Motorcycle Chain Adjustment WITH INSANE PRECISION 

Couple of good points there. I have been adjusting chains for more than 40 years now, and I have never even considered looking out for movement on the top run. Also, wedging something between the chain and sprocket to pull everything forward is a great idea.

Several good tips here- thanks. I appreciate how quickly you get into the actual subject. Too many channels, on any subject, have a big production intro, followed by the presenter telling me what he’s going to teach me, followed by his telling me how qualified he is, which is of course, followed by him telling me at least 2 or three more times, what he’s about to teach me. At this point, I usually click to a different channel.. one that respects my time… like yours.

Thanks for a very HELPFUL video! Since we've had a winter storm in the eastern US, I've been doing projects on my bike; adjusting my chain and aligning the wheel is one of those projects. I've watched a few different videos, but they all left something out. Yours helped make sense, so I'll be able to set things right. Thanks! Cheers... :)

Clear and to the point. This helped me sort out my chain before our 2 week trip around the UK. Subscribed

A good video guide for those who haven't done it before. One point I would like to add is that the alignment markings on the swing arm should NOT be relied on as accurate. OK for a rough setting but better to check the wheel alignment with a straight edge-preferably one each side of the wheel. I was amazed to learn how far out these factory markings can be! For the absolute best accuracy get the wheels aligned by someone with a laser alignment kit. More precise than any eye measurements and you can actually feel the difference when riding. Quite a few bike shops have laser alignment kits these days.

Finally I find someone who shows me in a very understandable way how to set the right slack of the chain. Now I am confident in doing the chain on my KTM 1290r adventure. Thank you! 🤗

As others have rightly said, perfectly described and straight to the point. Instantly subbed. Thank you!

So many little details make a big difference. Much appreciated! Didn't know most any of this. So many ways to get this wrong. I'll need to reference this video often until I get it all memorized. Thanks!

It would be worth mentioning that the slack measurement should be done as indicated in the user manual, most often on the side stand, not the central one like seen in the video. Thanks for the tips 🤗

Best explaining I’ve ever seen on a chain adjustment! Well done mate!

Thanks Fab, that's a handy tip about sticking a spanner in the sprocket to shunt the axle forwards.

Simple and easy, best chain tutorial I've seen till now, thanks bro!

This is the most in-depth & straight to the point video I've seen on this. I also wanted to mention the way you described the alignment technique you used (with wedging an object in between the chain/sprocket) was very clear & direct. Much appreciated brother

Excellent, explained a few points other guides missed!! So back out to readjust again tomorrow after wrongly adjusting today! knew something wasn't right but hopefully now i have the right points to do it correctly! So don't want to ride with it too tight again like while back when nearly trashed the gearbox by overtightening!👍🤞

Thank you Brother Fab for THE best instruction I ever saw on how to adjust your chain, subscribed!

Excellent directions on chain tightening, no waffle and infilling... great work

Thank you for being in depth, and informative. Watching this a long time ago would've saved me a lot of time and money.

A very useful video & some helpful tips on tensioning the chain, which I didn’t know about & I have been riding bikes for more than 50 years! Thanks

Your explanations are fantastic, great attitude and delivery..

This is the best tutorial Ive come across/ thank you for being so clear and concise

Very real world Fab by working on a bike that is obviously regularly used and not one of those showroom "licked clean" machines that is so unbelieveable and unrealistic. This is just good and honest. Keep on keeping on dude. Thumbs up!

Hi Fabian, You've educated me. I didn't know your trick of "shunting" the wheel forward by using a screwdriver between the rear sprocket and chain. Thank you.

Excellent, no-BS advice. A lot of people will benefit from this. Thanks!

Perfectly concise and simple to understand. Thanks bud.

This is the best guide to chain adjustment I have ever seen. Spot on!

Good stuff. I liked the tyre shunting trick with the screwdriver. Learnt something thanks.

Thank you Sir. Great video. Sharp and illustrative. The tip in using a screwdriver to assist moving the axle forward was brilliant. Off to tighten mine. Thanks from the antipodes (Australia)🦘.

Thanks for this mate. The manual for my kawasaki is fooking stupid for chain tension. It mentions nothing about keeping an eye on the top chain run when measuring, which meant I over tightened my chain. I knew it couldn't be right cos when I sat on the bike the chain had no slack at all. It's so simple someone like you explains it properly!

Absolutely brilliant...no BS...sharply delivered mate...Ride Safe!!!

