Drive Chain adjustment

The DRIVING CHAIN is very important part of a motorcycle as it drives the wheel with the rotation produced by engine via sprockets. If the chain play is not right, then the performance as well as 'health' of the machine is badly affected. Here, the procedure of adjusting the chain is given and anyone who has some basic knowledge about bikes can do it easily.

Bear with the AXLE mistakenly written as AXEL in the pic.
Picture courtesy: Sam Takidar.

First loosen the fixing nut that holds the axle in its place, not too loose but loose enough to move the axle. DO NOT REMOVE THE AXLE.

You might need to loose the fixing nut on the opposite side too, if necessary.

Once its loose, observe the swing arm. There is a small nut on the end of the swing arm with a rod sticking out of it. This is the chain adjuster. It is there on the opposite side also, act SAME on both of them.

Now before doing anything, first get a feel of slack or looseness in the chain so that you know how much you need to loosen or tighten it. To adjust the chain, rotate the nut clockwise or anticlockwise to make it tight or loose, respectively.

Too much slack can cause a risk of the chain coming off the sprocket and too much tightness can reduce pickup, specially with pillion rider because the chain becomes tighter with pillion rider.

After adjusting the chain, check your rear brake again & adjust, if necessary.