chain adjustment= pain in the ass!

[l3uddha]

wellllll.... as you can probably tell I tightened my chain tonight. I had never done it before & had put it off for waaay too long. anyways- of course it should be like a 5 minute adjustment... which turns into about an hour when I do it. I'm very mechanically inclined... it's just that things weren't going my way I guess...
SO.... I pull out that little pin-clamp (I forget what it's called) on the axel bolt; loosen the bolt some, and begin my quarter turns. do some equal turns on both sides; get the chain slack to where I like it... and what do ya know, the sprocket angle indicators on the swingarm are about 1 1/2 notches apart. 
...yay. so obviously the front & rear sprockets arent lined up at all, so I begin to loosen the odd side (the chain is already at proper slack). this is where it gets wierd- say you're facing the bike from the back. there is always pressure on the left(chain side) bolt, wheither I am tightening it or loosening it. I go to loosen the right side and there is no pressure. the little rectangular piece of aluminum that the bolt rests upon, between the bolt and swingarm just gets loose.
after fiddling with it for another 20 minutes, i get pissed off; completly loosen each bolt and start from scratch. I somehow got it to my liking -the difference between the notches on each side is only about 1/5th of a notch. maybe I'm being anal, maybe it doesn't matter too much; I don't know- the manual says make them exact. I tried, took it for a spin right afterwards and it seems ok. oh-and I love it when I tighten the axel bolt before putting the pin back in... and that throws it off some too... AHHHHHHHHH
long story short.... saved some much needed $$$$$$$$$$$$$ anybody have any tips??? that would be great 

[Turd Ferguson]

First off, good for you trying something you've never done before.  The first time adjusting chain tension can be wierd.

Yes, sometimes when loostening the nuts to move the wheel forward, the caps slide out instead.  The caps on the end of the swing arm are not attatched to the swing arm, the are just that...caps.  All you have to do is push the wheel in so that the cap is tight agains the end of the swing arm.

You'll want each side pretty much exactly the same.  If they are different, you will experience accelerated chain/sprocket wear.

-Turd.

[scratch]

Hope this helps: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=24581.msg252910#msg252910

[Phaedrus]

Yeah, it is kind of a pain in the ass..

[John Bates]

That's why my next bike is going to have shaft or belt drive.

I hope to keep the GS for commuting, so I'll still have to mess with the chain.

[Turd Ferguson]

Wow, it's bad enough that you wont buy a chain-driven bike again?  Come on...it's not that bad.

-Turd.

[John Bates]

Wow, it's bad enough that you wont buy a chain-driven bike again?  Come on...it's not that bad.

-Turd.

You don't know how lazy I am.

You'r right, it's not that bad.  I do want to keep the GS.

[Phaedrus]

Yeah, it isn't that bad...but it is sort of an annoyance. Like the stupid bolt on oil filter. I mean, why can't it just screw on like most other ones? 

[JamesG]

The GS's engine was designed before Suzuki started using spin on oil filters.

The chain adjusters and the little marks are not very accurate/precise. You are better off measuring from the end of the swingarm to the center of the axle (and even that is not perfect).

Luckily motorcylces are pretty tolerant of the rear not being "perfectly" aligned.

[John Bates]

It seems to me that there are three adjustments to think about here.

1. Chain tightness/slack
2. Chain to sprocket alignment.
3. Front to rear wheel alignment.

On my bike it's impossible to get all three perfect.
Two, yes. So that's what I do.  I adjust the chain tightness and wheel alignment and let the chain to sprocket alignment be what it may. I don't worry about the little marks on the swing arm. I find they are usually about two marks different.