"Necessity is the mother of invention but lazyness is the father of invention."
Alignment marks on the swing arms of motorcycles are well known for being quite a bit off from one side to the other. With the motorcycles I owned before the ZR-7 I corrected for this unfortunate fact by very carefully measuring and aligning the rear wheel with the marks on one ONE SIDE ONLY and then putting a punch mark on the other adjuster such that the new mark exactly lined up with the marks on the second side of the swing arm.
The ZR-7 has a rectangular plate with one edge bent over ( Kawasaki refers to it as the "outer chain adjuster") and a single alignment mark pressed into it. This plate is such a loose fit when the axle nut is not tightened that I never trust it to be in the same position relative to the axle twice. Because this plate floats so much my time tested put-a-second-mark-on-it technique is useless.
It is not that I cannot use the two strings tied to the front axle method or use a straight edge against the sprocket when adjusting the chain, I just don't care too. I want to be able to do it quicker w/o sacrificing accuracy of alignment. So, to finally get to the point, what procedure and tricks do you use when adjusting your ZR-7 chain?
Alignment marks on the swing arms of motorcycles are well known for being quite a bit off from one side to the other. With the motorcycles I owned before the ZR-7 I corrected for this unfortunate fact by very carefully measuring and aligning the rear wheel with the marks on one ONE SIDE ONLY and then putting a punch mark on the other adjuster such that the new mark exactly lined up with the marks on the second side of the swing arm.
The ZR-7 has a rectangular plate with one edge bent over ( Kawasaki refers to it as the "outer chain adjuster") and a single alignment mark pressed into it. This plate is such a loose fit when the axle nut is not tightened that I never trust it to be in the same position relative to the axle twice. Because this plate floats so much my time tested put-a-second-mark-on-it technique is useless.
It is not that I cannot use the two strings tied to the front axle method or use a straight edge against the sprocket when adjusting the chain, I just don't care too. I want to be able to do it quicker w/o sacrificing accuracy of alignment. So, to finally get to the point, what procedure and tricks do you use when adjusting your ZR-7 chain?