way to align front/rear wheel during chain adj

What is the best way you guys use to align the front & rear wheel during chain adjustment? I usually try to visually align the front & rear sprockets & see if chain is running straight. Just wondering if theres a better way

del

String! No lasers when I was a kid...:huh:

www.yamahafz1oa.com/sportryderswheelalignmentmethod.shtml

www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/string_...le_wheels/index.html

OMR

You can do it all by eye. This is my procedure. I wouldn't trust the chain to determine wheel alignment. First stand the bike upright as possible or use the centerstand. Set the front wheel straight ahead. Lay in front of the motorcycle and look rearwards along each sidewall of the front tire. Since the rear tire is wider than the front you should be able to look down each sidewall and see equal amounts of the rear tire. Of course to do this you must be close to the ground to sight the rear tire from the front. If not adjust handlebars a little until you do. This ensures the front wheel is pointing straight back at the rear. Now move to the rear tire. You should be able to look down each sidewall towards the front and not see the front tire since the rear is a wider tire than the front. If you look down one sidewall and see the front tire, but don't on the other you know the rear wheel is cocked, so move an adjustment to cock the wheel the appropriate direction. Now you look down each sidewall and don't see the front tire, you're close. To finish the fine-tune look down one sidewall of the rear towards the front, then slowly move your head sideways away from the tire until you can just see the front tire. Make note of how far your head had to move. Move to the other sidewall and do the same thing. If your head moves the same distance on each side, you're aligned. If one side had to move further, cock the rear wheel slightly to adjust. This might sound goofy and/or complicated, but it's really the exact same thing as a lazer or string method, just use your eyes instead. After a few times doing it it comes naturally and you can line a wheel up whithin a minute or 2.

What Ron said...

Do not rely on the marks on the swing arm... they are notoriously bad.

A long time back someone told me how to do it with 2 long flourescent light bulb tubes but I cant recall all of it

JMKZHI wrote:

I can't say that this is the best way, but there's a laser chain alignment tool available. Someone else (CoreyClough, maybe?) on another forum posted that it works well.

PROFI LASER C.A.T. - ~$72 - ouch! . JMK.

That tool was so worth the money spent.

snap a line on the floor

Neon tubes are usually pretty straight, but fragile, and clean-up a mess.any two long straight items will do,simply affix them to either side of rear wheel so's they contact front & rear of tire & straddle front tire w/bike uprite.(a pair of old crutches will do)the difference in spaces between front tire & things will show rel. wheel alignment. chain alignment is a different thing, and most easily checked by measuring from swingarm pivot to rear axle center. ( a piece of string is quick& easy)... a probly worthless asside, but not all bikes were designed to have wheels perfectly aligned. in some cases where the engine/trans carried its mass off center. wheels were off-set to allow straighter tracking.G

measure from the center of the swingarm pivot to the center of the axle and when you get that measurement the same adjust your chain. as far as getting the front and rear wheels to line up that usally requires some sort of alignment jig that you can tweek the frame with. you can check alignment with 2 light bulbs 8' foot flourecents straighten your handle bars lay the tubes down along square along side the rear wheel and measure between them and the front wheel and fiqure how out of line it is. there realy no easy way to adjust front to rear alignment. just to give an example of how bad some bikes are out line from the factory hardly ridable soft tails can be as much as inch or better out of line and still be in spec. not bad for a 20,000 dollar bike.

by the way my drag bike has over 3/4" misalignment front to back because of my wheel being a 6.5" instead of the 6" that i should have but it still goes straight as string.
i dont know what it corners like but it would be like turning a bus any way it has a 70" wheelbase. i know it's misaligned and it buggs me to look at it but it works so i don't try to notice it anymore.