Hands down best explanation on RU-vid !!

The trick of the wrench between the sprocket and chain is gold. Thanks.

Quick, not fat, solid video! Well done!

Such a beautiful video. To the point, all possible details mentioned and short. Perfect

That Was Pretty Good, Man. I Did Not Know To Measure Between The Two Sprockets. Thank You.

Simple, Short & Straight to the point

Such a good, straight to the point tutorial

Great video...putting the screwdriver into the chain to push wheel back in is the idea of the year 👍 👌

Thx for the video its the same setup as on my CSC RX4.... I have been neglecting doing the chain adjustment and had alot of slack..... I was to nervous to do it before solo... Video helped a lot :-)

This is a process that really alludes me but this video helps a lot with visualizing what's going on with each part. Most straight forward explanation of all of this. I've been trying to use those chain slack tools but I think I'll try the tape measure method and just use some basic math to figure it out because I honestly don't know if I'm even using the chain tool right to begin with lol.

Excellent video. Thanks.Greetings from the NJ shore USA.

Do bear in mind though most bikes can be way out for wheel alignment even if you have them symmetrically set on both sides. It’s best to get this checked by a specialist who can correct front and rear alignment. Having had mine done, I found out that to be completely straight the left adjuster was set to 5 marks and right was around 6 marks. Crazy. Great video by the way 👍

Absolute perfect sense no crap delivery..keep it up.

You say that adjusting the axle block and comparing to notches on the swingarm is the best and only way, that's only true if those notches are accurate, many bikes come from the factory with those settings out of whack, both screw type or snail cams can be out by quite a bit, you'll also lose accuracy with worn parts like bearings, for true accuracy set the axle to the same notches on both sides, then use a long rod with a sliding pointer and measure from the swingarm pivot to the axle pivot, the measurement should be exactly the same on both sides of the bike, with that established and with compensating for any inaccuracies you can properly adjust the chain, distance between the swingarm pivot and center of axle are all that matters, always treat the adjustment markings as suspect. excellent video.

thank you fab, wish you good health and success always

An excellent and clear explanation. Thank you so much.

Thanks for the tips! Excellent video!

Thank you, I’m new to all this. I’ve learned a lot here. 👍🏻

Great attention to detail!! Thanks heaps from NZ :)

Very good! In depth and to the point.

Life saver. I adjusted the axle nut too far back and I didn't know how to push it back forward. That trick at 3:39 saved me

Wow! that's a great chain adjustment. Thank you for letting me learn this maintenance. You're handsome!~

Thanks for going into this level of detail. I like the tip about pushing too hard and robbing slack from the top. I would not have considered that.

Outstanding presentation! Thanks.

Best chain adjustment guide I've seen. Thanks for including the all important observation of the top chain movement - If the chain on top is moving while you're pushing up on the bottom part of the chain, you're pushing too hard. Thanks for making this super clear, concise, and complete.

A great video with some great tips - i especially like the idea of putting something between the chain and rear sprocket to temporarily increase tension, and your tips on finding the centre between sprockets and watching the top of the chain while you deflect the bottom. I do take mild exception to your description of how to verify alignment as "the best and only way"; as noted by other comments, there are reasons why that may not be the case for everyone. Keep up the good work!

You should adjust both sides together, so keeping the wheel aligned when checking tension. With this method, you got your tension perfect by only using one adjuster, then aligned the other side which would have changed the tension again. Thanks for the other tips, I will try them next time I adjust.

Good video. I have had 2 belt drive BMWs and am on my second shaft drive Guzzi, and it's a long time since I adjusted a motorcycle chain. Just starting to think of replacing the Guzzi with something more mainstream and I need to overcome those distant memories of spannering and swearing in a cold car park to get the chain tension right. I had a chain snap once when I was an hour or two from home.

In depth and easy to follow, thanks

RU-vidrs to this day still cannot explain the process this good

Excellent! Great video!!! Thank you.

The end of the chain slider on top of the swingarm is usually halfway and where manufactures tell you to check tension. No need to measure the whole thing and then half👍🏼

Good video, useful comments 👍 thanks a bunch 😊.

Thanks alot Brother !! Tomorrow I will try all tips on my Aprilia strada650 ;)

Awesome video and explanation. Definitely the best I've seen. I got a question. I have a 2019 BMW S1000XR. The chain setup is the same as in this video. So I'm pretty sure I followed your instructions perfectly. I'm pretty sure I have the chain set to spec. When I start it up a let it run in first gear, the chain bounces around quite a bit. Is that normal? I looked it up and some people in different forums say it is, but wanted to make sure before I hop on it. The chain does have some tight spots, so wondering if that's the cause. Maybe I just need a new chain?

Many thanks! I so needed this video.

Hey 👋🏽 awesome 👏🏾 and very well done! All in one ☝🏽 really!!!!

Great vid! Thanks for posting. Subscribed! Ride safe…

While its up, lube that chain and give it a wipe. I check for sprocket wear and if the chain can be lifted off the rear sprocket (indicating chain wear). String lining/laser measurements are generally overkill in my opinion, yes a lot are out but I'd bet not one of us could tell the difference (MC Mech +30yrs exp). Thumbs up for the clear instruction and hints.

Great video, lots of useful tips, good camera work

Nicely done, I enjoyed the video!

Great explenation! Thanks!

Very well explained, thank you.

Great video man, keep it up!

Very useful, thanks for helping me.

I like the tip of using something to jam in the sprocket to tension everything up while torquing the axle nut. My '74 Norton Commando really changes chain tension b/c of axle movement when torquing the axle bolt. Will try your tip. Although you stated your tension spec was for bike on center stand, might want to emphasize why that is important. Many folks see the slack spec and just measure it with bike on side stand, centerstand (if equipped) or a paddock stand. It is critical to know what the spec is meant to be measured at (side, center stand or even with weight of rider sat on bike etc.) b/c the swing arm is not pivoting exactly where the front sprocket rotates...the slack spec needs to take this difference into account for the given geometry bike.

Great tutorial, earned you a subbed cheers and ride safe.

This was actually great!

All very useful, thanks, especially the shoving a spanner in tricks! Question, why is the centre-point of the chain not marked on the swing-arm by the manufacturer??

Nice job and thank you!

Thank you. That’s really helped me. I now feel confident enough to do it to my bike

Brilliant video!

Nice thorough tutorial. I find that the punch marks on the swingarm aren't necessarily even with each other, especially on KTMs. This can lead to a rear wheel that is slightly out of alignment. Being insanely detail oriented, I measure from the end of the swingarm to the block to make sure both sides are even. I use a micrometer, although a simple ruler will due I suppose! After setting the adjusters to be exactly even, you can simply count the "flats" on the adjusting screw when making small adjustments going forward.

Brilliant helpful video. Just one question (and probably a stupid one) - but when you put the spanner in the sprocket, how do you get it back out again without moving the wheel backward and hence undoing the tightening you've just done with it? DO you just keep rolling the wheel until it comes out?

I think to measure total slack, you have to push the chain all the way down as far as it can go then up as far as it can go. I believe this is the only way to standardize the measurements and according to motorcycle manufacturers.

Well done. Very nicely explained. Got my like.

Great video, kudos to you for it.

I have a 2001 FZ1. Love it. In your opinion what is the new tires I should upgrade to? Thanks for the video!!!

Thanks for the tips.

I have come across motorcycle chain alignment marks, that don't tally with each other & I've found that both sides of the wheel adjustment need's to be equal first before checking the tension otherwise like you shown, the chain tension can go out i:e to tight

One thing id like to point out is you adjusted one side to the correct mesurment locked it all off then had to adjust other side of wheel back witch then would have put more tension on the chain leading to you doing the chain to tight again you need to take both sides back at the same time to get correct measurements on the chain

My way of having equal distance on both sides of the swingarm is to paint one side of the adjuster bolts. The I simply count the number of turns of each nut and ensure that they are equal. Simple but effective way to have the wheel well and truly aligned. I'm amazed no-one ever thought of this before.

Great little video. 👍

good instructions. thx !

Never even considered locking chain with screw driver brilliant tip mate 😅

Hi cheers for your video, I have just bought an alignment tool to clamp onto the sprocket to double check my swing arm markings as they are known to be out on most bikes. I can in theory look down the chain via a rod to eye it up. Has anybody used one of these tools as well?

Question if I may. Are you sure the tension is checked with the rear wheel suspended aka no load? I thought it was bet checked with the bikes weight aka using paddock stand. I truly don't know, just asking. Thank you AND nice video ;-)

Locking a screwdriver into the rear sprocket to take up any slack while tightening the axle nut was just the trick that I needed.

Thanks! great tutorial

Good man, cheers!

Very good video. How to move the back wheel backward when the chain is too thigh. My bike chain is over tightened by the motorshop. And now I want to loosen it .