String method? Rear wheel alignment?

[251am]

Do people actually do this?  I usually just do what Jeff said, use the marks.  And as far as I can tell my bike still goes straight most of the time; even sometimes in T7 and T1 when it's not supposed to.  

  Only AFTER I've found my parking spot though....in the grass...

[Team_Serpent]

The system I use can be seen here http://www.laser-lines.com

Reasonably priced, quick, easy accurate.

Read the whole home page to understand why rear to front alignment is so important.

[superspud]

The system I use can be seen here http://www.laser-lines.com

Reasonably priced,

What is the cost and do they have any distributors?

[Team_Serpent]

What is the cost and do they have any distributors?

I think they have distributors but I'm not sure.  There is a link at the bottom of the home page for ordering -  I clicked on it and the price was $188.00

I brought mine a couple of years ago directly from the guy who owns the company when he was at the WERA GNF doing demos.

[Protein Filled]

You can buy it on the website. It said $188.00

[ecumike]

So for those of you who do all these measurements, instead of just making sure you turn the left one the same amount as you turn the right one, when you switch gearing.... how accurate do you be?.. I find it hard that it would be very accurate measuring from the "center of the swingarm pivot" w/o something solid in there keeping the tape measure place.

As well, if your rear wheel spins very freely, is that safe to say that it's aligned just fine?..  I would think that a rear wheel that's not aligned would cause the chain to rub 'more'/have more friction on the rear sprocket (b/c the sprocket is attached to the wheel/axel and it's not aligned at the same angle as the front sprocket) and would not allow the rear wheel to spin as much.  Thoughts?

[Protein Filled]

Here is an article written by Rob Tuluie, the creator of the Tularis, regarding chassis alignment that may help:


http://motorcycle.com/mo/mcnuts/chassis2.html

and

http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mcnuts/chassis.html

[L8brake731]

Wow! LASER LINES....why didn't anyone else think of that? What a GREAT idea Let's hope your rims are absolutely true, I'm sure they make you check them 180 out to make sure but that's a l-o-n-g way from the axle, other hard parts and too rim dependent, no? What happened to the "marks on the swing arm topic"?

[Team_Serpent]

So for those of you who do all these measurements, instead of just making sure you turn the left one the same amount as you turn the right one, when you switch gearing.... how accurate do you be?..

I only use the laser alignment tool once in a while after initial set-up - say once every other race weekend to make sure I haven't turned one adjuster further than the other during gearing changes or after a crash to make sure the bike isn't bent. It's very accurate, I've tested it against the same measurement plane using a Computrack System.

I find it hard that it would be very accurate measuring from the "center of the swingarm pivot" w/o something solid in there keeping the tape measure place.

To be perfectly accurate when measuring these points you do need special tools/equipment.

As well, if your rear wheel spins very freely, is that safe to say that it's aligned just fine?..  I would think that a rear wheel that's not aligned would cause the chain to rub 'more'/have more friction on the rear sprocket (b/c the sprocket is attached to the wheel/axle and it's not aligned at the same angle as the front sprocket) and would not allow the rear wheel to spin as much.  Thoughts? /quote]

There is a lot of play/tolerance between chain and sprocket so you could be miss-aligned and still have what appears to be fairly good free spin when testing by hand. But you're right - miss-alignment = friction which = decrease in performance.

[Team_Serpent]

Wow! LASER LINES....why didn't anyone else think of that? What a GREAT idea Let's hope your rims are absolutely true, I'm sure they make you check them 180 out to make sure but that's a l-o-n-g way from the axle, other hard parts and too rim dependent, no? What happened to the "marks on the swing arm topic"?

lbk first asked about the string measurement process that has been around for years. Laser Lines is quicker, easier and more accurate.  Is it the end all be all, most accurate measuring device available? No. But from my experience it's pretty damn accurate.

I think the "marks on the swingarm" topic died when most everyone figured out that they are not very accurate 99.9% of the time.

Most people posting are trying to help with information about alignment points - your post seems to be kinda sarcastic and argumentative. Maybe I miss-read and took it the wrong way - don't want to argue, just trying to help.

[L8brake731]

No argument. Just stating that there exists too many variables to use a (what is a wheel mounted) device to check alignment (true) that takes the beating a wheel does.
I'd say the best investment is to have GMD Computrack do it once and then go from there. After re-reading the post, I'm sure he's got it figured out.