Chain tension?

[russ.will]

Stupid question maybe, but as every bike I've had since the age of 10 (and that was 1981) has had dérailleur gears, I've never had to deal with the issue.

My Charge Plug 3 arrived 'pre-built' from Wiggle, with a chain so tight, I could strum a note on it. As I was replacing the 700c 38mm balloons on it, with something a touch slimmer, I had to take the back wheel out anyway. I set the chain to have about 5mm of slack at the bottom, when the top was under tension.

Is this about right? Thanks in advance,

Russell

 

[Pennine-Paul]

I set mine to about half an inch movement up and down at the tightest spot,
keep turning the cranks a bit and testing the tension till you find it

 

[Boris Bajic]

I rotate until it is tightest and then tension to get about this much slack (I'm holding my tumb and index finger parallel and about thus-far apart).

I look for a nice, rubbery return pressure when I push down on the chain to test the tension.

Sort of like this: (I'm pushing down on the upholstered piano stool where the stuffing is at its thinnest).

The difference between the tightest and the slackest should be no more than about this (holding thumb and forefinger up again, but with a different distance between them). I have never noted a position where the upper run of the chain has one degree of give and the lower another.

If you stick to this system, little will go wrong.

I hope this has been helpful.

 

[iendicott]

I suspect having the chain very tight will knock out the bearings in the bottom bracket or rear hub alot quicker. I usually find the tightest spot as previously mentioned and then have minimal slack at this point.

 

[russ.will]

Thanks chaps. The 5mm of slack I left was at the tightest point - I used to go through a similar process on my motorbikes, albeit with bigger spanners and more skinned knuckles! It's good to know that even if the size of cat varies, you still have to skin them the same way.
Cheers,
Russell