Chain Freeplay

[Foz]

the courtesy bike i have at the moment (CG125) says free play should be only about 15mm, at the moment its about 40mm, being a hire bike and also being a newb to biking im not gonna start messing around with just incase it validates one of the hundreds of terms and conditions, but what are the consequences? obvioulsly i would imagince a greater risk of it comin off?

ive taken to barley usin it unles si have to and im being easy on the gear changes ad throttle just incase, anything else i should bear in mind?

Edited April 24, 2008 by Foz

[techno]

what freeplay is 15cm to 40cm in the chain

[Foz]

sorry edited tht, gettin mixed up again!!

[techno]

sorry edited tht, gettin mixed up again!!

 

sorry but i'm an engineer thats a country mile to me.

I dont know the consequences other than it hoping off but surely having it adjusted corretly would benefit the hire company as i you had an off because of it that would be worse.

Also they prob wont evenknow you done it,or you could you take it to them and have them sort it?

[Foz]

could do but it might be i get mine back within a week and i dont have plans to use it anyway, went to chelmsford and back on it with the chain that loose (bout hour and half in total excluding finding my way round chelmo) in the pooring rain...again

nothing happened though but im just weary it will do

another thing, ive only done 2 rides where its over an hour on the bike at a time (4 hours total, there and back twice etc) and it rains as heavy as ya like!!! hailstones yesterday as soon as i do shorter trips its fine (its not warm and sunny but at least its dry ish) so far i havnt ridden in the sun once!

[techno]

So your jinxed then need to see if you decide to turn up for any meets

chain will probably be fine its only a 125 after all..doesnt have to deal with the excess power.

[Guest]

too much movement would mean the chain would bang/rattle against the swing arm damaging the chain and swing arm. too slack a chain would mean poor pick up through the gears.

how much slack is on the chain when your seated on the bike? when the rear shock compresses, the rear end of the swing arm will move upwards slightly, creating a greater distance between the front and rear sprocket, thus slightly tightening the chain.

[Foz]

So your jinxed then need to see if you decide to turn up for any meets

chain will probably be fine its only a 125 after all..doesnt have to deal with the excess power.

 

dont worry meets are to far away for me

nad i dunno havnt tried that shredder, ill have a look sunday when i give it a clean

[Guest akey]

For most bikes the recomended freeplay is 1 to 2" at the tightest spot, if its too tight it will accelerate wear and can damage the gearbox output shaft. (thats 24-48mm)

[Foz]

its gettin quite bad and i still dont trust myself to do it!! being a hire bike and all, but local (ish) dealer (belle vue motors) said he will tighten it up for me, jus gotta get to southend on wednesday with an increasingly dodgey chain