I have had my gs for about a month now.  It is a stock 04 500f except for a few appearance mods.  I have started to get comfortable on the bike.  Don't get me wrong I still respect it and know that it has more than enough power to get me hurt.  I am just starting to push my riding capabilities and the bike just a little to see what we can do.  The problem is that the past two times I got out for a spirited ride I end up limping the bike home because the chain has loosened and it clanging on the center stand and swing arm.  So far this has happened twice.  I tightened the chain and it would be fine until I accelerated really hard then it would move again.  Today I was experimenting with the art of popping a wheelie and messed the chain up big time.  The wheelie was a success by the way.  I managed to get the front wheel up and keep it up for a short while.  Immediately I heard the chain clanging.  When I got home I found that the recangular plate between the chain adjuster nut and the swingarm had been bent and pulled inside the swingarm.  I can straighten it out and retighten the chain but I was wondering if this was a common problem.  I know wheelies shouldn't be an everday thing but I don't think the chain should loosen that easily either.   

id say you arnt tightening up your adjusters paroperly, if the are done up there is no way the wheel can move inwards, put some lock tight on them to make sure they arn't coming undone,
other than that it can only be your chain streching, if thats the case its time you got a new one(although it should be fine at only 2 years old, i managed to get 30000miles out of mine before i replaced it) mabee your center stand spring is stuffed and the centerstand is moving around. (i don't have one so i can't say if they get much movement)
try the locktight first and make sure its not loosening off on you

jk7

I agree with Wrecent, make sure the axle-bolt is correctly torqued. 60-96 N-m if the nut is a self-locking type, 50-80 N-m if the nut uses a split-pin. Also check the threaded section of the adjuster rods where the nut sits, if the plates have distorted its possible the thread has stretched or even stripped.

I had this problem a while ago; it's doing that because the metal backing plate has been bent and is pulling into the swingarm. for me it was on the sprocket & chain side & even just hammering it flat wouldn't do it because the strength of the metal has already been compromised. I read one person welded a piece of bed-frame to his backing plates. I did this easy fix & have had NO problems whatsoever:

-take the bent backing plate off & hammer it flat. swap it with the one from the other side.

-(most importantly) take a hammer & tap in the outside edge of the swingarm. not much at all. take a screwdriver or something, stick it through the wheel and tap in the other side of the swingarm.

-you'll notice the ridges on the inside-side of the backing plate. you have tapped in the end of the swingarm enouth when you hold the backing plate up to it in place, wobble it, and it doesn't move(or moves only a little bit).

-put everything back together, tighten your chain(not too much!), and act like it never happened.... 

do a search & my thread will come up if you need more info. search for "backing plate" or "chain tension" or something....

Thanks for the advice.  I made a typo the bike is an 06.  I've only had it a month.  The backing plate on the chain side was bent.  I hammered it back straight and switched it to the other side and tighted everything up and then rode around the neighborhood (no wheelies just riding).  When I got back there was a 1/4 of play in the chain that wasn't there when I left.  I guess the bike just can't take wheelies.  That is cool but i don't want to have to tighten the chain everytime I ride.  The axle nut is super tight and the cotter pin is in place.  I guess I will have to swing by a dealership and let them check everything out unless the adjusters are slipping but I didn't think that would matter if the axle nut was tight.  It sucks to have a new bike with problems.   

the problem isn't that the backing plate is flimsy, so much as the fact that it has too much play from side-to-side when it is snug against the swingarm. before you take the bike to a dealer, tap in the edges of the swingarm where the backing plate rests against and give that a try. I guarantee that will solve your problem.

you said the chain had another 1/4" of play. If you had ridden it longer or leaned it over some that 1/4" would have turned into full slack again. the plate is folding into the swingarm- tap the swingarm edges so it can't. then you will be able to wheelie the GS without having to worry about this happening again.

Quote from: nascarkeith on July 22, 2006, 05:03:14 PM
  It sucks to have a new bike with problems.   

have you yourself adjusted the chain or did it come with this problem? it happened to me b/c I must have done something wrong the first time I attempted to tighten it. It was fine for a few days then kept going to full slack every time I rode even around my neighborhood. I hammered in the end of the swingarm and haven't heard a peep from my chain in months. these little snags can happen, but that's the fun about doing your own matinence. you learn from them and dont make the same mistake twice. since I went through this, tightening my chain and aligning my wheel from scratch is a sinch.

It was ok when I bought it.  I tried to pop a wheelie and the chain started slapping so I tightened it.  I rode about 100 miles and it was fine.  Then I tried popping wheelies again and it happened.  No it won't stay tight.  I will have to try tapping the sides of the swingarm in.  I had that about getting a slightly wider plate but tapping it in sounds easier.  Thanks!

Like the others have said it's not the adjusters that are important for actually holding the chain adjustment. The axle nut should be torqued up good enough. The backing plates are flimsy and are only designed to pull the chain into alignment. I'm sure if you check the axle nut with a torque wrench it will be on the low side of the specified range. Hope you get it worked out.

Yep, I agree.  Here's the missing step:



Since you're doing stuff like wheelies, I would tend toward the upper range of the numbers sledge posted.

Thanks for all the input but I just don't think the axle nut is the problem.  I am 6'3" 280lbs.  That axle nut ain't going any tighter.  I am actually afraid it is too tight after reading some other posts.  It wasn't very hard to break loose the first time I tightened the chain and it was torqued at the dealer.  Now the nut is darn near impossible to break loose.  Plus the cotter pin is in place.  I have read the post about tapping the swingarm in and about someone who twisted their backing plates slightly.  I am thining that will fix the problem.  I love the bike but hate the chain adjustment system.

a loose axel nut will CAUSE the problem, but once it happens the first time it will keep happening no matter how tight you torque the axel bolt because the force of the plate folding IN has already pushed out the end of the swingarm slightly. tap the swingarm back in some AND make sure the bolt is of proper torque. you can get a torque wrench at sears  it something you WILL need for many more GS applications. for the love of god tap in the swingarm already....

I am in the process of making some stronger backing plates.  I found some metal laying around the garage and me and Mr. Dremel got bored last night so we are going to try that out.  Will also tap in the swing arm while I'm at it.  I'm glad this turned out to be a fairly common problem.  Thanks for the help!