hi all just looking for a bit of advise. I am planning on checking the cam chain before I go any distance with the bike. Once I open it up and if I find that there is to much play in the chain is it possible to take a link out of the chain or would I need a new chain and tensioner I am asking this so as if I would need new parts I could buy them before I start so I wouldn't have to be waiting for the parts with the bike in bits...all the best to you all over there,,cheers,, kenny  

Reason why taking a link out isn't feasible is that the total "stacked up" amount of wear that we have on a worn out stock chain is approximately the diameter/distance of one of the little pins in the chain (an entire link removed would be grossly too short).

Even the manufacturer says we don't put much wear on the chain before we run out of adjustment -- approximately 10-20% of their spec'd wear life as a matter of fact.

During the Dragon run we were sitting in a McDonalds soaking up drinks and poking at the very chain the Borg Warner engineers had cut up while analyzing the Savage's wear pattern -- you could just barely feel the wear in the pins with the edge of a fingernail rubbed across it.  Wear zones were shiny though, compared to the rest of the pin length.

got that and thanks all..I was wondering about removing a link because  the price of a chain over here is over $100 (£56)+ vat +postage,so when I have a look at it and if the ajustment has run out does it mean a new chain,,cheers ,,kenny

Not necessarily time for a chain Kenny. The Verslavy mod takes the slack up AND shoves the tensioner back into its place. As was noted, the chain is actually only about 20% worn when the limitations of the system require it to be replaced, so the modified tensioner allows us to keep running a chain that another Savage would have to have replaced. I have a used chain that is, (IIRC) according to the chart someone created & has somewhere on this site( Wasnt that a lot of help? I KNew you'd appreciate it, but someone will surely fill in the blanks) still plenty serviceable. I am hoping to get the Verslavy ( I hope I am talking about the welded end on the tensioner mod & not the whole apparatus that replaces the tensioner) & put that chain back in, after I use the recently purchased & hung in a jar of oil, special run chain that several here ordered some time back. Just have a gasket & the right gasket sealer on hand, pop the side cover off & measure the adjuster extension. Then you will know if you must do something or how long till you should.