steve Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I don't know if this will apply to the FJ's or Tracers in other parts of the world, but it appears the bikes in the EU are being delivered with the chains that are too tight. Shame on me for not checking, but fortunately was found before any damage could be caused. I had it serviced yesterday in the Netherlands, a few countries away by road from where I bought it . The mechanic told me the chain had become extremely tight and added that every one of them have the same problem. Might be worth checking yours ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philkin Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I believe it is a problem on bikes delivered in the States also. It maybe written up in the manual incorrectly. I made my dealer loosen mine before I took delivery. He insisted it was adjusted to their instructions. Would like to know what your dealer said it should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 I didn't ask, but worth me dropping them an email and finding out, will report back on what they say. A bit of a worry if it is documented incorrectly as we all know too tight a chain will cause bearing wear / failure, could well happen within the warranty period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamaham Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 This has been an issue with the FZ-09 folks and apparently someone contacted a Yamaha Rep on this and the manuals are correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 Would like to know what your dealer said it should be. This is the reply I got from the Dutch dealer who serviced my bike. I think my UK dealer is following Yamaha's recommendation of 5-15 mm - Sorry have no idea what these measurements are in inches The slack we adjust the chain to is 30-35mm. Prior to delivery we all ways adjust the chain because it comes almost without free play from the factory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philkin Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Chain slack is a requirement to compensate for the relationship between the arc the rear wheel swings through and the arc that the chain swings through. Looking at the location of those two centers, Yamaha has optimized these two locations to minimize the need for excessive slack, I get that. I will continue to keep my chain slack on the high side of their recommendation 1" or 25 mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 Does your book say 1"? looking at my owners manual it says 5.0-15mm (0.20-0.59 in). Seems rather tight to me, 1" / 25 mm sounds about right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy01 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 My findings are 5 mm to 15mm on centre stand is way to tight. I ride mainly 2 up and at 15 mm set on the stand when it's on the floor 2 up there is 0mm play and lots of bearing noise. I've just set it too around 5 mm 2 up and it seems smother and shifting is cleaner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philkin Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Steve: No. I meant by lifting up and pushing and then down the chain moves 1 inch top to bottom. That puts it short of their Max spec of 15mm. By their definition would be 30mm over all. Near their maximum acceptable travel. Still seem pretty tight but within their Spec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy01 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Forgot to mention I also used a laser chain alignment tool and it was out by a couple mm before I adjusted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traceit Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 This one wrote in german forum that he released/unmounted rear shock absorber to move rear wheel completely/freely up and down. Then chain slack according to manual is ok. http://mt09.de/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=3091#p71963 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 There does seem to be quite a lot of concern with this. I think we are looking a two issues here. What prompted me to post the caution was my experience at the 600 mile / 1000 km service. I'm probably one of the first to have done this seeing it's only been out a week (in UK and Holland at least), so possibly others may well experience this in the near future. The chain had no play in it at all, it wasn't like that when I got the bike. I had noticed the gear changes were far more difficult and sometimes missed them altogether from around the 500 mile mark. I can only attribute this to bedding in. Most of the miles were done on motorways/freeways in a day. The other issue which has been highlighted is the amount of slack specified by Yamaha. I measure my chain as the distance between the chain being pushed up and being pushed down with no reference to its' rest position (ie total travel distance). Now I realise it is measured from rest to top and then rest to bottom, neither should be outside the 5-15mm - or in 'my' method 10-30mm. The manual does warn not to allow the slack to be more than 25mm, again I take that as 50mm in 'my' method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdog Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Thanks for this post, gents. Loosened mine this morning. It was at 15mm total travel. I was having trouble up-shifting. I will take it out for a ride later and see if this was the problem. 2015 Grey FJ09 with a few tweaks, 2007 HD Street Glide - Good Bike + Good Friends = Good Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member wessie Posted March 21, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted March 21, 2015 My bike has just been returned to me after the 600 mile service. Chain slack is set as @Steve described on 12 March. This signature is left blank as the poster writes enough pretentious bollocks as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NqN Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I adjusted my chain slack verbatim as instructed by the owners manual to ~0.5". It was extremely tight. I went around the block (small block) and it didn't feel right at all. The best way I can describe it is rough. Anyways, I readjusted it to about ~0.8" and it made all the difference. It's smoother and sounds much better. I was able to video them both. The sound isn't the best in this one but it sounds like a normal chain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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