How to Tighten a Bike Chain? Fix Single-Speed, Drivetrain, Worn Out Chains

Knowing how to tighten a bike chain to handle unwanted situations and emergencies is mandatory for a mountain biker.

Although never considered, the chain can be called the backbone of your bicycle because without it working properly, you will not be able to ride your two-wheelers, three-wheelers, or even four-wheelers with gearshifts.

To fix a loose bike chain, you must know why your bike chain is open because a lasting repair hides beneath, addressing the main culprit (Why does bike chain slip when pedaling hard).

I will let you know about the reasons for your loose bike chain and why it opens again and again at the end of this blog. First, I will give you quick solutions to the query you are here for.

So, let’s start our today’s guide together:

How to Tighten a Bike Chain?

Bike chain repair varies your bike’s speed type-wise. For instance, fixing a single-speed bike chain differs from a bike chain with a derailleur; the latter is much more complicated.

I will discuss how to fix loose bike chain in all aspects. And help you find proper measures to do it yourself and save bucks.

A bike chain repair at a repairer can cost you at least $50 for each visit. Yikes… that’s huge!

1. How to Fix Loose Bike Chain | Single-Speed

Before you start the operation on how to tighten a bike chain, here are some tools to gather:

Tools: Socket wrench & adaptor, sandpaper, cloth, lubricant oil, and gloves (gloves are mandatory as the oil stains are hard to get rid of the skin).

Process: The process is simple because we are talking about single-speed bike chains, which are too unpretentious and meek.

Single-speed bike chains get supple over time due to the movement of the rear bike tire. So, to keep the surface tension upward, we will fix the tire.

Here are the steps:

1. Bike Placement

First of all, rest your bike on a flat surface. This can be a bike stand; if you don’t have it, you can simply place your bike upside down on the floor.

The position of your bike will be “saddle (seat) on the ground and wheels in the air.”

2. Tire Adjustment

Using a socket wrench, loosen the rear axle in the middle of the rear tire. Next, you will pull the rear tire to create tension in the bike chain.

Adjust the tire unless the bike chain movement becomes just half to one inch while you try to check it by moving up and down.

3. Tight the Tire Back

Once you get the optimum erection in the chain, tight the rear tire back using a Socket Wrench. Keep moving clockwise unless the bolt doesn’t move anymore.

You will see that the bolt in the tire is positioned at an optimum distance from the bike frame and chain, not touching either of these.

How to Tighten a Bike Chain with Gears?

This can be a little complicated because the formation and setting of chainrings with derailleurs are much more detailed and have knotted engineering.

Besides, as I mentioned earlier, the reasons for the bike chain to slip or lose could be plenty. So, the solution is also more than one in number.

However, I will keep the complete process of how to tighten a bike chain as simple as I can. Starting with the simplest solution, we will move to the most advanced one:

1. Bike Placement

Let me give you a delicate hint that will be useful when working with a bike. Whether on the way or in your garage, your bike placement matters significantly in the repair.

In your garage, get a bike stand, and it would be a one-time purchase to help you with repairs all the time. Try setting your bike on a flat road or surface to do the operations when on the way.

2. Check Derailleur

To find out if the problem is with the gearing system before you start the process, checking your bike’s derailleur is mandatory.

For this, you can try moving the derailleur train in different directions repetitively, specifically to and fro. The movement will help you determine that its springs have slackened.

3. Replace Gear Springs

Try using springs made of a low-weight material. You can remove the old bolts and springs and tighten the bike chain.

Add lubricant oil to the springs so the chain stops making churning sounds. When done with this, take the test ride. I hope it will help you comprehend how to tighten a bike chain.

If the derailleur is working correctly, the chain has become weary. A weary old chain loses its tension at some points. Now, it requires replacement.

How to Change a Bike Chain

When you find no other issues or nothing helps to tighten a bike chain, the most obvious thing here is that the culprit is the chain itself.

Old bike chains need changing and replacement from one time to another. It is a kind of routine maintenance. Now, to fix it:

1. Buy a New Chain

For this, first of all, you need to have a bike chain. If you have a multi-speed bike, Bell Links 700 chains are all you need, and you can buy it for barely $15.

This will even work for single-speed bikes and comes with links, too. This can be the best option for how to tighten a bike chain by replacement.

2. Chain Length

Measuring and setting the chain length are two of the most crucial things you will do. This is simple; you can use the old bike chain to estimate the size of your new chain.

You can get the previous bike chain of your bike (remove it by using the chain link remover tool); it will hardly take seconds.

3. Remove the Excessive Links

Remove one link; you can choose a method I have added to my bike if you don’t have any tool to remove the chain without the tool or choose chain link remover.

I would suggest that you should not remove a huge chunk at once. Try removing one link at a time, keep setting it on your bike, test, and draw another if needed.

4. Put the New Chain on the Bike

Using the following lines, you can understand how to tighten a bike chain by replacing the weary old chain with a new one.

Follow the steps as follows on how to tighten a bike chain:

• Put rivet on the chain hole (selected)
• Put the thin pin on the chain pin
• Tap the pin using a hammer (keep it gentle)

You can tab the pin from all sides until it gets in the right place. If you have a chain flush pin, flush rivets are not reusable.

So, after disconnecting, you will have to remove the chain plates between the link you have broken to open and put a master link between them.

5. Test Ride

Take the test ride and check if the chain keeps dangling or opening. If the problem persists, tighten the bike by removing links or fixing the derailleur.

How to Fix a Loose Chain on a Bike Without Tools?

During emergencies and while riding on terrains where you find no help, fixing a loose bike chain can be challenging when you don’t have any tools. But I can help you with how to tighten a bike chain during emergencies.

I have been through this and know how intuitively you must behave and think during emergencies. So, if you are stuck in such a situation, follow the below steps to fix the loosened bike chain:

You can put simple things around in the process, such as;

1. A hammer or a stick can thump the chain without damaging links. You can even use a brick.
2. Anything that can pass through the chainplates and won’t get stuck is welcome; it can be a tiny nail or a 2mm hex wrench.
3. Small socket; it can be a thin bolt, tinier enough not to disturb the chain shape when beaten.

How to tighten a bike chain? Fix it by using the following steps:

Steps are not tough to perform but require you to be careful because the chance of damaging the chain (precisely bending) exists.

You need to do the following:

1. Pull the chain to a flat and even surface, specifically the floor. (For this, you can lay the bike down on the floor and place a metal piece, wood, or brick under it so that the chain lays evenly on it, and you can do the operations.
2. Bike chain removal without tool, just using hammer hits
3. Put rivet on the chain hole (selected)
4. Put the thin pin on the chain pin
5. Tap the pin using a hammer (keep it gentle)
6. You can tab the pin from all sides until it gets in the right place.

Why Is My Bike Chain Loose?

Some reasons that can make your bike chain lose its tightness are dirt, age, slackened cables, undone drivetrain, old weary cassette, and directional chains installed in the wrong directions.

Bottom Line

Ultimately, I hope you know how to tighten a bike chain. For more information and queries, reach out to me at MTB Knowledge.