Chain tension 2up

[newbie]

Hello, Just had my local shop adjust my chain on my bike. They adjusted it with me on the bike. Seems to be on spec on side stand when im off the bike. But when me and my wife are on the bike its seems tight. I can move it up and down a little bit but not a whole lot. If i bounce on the bike with both of us on it. It slacks a little but not a whole lot. Is this gonna hurt my bike?? Is this what it should be like. When driving my bike how would it feel if the chain was too tight??

[newbie]

BUMP!! ANYONE.......WHERE IS THE NORMALS?

[qwertydude]

The best way to adjust the chain is to find the tightest section of chain then compress the suspension so that the swingarm is parallel to the chain and sprockets. This is the maximum extension. Then set the tension to 1/2 inch. Me personally after doing this I found the chain tension on the sidestand to be about 1" so I normally just keep the chain tension at 1", keeping it loose is better than keeping it too tight. Your chain will last much much longer when kept a little on the loose side.

[ohgood]

have you adjusted your spring tension on the rear end ? i'd do that first, set it for 2up, then sit on it and kick the chain to make sure it's not too tight. it will growl and whine if it's too tight, and do possibly bad things.

we cruise (well, back before kids) 2up fairly well with the chain adjusted to the books' suggested 1 1/8" or so slack, after putting the rear shock on the firmest setting.

how's she like pillion ? the rearmost seat has much better padding on my bike than the pilots seat. odd, huh ?

don't forget to add the 3-5 (i forget) extra pounds of air to the rear tire for 2up riding.