Continuing from part one where we removed the chain and sprockets, we'll now move on to part two, installing the new parts. If you're like me you may have spent some time on part 1.5, which entails cleaning up all the areas you have easy access to with the wheel, chain, and sprockets removed.

Before we jump back in, I want to point out again that this article is for informational purposes only and is based on my experience and not intended to be taken as "gospel" or as a professionals instruction. If you are not comfortable in your mechanical abilities then you should have this procedure done by a professional. A motorcycle chain replacement is not something you want to do incorrectly as a failure could result in the rider getting seriously injured.

So with that out of the way let’s recap. At this point, we have broken and removed the old chain (but a have not disposed of it yet), removed the front and rear sprockets, and now have the rear wheel off the bike waiting for a new rear sprocket.  Now let’s get started putting it all back together.

In addition to the tools you have already used up to this point, I would recommend having a caliper or simialr measuring device on hand to take some of the guesswork out of the pressing and riveting process.

If your rear hub (or “sprocket carrier”) is like mine, the bolts that hold on the rear sprocket just rest in their holes and can fall out if you turn the hub over (see photo) you will see the head of each bolt is flattened on one side to keep it from turning, but the bolt must be seated in part of the way in order for it to “hold”. The easiest way I found to deal with this was to just hold the hub vertically, put a bolt through the hub and carrier, and start one of the nuts just enough to hold the bolt in place.

Once you have all nuts in place you can go ahead and place the hub back in the cush drive. Now that it's back in the wheel it will give you some more leverage to tighten down the bolts. Depending on your wheel and setup you may find it easiest to do your final torquing down of the nuts one the wheel is installed back on the bike. Either way, make sure you use the star pattern when tightening the sprocket down to help make sure the sprocket goes on nice and flat and doesn’t get warped.

Now let’s go ahead and re-install the rear wheel making sure you have re-inserted all necessary spacers and such. At this point you don’t need to tighten the axle nut down too much as you will need to make adjustments to the chain tension soon. Now, if you haven’t already done so, you will want to move those chain adjusters in a few turns as the new chain will be “tighter” and most likely will not  fit around the same space as the older, worn out chain. Make sure now that the nuts holding the sprocket on the carrier/hub are at least holding firmly if you haven’t yet torqued them down completely ( it will be easier to torque them once the chain is place and can be used hold the wheel still for you).

With the rear wheel in place, now go ahead and install the front sprocket, lock washer, and sprocket nut. At this point it is not important to have the nut torque down yet and, like the rear, it will be easier to perform the final tightening on this nut once the chain is in place and can be used to keep the sprocket from turning.

It’s now time to go ahead and get out your new chain. If you are maintaining your stock gearing and chain size it is a good idea to lay your new chain down next to your old one side by side. This way you can confirm that you have the correct number of links on your new chain before getting started.  After confirming the chain is the right size we can go ahead and install it.

I have found it best to place the middle of the chain on the rear sprocket and lay the forward facing part on the swingarm (there’s usually a protector of some kind the chain will rest on) and push the chain forward towards the front sprocket. Then go ahead and guide the chain around the sprocket and start pulling it towards the rear. At this point the rear sprocket should already be turning as you continue to pull the chain end around towards the rear sprocket.

You’ll eventually want both ends of the chain next to each other on the rear sprocket, as once they are in place, the sprocket will hold the ends in place while you do your plate pressing and riveting. In the photo I’ve shown how the sprocket can hold the two ends in place. It also demonstrates how I didn’t have quite enough slack yet in the adjusters to bring the ends next to each other. This is a good reason to not tighten down your rear axle nut yet so that this can easily be adjusted while fitting the new chain.

Once you get the chain in place with the ends on adjoining teeth, you will need to get your new master link and O-rings (if you are using an O-ring chain).  Having coated the inside of the side plate and O-rings with grease, from the back or wheel-facing side of the chain, insert the new master link with the pins pointing away from the bike. The direction is not crucial but it does make it easier to work worth for sure. Now you will want to place the new O-rings on the pins sticking out of the chain. With the rings in place cover them and their interior space with grease. You want to make sure you get plenty of grease on there so that there will some trapped inside the ring when you press on the new side plate.

Speaking of which, now we’ll get the new side plate and get out the chain tool again. With your chain tool there should be a plate specifically for pressing rivet type master links. Some chains will come with spacer plates that are placed between the side plates to prevent the O-rings from getting crushed. In this case I am using an RK chain and an RK chain tool so the press plate should stop at the correct place when pressed against it. I would recommend checking as you press the plate to make sure you aren’t crushing the O-rings though just to be certain. (I used a caliper to check the distance of the plates on adjacent links to the one I was riveting to make sure I was where I should be.)

With the plate pressed on correctly you should be able to remove the chain press and the plate should remain in place with the pins sticking out of the new side plate.  Now you are ready to rivet the new master link so get your chain rivet tool or place the appropriate adapters and pieces into your chain tool to prepare it to rivet. If you have a caliper handy go ahead and grab that now too.

