Goog idea, I should make a couple. Also, is that a coke zero colour scheme on the bike? Looks pretty good.
Found out how NOT to make a cct. Thought I would just drill and tap the top piece, bolt and locknut, but there isn't enough room, especially to remove it!
How are you guys setting (checking) your chain tension? or is this more of a wing and a prayer with your ear cocked to the side Whilst riding?
Easy - with the cam cover off and the tension in place, turn over the motor and feel for tight or loose spots. It should very tigh the whole way around. If it has a loose spot, generally the chain is worn. If the whole chain is loose the whole way around, it'd be the tensioner.
I understand this aspect of the setup, however a chain should ideally be run at a certain tension load, hence why OEM manual tensioners use a torque rating which corresponds to the chain tension experienced, and an OEM 'automatic' tensioner such as ours runs a spring of a particular weight. do we have any idea on equired chain tension for these bikes?
A spring changes force with compression amount, but the simplest way to do it is to measure the force it takes to compress the spring to operating position. Place the spring on a set of scales and push down for the weight. The tricky bit is working out how measure the force in the manual tensioner. You can calculate the torque based upon thread pitch, but friction could be the error. I just estimated a strong finger-tight would do - mine has a screwdriver slot, so I just went until firm. You might need to turn the motor to bring all the slack to that side.
