Hello again fellow KLXs owners,
As I was reading through the manual, it really made me question Kawasakis quality control lol. There are allot of sentences that aren't structured right, and some things are obviously spelled wrong, now I'm no english major, but thats even worst if I'm catching it. It seems to me that a professional company like this would have a keen eye for any mistakes. Now I know that we are only talking about there manual and they are excellent with there bikes, but the manual is not that professional, if we did something like that at our work, the boss would be furious.
Seems like this manual is off on a couple of places. I was reading about my chain today and said it should be 2.2" measured from a specific spot on the swing are. Well I went over to my neighbors house (who is a mechanic, biker, and an all around great guy) and he started reading the book and adjusting the chain, and he said if we got the chain to be 2.2" away from where they show it in the manual, the chain would be unbelievably tight. He said that my chain was really loose though (how does this happen in 50 miles of riding) and we had to tighten it up one notch, he tried to tighten it up to 2.2" but said that it was WAY!!! to tight.
Can anyone shed any light on this situation? Why was my chain so loose after 50 miles of riding, today it was so loose that while it was on the kick stand the chain was resting on the black plastic part of the swing arm.
Also it says to put the bike on the "side stand" im taking that this is the kick stand. "Turn the wheel until the chain is the tightest" O.K., "now tighten up to 2.2 inches away from this specific point on swing arm", WHAT!!!
Please let me know if everyone elses bike is like this, or if I have to go take it back to the dealer and tell them to put my bike together right this time lol

 

i had to tighten one notch after about 75 miles of riding also. a motorcycle mechanic friend of mine said this was normal

 

Ok great, so that part is just normal breaking in then. Now how about the 2.2" away from swing arm thing?? Does your bike actually do this without the chain being extremly tight? This is my biggest concern and I'm kinda worried about riding my bike any further if it does not match exactly what the manual sais. Is the chain supposed to be so tight that it doesnt give at all when touched, this being at 2.2"? Does this 2.2" seem like a misenterpretation? I hope my bike was not pieced together improperly to not be able to match to the manufactures specified instructions.

 

The 2.2-2.6 adjustment is correct. What they mean there should be enough slack to lift the chain 2.2-2.6 away from the swingarm with little or no weight on the rear tire(picture on page 109). There should be about 1" or so of up and down play, because when your rear suspension compresses the distance between sprockets increases. If you run it to tight you will have alot of problems. It is normal for a chain to stretch during breakin, so keep an eye on it.

 

Remember that the chain with no weight or with the bike on a stand, the measurements are correct. It may seem loose, but remember that the more the suspension compresses the tighter the chain gets. So a 2.2 inch slack is with no weight on the bike and this is normal.

deej

 

The book is correct

 

Ahhh, so let me interpret exaclty what you guys are saying. If I measure the chain with the rear wheel off the ground, and then pull my chain with my fingers up away from the swing arm it should stop stretching at a point 2.2" away from the point indicated in the manual away from the swing arm, rather then being 2.2 inches away from the swing arm without touching the chain, correct?? Wish it was explained that simply in the manual, I saw that the guy was putting pressure on the chain pushing it up, but it didn't state that in the manual, so I thought something was wrong[:@]
Thanks for all your help again

 

Just to clarify, because I think what you said is a bit vague...

If I'm not mistaken, your reference point for the before and after measurments are both the chain. So the chain should move 2.2 inches as compared to itself in a slack position (e.g. not touching it).

 

2.2 inches from swing arm to bottom of chain while holding the chain up tight with your fingers

 

Thanks for the input Gerg,
In the instruction manual they have a picture of a guy's finger pushing up from the underside of the chain which is above the swing arm, and have dimension arrows pointing to both the top of the swing arm and the underside of the chain above the swing arm. they say that this distance should be 2.2 - 2.6 inches. So what KTM 200 says seems pretty much close as I can tell to what the manual describes, even though they don't explain in the literature that you need to actually push up on the under side of the chain to measure the slack, they show the picture like that, sorta confusing. In the manual the way its worded it makes it seem like that the chain should be 2.2 inches above the swing arm, period, nothing about slack. They give no indication that that is the slack in the chain. But in the picture, they show what KTM200 is talking about. Confusing for an ignorant little newb like myself [sm=headbang.gif]