Chain a little too tight or a little too loose?

TL;DR
This question may be "splitting hairs" for most, so feel free to skip it.

This is about the bolt attaching the chain guard/slider to the swing arm (location pointed to in the first picture.) and the marks from the chain hitting it (all the time?) (second picture)

The second picture has two bits that I would like to highlight/learn-more-about.

The first pair of (thickish) parallel scratch/rub marks (most likely from the chain hitting that bolt) that are about 70-90 degrees to the direction the chain "have always been there".

My first assumption was that these marks were from the time when the chain was too loose at some point and I did not care/know enough about this whole chain tension thing. (For example ... from buying it at 0kms to right around the first service.)

I got a new "race" chain about 2000 km ago which has always been tightened to spec (a little bit on the loose side ... I have it tightened consistently at about 2.5cm from the chain slider above it when the bike is on its side stand (Ducati recommends 2.3 - 2.5 cm))

Today I torqued the bolt a little bit before going on a ride ... (which explains its alignment at 70-90 degrees )

When I came back from the ride, I was surprised to find a new small scratch/hit/rub mark aligned in the direction of the chain, which tells me that the chain is still hitting the bolt ... either all the time or during shifting during high speeds (when I may not be as smooth as during low speeds) ( I do not use the QuickShifter.) or I do not know when.




Questions/Concerns ...


1. Is the chain still too loose? (There is no damage to the chain guard/slider or anything else in the area)

2. Could it be that it is too tight? (This can't be ... right?)

3. Does my shifting need more work/smoothening? (I am satisfied with my shifting, no jerks or anything, heavy downshifts are smooth too just have a lot more feel compared to other shifts). (I am no expert, I started riding 2.5 years ago, ride quite a bit (the same roads) at highway/freeway speeds, did some track, and have also been riding an R6 consistently when I am not the V4)


Thank you in advance for your time.


Thank you

Airjawed, I looked at my older invoices and it is a "520 ERV7 Series Gold Plated X-Ring Sealed Race Chain". That is a very interesting thought though, I will google it a bit.

Bagger, I know. As I said, I was okay with the old marks ... thinking what happened happened, but the fresh one today got me scratching my head. I am even thinking that perhaps my body does not quite put enough pressure and/or the rear shock absorber's settings is a bit off for my BW ? (I am 70kg/ 154 lbs)



I checked (a bit more thoroughly) a while ago and the tightest spot on the chain sits at maybe 2.65-2.7 cm when the bike is on the rear stand and (I swear) 2.5cm when on side stand.

I will wait until next weekend and if nothing concrete comes out of this thread, I will just go ahead and tighten it by 0.2 cm ... so that it is closer to 2.3 cm when on the side stand.

I also suck at taking tiny measurements, so perhaps I am under-measuring? Who knows. But no damage to the slider / ANYTHING else , means all should be well?

@airjawed you were right. It is the chain.

Even after setting chain tension to measure 2.5 cm from the chain slider (2.35 cm after a ride on the side stand), there is a hair of a mark (almost negligible) on the tape I put over the bolt. From the looks of it, the contact is so little that it should not penetrate the tape. (And if it does, heck, I will just replace the bolt after a while if it hurts me that much )

Also, just by comparing the images of the stock chain to the race chain side by side, it looks like the culprit part of the chain (which is making contact) is larger in the race chain.

Finally, I ALSO think it has nothing to do with shifting but which way I am turning. My current road "track" has mostly tight right corners, hence the bike (when leaned over to the right) results in the left side of the chain being more likely to make contact.

airjawed said:

Glad you found the chain to be the issue. Don't try to compensate and over tighten the chain. That will cause much more severe problems. Keep the tension in spec( i prefer loose). Maybe, consider going back to oem chain and sprockets?

Another note: the sprockets are sold as a kit with chain so that they mesh correctly as well. Did you change the sprockets with the chain?

Click to expand...

Sounds good.
Yup sprockets were changed as well.