chain slack

[Stichill_imp]

Sorry, I was looking for a photo I took of it in use but I couldn't find it. Basically you clamp it on the top sprocket. It doesn't really touch the chain. The flat sides of the sprocket are the datum for the direction the rear wheel is pointing. You extend the pointer rod out as far as it will go in the forward direction. Rotate the wheel a little so the rod is parallel to the top of the chain looking at it horizontally. When you look at it longitudinally from the rear, along the axis of the bike, any misalignment of the rear wheel is immediately apparent. The pointer will diverge at an angle left or right. It is almost always skewed to the right a little, so you make the corrections to the right side adjuster and push the wheel to straighten it up. What's nice is you can dial in that last increment of slack removal while keeping an eye on the pointer, so you keep the wheel aligned.

As usual, Ari Henning is the GOAT for motorcycle maintenance videos; tool use shown starting at [url=https://youtu.be/uDmn-zngFRY?t=105]1:45:












Here's another good video from Ari on chain slack: