You may find that reduced suspension travel makes little or no difference. The tightest point for the chain is when the centres of the engine sprocket, swing arm pivot, and rear axle are all in line, and this is where the chain should exhibit a tiny bit of slack, like just off from tight. Everywhere else in the suspension movement either above or below this point will be some level of slack. If you want to be dead nuts on, make two “solid” shocks out of steel bar with bolt eye holes 284mm between centres, remove both shocks, fit both bars and adjust the chain tension to just a tad off tight, then replace shocks. Having done that, you can use the motocrossers trick of making a triangular wedge that sits on the top of the swing arm and locates in one of the chains scollops and also locates on some repeatable place on the arm, and size it so that on a freshly adjusted chain it takes out all the slack on a fully dropped swing arm and leaves the lower chain run tight. You now have a handy pit tool that allows you to adjust a loose chain perfectly every time without removing the shocks.... put the triangular wedge in position on the swing arm, then adjust the axle until the lower run of chain is a tad loose, then remove wedge Finished in seconds! The swing arm marks are quite crude for wheel alignment and are merely a rough guide. As the rear tyre is wider than the front, clamp two straight edges to the tire sides that are long enough to pass each side of the front tyre. Turn the steering such that the gap on one side is the same at each front tyre edge, then compare the gap on the other side of the tyre. It should be the same! This is much more important for road bikes, but getting it perfect is half the fun✅

You explained this so well, now I feel confident that I can do this myself. Thank you!!

Great video. Thanks for posting. I had just over 300 miles on mine and it was stretched out pretty good in a short amount of time and distance.

Thank you for this!

The other side of the swing arm on mine is not marked so I just turn the same amount of turns on the adjusters and assuming the factory had it right it should be right.

so the 8mm doesnt have a lock nut? you just adjust with the 8mm and then secure everything back up with the two 14mm and 19mm axel nuts?

Thank you again John!... I'm at 300 and think it's a little lose. I have no idea what to think about older model videos and other older monkey video helper videos because of Honda claiming "updated for 2022"? Like the chain for instance? Mine doesn't seem to be as bad as Helmet Heads experience etc. Should I assume it is better or not? ;) Do you know what the whole list of improvements were/are?

The one thing I have found that makes a big difference on how my bike runs is I use chain wax in my chain every 300 miles and it makes the bike run a few MPH faster and feels like it has more power,the stuff I use is called chain wax and comes in an aerosol spry can.I just roll the bike forward a little at a time praying the wax on the rear sprocket until the entire chain ans sprockets are fully covered and then let it sit for a half hour before riding it and it wont fling off on the bike. It defiantly makes the bike feel livelier!

Thank you

Have you ever tried a oring chain on the Monkey to lower the frequency of adjustments? The DID420V-102 is the only oring I could find online. I've seen some Grom folks had issues with the master link orings and link itself being a bit bigger and causing issues with installation. Plus the width of the chain is a bit wider according to the description, no idea if this would cause a sprocket area clearance problem? Any input or advice from you would be great since you are a Honda Monkey Guru. Thanks from NE Florida 🤠

Hi, Most bikes have a range, i.e. 30-40 mm. Why Honda Monkey has a specific/exact 35mm? Is that mean less than 35mm is tight and more than 35mm is loose?

Ty so much for this video...and all your videos! I’ve been putting this off and want to knock it out ASAP...pls entertain my stupidity but this adjustment can be done with the back wheel on the ground? tyvm be safe!

Thanks for the video. How many miles did you have before making the ADJ. ?

How nm of torque to apply on the axle nuts?

I have a brand new 22 Monkey and Trail 125. I have 260 miles on the monkey and the chain is quite slack. The trail has a little over 200 and still perfect. I just found this strange. I'm a heavy rider for these bikes but the chains haven't stretched the same.

Test ride on the daily!!

I couldn’t see what you were doing.