Loose chain - advice needed asap please :)

Hi guys,

Just wondering if I'm going to be ok to ride home tonight or not!

When i got to work and parked up the bike this morning I checked the chain and it is very loose - I admit it's been a few days since I last checked it, but still, I'm surprised by the amount of slack that has developed in those few days - I'd say there's about 3 inches of movement when I lift the bottom run of the chain in the middle!

Problem is, I'm about 25 miles from home, and I can't get the rear axle nut undone with the ring spannner & that little extension bar that are in the SV's toolkit (or maybe it's my feeble arms ) - I torqued it up to 100Nm as per the manual last time I adjusted it so it's on pretty tight!

Am I going to be ok riding home with the chain like it is if I take it slowly e.g. 60mph max on the motorway? I'm pretty paranoid that I'm going to hit a bump in the road and the chain's going to jump off!

The alternative is to call out the nice RAC man during my lunch break and ask if I can borrow his socket set

[G]

Chains have a tight spot and a loose spot, check you havnt just happened to test the slackest part.

I would say its completely fine providing your not nailing it everywhere. Some people ride without every maintaining or tightening up there chains except when it goes in for a service so I wouldnt worry to much.

it will be fine...........


just take it easy

Ok I'll just take it easy on the way home and sort it out as soon as I get back. I thought it was probably just me being over-cautious but once I get something in my head I get really paranoid about it!

Thanks guys

99% of the time, a chain as slack as that one will be fine, as said above.

However, if it's too slack, there's a chance that it'll jump off one of the sprockets; so it's best sorted pronto.

It`ll tighten up a little as you put your weight on the bike , mine went like this when it was on it`s way out , take it easy with her .

Problem solved - Dad was driving into Manchester anyway so I got him to drop off my 24mm socket and torque wrench!

I think it's time to order a new chain & sprockets though, the existing ones are 20k+ miles old and starting to look it too.

Thanks for all the advice guys!

Yeah , that`s about the life of a Scottoilered chain , sometimes you get more , but I would deffo be looking at getting a new one now mate .