Chain Monkey

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

This was an idea from Dragons Den, there are various You Tube reviews and instructions how to use it - so I won't repeat all that here. Suffice to say it is a very simple principle which is very easy to use in practice. You use the Chain Monkey to create a kink in the chain, you then adjust the chain until it is tight, when you remove the Chain Monkey the kink is removed which gives you the correct amount of slack.

I'll start with the bits that are not so good because there are a couple - but overall I'd say there are more positives than negatives:

Against:

1. It is expensive for what it is. £25 rrp for something which really ought to cost about half that. But I guess there's R&D costs and a lot of money spent bringing it to market.

2. The settings are not 100% precise. You measure the chain size then use a chart to determine what slack your chain is meant to have. That then gives you the setting to use. The snag is that the ranges given for slack need a little bit of common sense applied.

For example - my 2006 Honda CBF500 has a 15mm chain with recommended slack of 30mm to 40mm. For that size chain the ranges and settings on the Chain Monkey chart are:13-24 (0), 25-38 (1), 39-51 (2), 52-64 (3), 65-77 (4), 78-90 (5). So that gives me setting 1 - which creates slack in the range of 25-38mm. That covers my range but obviously I needed to ensure I didn't overtighten the chain or I'd drop below the 30mm minimum.

For:

1. It is dead simple to use in practice.

2. Once you've got the tension spot on you can keep a note of the setting to make sure it's right next time. (I might see if it's possible to replace the black rubber stopper with a couple of nuts locked in place.)

3. I found it easier to get the tension set using the tool. Normally I have to make several adjustments after tightening everything up - this seemed to get it right first time. Using the Chain Monkey I just made sure I didn't turn the adjusters to make the chain was too tight - which meant that when I then removed the tool it gave me slack of 35mm - exactly half way in the 30-40mm range. I rarely get it spot on first time.

So - it's expensive for what it is but it does seem to work and I certainly found it easier to get the chain tension right first time.

[Guest]

Do you have to find the tight spot first?

[Joeman]

The cheap pikey way is to use a cable tie.

Put it round the rollers a few links apart, pull it tight to create the kink, chop it off when done. Sorted.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Yes I’ve seen them and contemplated getting one myself. Thanks for the write up.

[Westbeef]

I got one for xmas, but haven't had to adjust my chain since so not even opened it yet

[fullscreenaging]

I’ve been using this for about a year. Bought one with some Xmas money last year.

Saves a lot of pissing about so we’ll worth the money in my opinion.

Next purchase from these guys will be the chain alignment tool so just waiting for Xmas

They have the full range of stuff these guys do in Halfords. I will be using my trade card