Chain conundrum

[Berm basher]

Reading previous posts it has been suggested that the chain be adjusted at the tightest point of the suspension's travel, which makes sense but doesn't tally up with the 30mm to 40mm slack with the suspension unloaded on the sidestand as per the manual. Someone commented on my chain looking slack whilst I was parked up having an ice cream. Any thoughts? BB.

[knackeredMk1]

I haven't seen 'adjusting the chain at the tightest point of suspension' posts, but obviously chain tension changes with suspension travel taken up. The standard advice for chain tension takes this into account so there is no need to weigh the bike down to the point where the chain is tightest to make adjustment.

[SkidMark]

bear in mind who pointed out that your chain looked slack - was it another dirt bike owner or a street bike owner? Big difference in perception!

There is post here that says that a nice way of setting chain slack is to pull out the suspension linkage bolt so that you can raise and lower the swingarm by hand and then find the tight point (about horizontal) and set your chain tension at that point to 1-1/2" of free play.
That way you know that it can never get too tight.

see here:
viewtopic.php?p=5223#p5223

Regards
SkidMark

[Berm basher]

Thanks for the link Mark

It does look a tiny bit droopy, but if I set the chain slack at 30mm on the sidestand and sit on the bike it takes out all the free play. Maybe I've had too many ice creams. BB.