Whats about right? at the mo' I run about 1 1/2 inch of slack underneath the swing arm but I think this might be to tight....... HELP

I found the best way to set chain tension is to place bike on a stand to get the rear wheel off the ground, remove one of the suspension linkage bolts, raise swinging arm so wheel spindle, drive sprocket & swing arm pivot are all in line (lift arm up or down to find tightest point in chain), support swingarm in this position & rotate wheel to find the tightest spot on the chain.
Adjust chain to give smallest amount of freeplay (not like a guitar string).
Re assemble bike.

This should ensure that the chain is never pulled taught when using the full suspension travel.

with the bike on the side stand, you can measure the amount of freeplay & keep it set to that dimension.

Pig,

I use the following method and see if i can fit two fingers between the top of the swingarm and the chain, about halfway between sprockets - this is roughly in the centre of the rubber damping strip. Two fingers = good.

Bargos wrote:Pig,

I use the following method and see if i can fit two fingers between the top of the swingarm and the chain, about halfway between sprockets - this is roughly in the centre of the rubber damping strip. Two fingers = good.

Actually 2 fingers = BAD

3 fingers = good, as told by my local dealers head mechanic who also competes in enduros

Team,

I stand corrected

Not being correct ALL the time is a drag

BALLISTIX wrote:
Actually 2 fingers = BAD

3 fingers = good, as told by my local dealers head mechanic who also competes in enduros

Sounds easier than d5aul's method... will stick fingers in tomorrow morning.