Well I went on my first ride which was about 30 miles total and had a blast last weekend, was able to get my clutch adjusted perfectly and got some good tuning on the cns carb. put the bike away for a day and decided to take it to work last monday, didn't make it to the end of my road before the chain came off, put it back on and made it another mile or so, put it back on and didn't make it 10 feet, this happend about 7-9 times before I just popped off the master link and pedalled to work about another mile away in 100+ degree weather, had a friend give me a lift home with the bike in the bed of the truck completely defeated. Now I took the back wheel off and flipped the sprocket around to get better alignment with the front sprocket, stripped out both bolts on the stock chain tensioner trying to get it super tight to avoid the horrific spoke shearing dive into the wheel I've read so much about on here, without the tensioner on the chain is loose but not loose enough to cut a link out and I've noticed that the wide #41 chain is only riding on one side of the links, hopefully that is corrected with some tension... so on to the tensioner issue, I could just go buy some real bolts at lowes and continue to use this accident waiting to happen or I could look to every1 here for a suggestion on a better tensioner. I've seen the ones that go from the top to bottom swingarm support tubes with the roller in the middle and they seem easy enough to fab but I'm down to just a dremmel tool at this point and would much rather purchase any kind of tensioner that is tried and tested and that wouldn't need more than a dremmel tool to grind and get mounted properly, if any1 can recommend a good ready to run tensioner that I can just buy it would be much appreciated.
Chain alignment w/ #41 and tensioner issues
- Thread starter Ciro
- Start date
I'm no expert, but I've seen others recommend using no tensioner and just shortening the chain. I've set mine to that and will test once I buy a new carb to get rid of the crappy CNS V2.
The reason I personally went this way was because the last ride I went on the tensioner pulled itself (hard) into the spoke and I had a sudden and catastrophic stop, then had to carry my bike (with bent and destroyed rear wheel) to a friend's place to give me a ride home. I'm hoping this is the end of big problems.
The reason I personally went this way was because the last ride I went on the tensioner pulled itself (hard) into the spoke and I had a sudden and catastrophic stop, then had to carry my bike (with bent and destroyed rear wheel) to a friend's place to give me a ride home. I'm hoping this is the end of big problems.
Kickstart you are by no means the first to have this happen. It is the one biggest problem with the 2 stroke in-frame kits. If the tensioner wheel is not aligned perfectly with the chain path and the bracket is not secured to the frame in such a way as to prevent it from moving, what happened to you is almost inevitable.
There are many pages of discussion about alternatives and fixes for the kit supplied chain tensioner here. Use the search feature, keywords 'chain tensioner' and you'll have plenty to read on the subject.
Tom
There are many pages of discussion about alternatives and fixes for the kit supplied chain tensioner here. Use the search feature, keywords 'chain tensioner' and you'll have plenty to read on the subject.
Tom
yes yes, the quality of the nuts and bolts shipped with these kits are terrible, soft steel...so ALWAYS replace with better quality. I'm hoping my tensioner will stay put now that I replaced the bolts that tighten it down. I am real happy tthat I bought a HD 415 chain from Thatsdax.com. also.
Good luck, be careful.
Pat
Good luck, be careful.
Pat
Before I gave up on the tensioner completely, I got a 2" section of tick hose and put that inside the tensioner clamp. After tightening it down, it was not going anywhere...I definitely recommend that. Others have suggested drilling into the frame for a set screw, but weakening the frame when putting more torque against it than it was designed for seemed like a bad idea to me.
