual for specs.

My second step is measuring the motorcycle’s chain slack.

Measure The Motorcycle Chain Slack

Since the bike’s chain moves while a rider is seated, I measure my chain slack while the bike has weight on the seat.

This added weight can be done a few ways, but the easiest I found was getting a helper.  

With the bike off and in gear, weight applied to the seat, gently rolling the bike backward to tighten the upper section of the motorcycle chain, I measured the lower section.

I measure the distance the motorcycle chain sags from the swing arm with a ruler or measuring tape. With this reading, I push up on the chain and note the difference in the bike chain moving from the lowest to the highest position.  

This is how I measure motorcycle chain slack, quick and easy.

Based on the results, I either tighten, loosen, or leave my motorcycle chain alone. Well, you are not here to leave the chain alone, so let’s figure out the chain in which the situation needs adjustment.

How To Adjust A Motorcycle Chain.

This is my way. I want to address some safety concerns quickly. When measuring my motorcycle chain slack, the weight was on the bike. No weight should be on the bike while adjusting the chain. The rear axle will be loosened, which can make the bike unstable.

However, I reapply weight to the motorcycle seat for slack measurements to check the chain slack during adjustment. I use extreme caution and ensure the bike is stable for these tests.

Is The Motorcycle Chain Slack Too Much?

FYI: additional motorcycle chain loose symptoms: Chain slap, clicking noises from the loose chain links hitting chain guards, or even chain popping off sprockets. Or your bike chain sagging too low.

How To Tighten And Adjust A Motorcycle Chain:

To tighten the motorcycle chain, we must lengthen the distance the chain travels from the front sprocket to the rear sprocket.

1.- I Loosen The Motorcycle Axle.

Loosen the motorcycle’s rear axle just enough to allow axle movement on the swing arm.

2.- I Loosen The Chain Tensioner’s Lock Nuts.

I loosen the tensioner lock nuts and unthread them enough to access the chain tension adjustment nuts.

3.- Lengthen The Motorcycle Chain Travel Distance.

To increase the travel distance, I tighten the motorcycle chain tensioner nuts equally.  

Equally, if I do one complete turn on the left chain tensioner nut, I do an equal one full turn. At the same time, pay attention to the rear tire’s alignment to the motorcycle’s center-line.

4.- Recheck The Motorcycle Chain Slack.

I tighten the rear axle quickly, and again while applying weight to the motorcycle seat, I recheck the motorcycle chain slack. If within chain spec, I secure my work(outlined below in Securing Rear Axle section).

Is The Motorcycle Chain Slack Too Little?

FYI: additional motorcycle chain too tight symptoms: Chain breaking prematurely, broken motor mounts ( Broke A Motorcycle Motor Mount Bolt ), and premature chain and motorcycle sprocket teeth wear.

How To Loosen And Adjust A Motorcycle Chain:

To loosen the motorcycle chain, we must shorten the distance the chain travels from the front sprocket to the rear sprocket.

1.- I Loosen The Rear Motorcycle Axle.

Loosen the motorcycle’s rear axle just enough to allow axle movement on the swing arm.

2.- I Loosen The Chain Tensioner’s Lock Nuts.

I loosen and unthread the lock nuts enough to access the chain tension adjustment nuts.

3.- Shorten The Motorcycle Chain Travel distance.

To increase the travel distance, I tighten the motorcycle chain tensioner nuts equally.  

Equally, if I do one complete turn on the left chain tensioner nut, I do an equal one full turn. At the same time, pay attention to the rear tire’s alignment to the motorcycle’s center-line.

4.- Recheck The Motorcycle Chain Slack.

I tighten the rear axle quickly, and again while applying weight to the motorcycle seat, I recheck the motorcycle chain slack. If within chain spec, I secure my work(outlined below in Securing Rear Axle section).

Completed The Motorcycle Chain Adjustment.

Once I have the motorcycle chain adjusted and rechecked to my satisfaction, I secure the chain in place.

I tightened the rear axle at the end of each motorcycle chain tensioner adjustment. Now I need to get the motorcycle ready for riding.

1.- Tighten And Torque The Rear Axle.

Tighten the rear axle to the manufacturer’s specs using your Motorcycle Owner’s Manual.

2.- Set Motorcycle Chain Tensioner’s Lock Nuts.

As mentioned above, I like to use thread-locker on my motorcycles and feel the motorcycle chain tensioner lock nuts are a perfect opportunity to use them.

I apply a thread locker to the threads behind the motorcycle chain tensioner adjustment nuts.

While holding the motorcycle chain tensioner adjustment nut with one wrench, I tighten the lock nuts against the adjustment nuts with another wrench.

3.- Recheck Motorcycle Chain Adjustment.

This is a quick check to ensure I didn’t move anything out of whack while securing my adjustments.

I check the chain slack with the weight on the seat.

I check the wheel alignment with the bike’s frame. The rear wheel should be lined up centerline with the motorcycle frame, and the motorcycle chain should easily move on and off the sprockets.

4.- Test Ride.

With the motorcycle off, I hold the clutch and roll the bike back and forth. Now that I have actual rider weight on the bike and move the chain on and off the sprockets, I listen for any problems(clicking, creaking, or chain slap).

Once I’m satisfied with no adverse sounds, I gently ride while making stops to check the state of my motorcycle chain.  

Once everything looks and sounds good, I ride and enjoy my work.

Remember: Adjust Your Motorcycle Chain As Needed.

Now the steps sound long and detailed, but adjusting your motorcycle chain is easy and contributes to long and safe rides and lower chain maintenance and replacement costs.

After the initial new motorcycle chain stretch, adjustments might happen less often, and a quick visual check is all that is necessary before each ride.

Ride Safe, Ride Fun!