Using your caliper, measure and note the diameter of the new, un-flared pins.  When you use your rivet tool, the end of these pins will flare out in order to keep the new side plate in place. If your chain manufacturer has recommended amount of flare that should be used you’ll want to follow that. If you didn’t find a specific measurement (which I didn’t) that’s OK. Most manufacturers seem to recommend anywhere from .15mm to .70mm so I set my target at about .50mm of flare.

Place your chain riveting tool with the riveting head on the hollow end of the new pin and hand tighten the tool so that it is seated on the pin securely.  Now get your socket wrench (or lever, or whatever your tool requires) and begin to tighten down the tool.  You’ll feel some resistance but it shouldn’t be too hard to turn. Once you feel that initial resistance, make  about one complete* turn, then go ahead and back off the rivet tool and inspect the newly riveted pin.

Take a measurement using your caliper and compare it to the measurement you made earlier. In my case I started with a measurement of 5.05mm and at my first inspection the pin had flared to 5.44mm. Since my target was a .50mm flare I needed just a little bit more. I ended up adding not quite half of a turn or so and ended up at 5.61mm. A little over my target but not bad so I moved on to the next pin repeating the process I just used.

Once both pins are riveted securely take close look and inspect the O-rings. Make sure they are not squeezed too much or have been pressed out of from between the plates. Now go ahead and roll the chain a bit to where the new master link is free of the sprocket. Flex the new link and compare how it moves to the adjacent links. It should move in a similar way and not be considerably looser or tighter.  Keep in mind that a new chain can be rather stiff but this will improve as it is broken in.

With the new chain riveted together securely we can go ahead and start buttoning everything up. Using a 2X4 or similar object, block the rotation of the rear wheel by placing it between the spokes of the wheel and the swingarm.  I used the steel bar wrapped in a towel that I used earlier during the removal process.  With the wheel securely blocked (and the bike secured in place) you can now tighten up your front sprocket nut. Torque it down to the specs recommended by your manufacturer.

Once correctly tightened, use a hammer and a flat bladed screwdriver (or similar/better implement) to bend one edge of the flat washer down around one of the flat sides of the front sprocket nut. I would use a different side than the one previously used as it could weaken the metal to the point where it is ineffective and could fail.

While you have your torque wrench out go ahead and turn your attention to the rear sprocket nuts if haven’t already torque them down. You will most likely have to remove your wheel block and replace it a couple of times while you position the rear wheel to tighten the rear sprocket nuts.

Now before you replace your front sprocket cover (which is clean now on the inside, right?) we should go ahead and align the new chain, since while the cover is off, it makes it easier to sight down the chain and see the links all the way to the front sprocket. There are some different methods one can use to line up their rear wheel (and by proxy the rear sprocket) such as the string method or measuring the axle nut center to the swingarm pivot center, but here I’m going to use my Motion Pro chain alignment tool. The discussion over which method is best could easily take up its own feature story so I’ll save that for another day.

Using this tool is really just an enhancement to the old school method of simply sighting down the chain from behind and making sure the links are in a straight line from the back to the front. The Motion Pro tool attaches to the flat surface of the sprocket and holds a bar parallel to the chain. You can then sight down the bar and see how it relates to the path of the chain. If the chain starts to go left or right from the bar as you sight down it you can correct it using the axle adjusters on the swing arm.

Once you have the rear wheel lined up properly you can go ahead and adjust the chain tension by using equal numbers of turns on each adjuster so that you maintain your newly set alignment. For those of you with eccentric adjusters on your rear axles (like Crazy Uncle Johnny) you can disregard pretty  much all of what I just said in the past couple of paragraphs. Oh yeah, and you guys suck for having it so easy J.

Finally you can go ahead and re-install your front sprocket cover and rear chain guard as well as torque down your rear axle nut to the correct spec . Once everything is back together try rolling the bike around the garage/driveway and make sure everything acts as it should. If it seems OK, take it for a nice slow ride around the block and make sure everything feels and sounds right.

I would make the next couple of rides short ones, like just a few miles, and then inspect the chain and master link for any unusual signs of wear. Expect to need to adjust the chain a couple of times over the first 100 or so miles as the chain “stretches”. Technically the chain isn’t stretching but as the factory grease settles and is squeezed out of certain surfaces (like roller surfaces) some slack will become available. After my 35 mile round trip commute a couple of days after I did this install I had to adjust the chain tighter as it slackened quite a bit. A couple of days and 70 miles or so later I needed to adjust it again. After that it seems to have settled and is holding steady.

Now we hopefully won’t have to mess with this again for another 20,000~30,000 miles. Chains can be kind of a pain to keep clean and lubed but as far as bang for the buck, they are pretty impressive for what we ask of them. They are easier and cheaper to replace than a belt and since they are easy to observe we can easily see when they are in need of adjustment or replacement unlike shaft drives. A well maintained chain can last a long time if properly cared for. The chain replaced on this bike had nearly 29,000 miles on it and still was quite serviceable. For the record, it was always lubed with Dupont Teflon Multipurpose lubricant every few hundred miles or sooner if ridden in the rain.

I hope our readers find this guide, and its first part, helpful when it comes time to do their own chain replacements. If you have any questions or comments just hit the comments link below to submit them. If you have ideas for other maintenance / modification projects just shoot an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .