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I was working on my bike this afternoon, doing some of the monthly maintenance a tad late (almost 2 weeks late, for a monthly maintenance that's pretty bad 
) and installing the NGK spark plug caps I had ordered a while back, and I realized the chain was a tad too slack and starting to be off the 20-30 mm recommended range. So I started looking into how to adjust it (first time) and started reading about rear axle alignment - which until now was completely off my radar, I basically knew squat about it... and when I looked at my bike, it looked like it might be quite a bit off.
Before adjusting the slack, below is what the alignment markers on each side looked like. From what I'm reading in the manual, they should look the same on both sides, meaning the alignment marks should fall similarly in the hole, right? However, I saw some videos on youtube saying it's not a very accurate method of adjustment and it's better to use that tool that can be fixed on the sprocket and tells you right away if the chain is line up well, is it something I should get? Now that I've adjusted the slack, the left one is looking a bit more like the right one, but it's still not quite there. Should I adjust for them to be the same, or should I just get that tool and forget about the alignment marks? Although I suppose if the tool confirms the alignment marks are accurate that's a good thing to know...
![right alignment Mark.jpg]()
![left alignment Mark.jpg]()
) and installing the NGK spark plug caps I had ordered a while back, and I realized the chain was a tad too slack and starting to be off the 20-30 mm recommended range. So I started looking into how to adjust it (first time) and started reading about rear axle alignment - which until now was completely off my radar, I basically knew squat about it... and when I looked at my bike, it looked like it might be quite a bit off.Before adjusting the slack, below is what the alignment markers on each side looked like. From what I'm reading in the manual, they should look the same on both sides, meaning the alignment marks should fall similarly in the hole, right? However, I saw some videos on youtube saying it's not a very accurate method of adjustment and it's better to use that tool that can be fixed on the sprocket and tells you right away if the chain is line up well, is it something I should get? Now that I've adjusted the slack, the left one is looking a bit more like the right one, but it's still not quite there. Should I adjust for them to be the same, or should I just get that tool and forget about the alignment marks? Although I suppose if the tool confirms the alignment marks are accurate that's a good thing to know...
