250gs, no power when shifting

[crossfire]

hey guys, just came across this forum while attempting to google stuff for my 250gs.  I bought it in June of 2010.  its an 06 model with only 1700 miles.  rode it just a little last year, and maybe 4-500 miles this year.  have had some of the battery problems mentioned in other posts, but nothing undoable.  however, i recently ran into a whole new problem.  as I was driving to work, I accelerated from a stop, but as I went to change gears, it hung up on me and then shifted really hard.  afterwards there was no power when i shifted.  it still ran and still shifted but there was no decent acceleration.  took about 2 miles to get up to 50 mph.  any thoughts?  also, was poking around the engine and it seems my chain may be loose.  could this be my problem?  either way, how do i tighten it?

[grumpy]

Usual battery for this bike is a low maint TET brand battery that should get yoiu 3-4 yrs trouble free use, so you shouldn't feel that the battery is inferior quality. Mines 4 y.o and still 100% good. STarts 1st pop everytime.
As for the poor acceleration, what is the spark plug like? Is it wet/oily or black sooty looking? Is the engine missfiring at all?  HAve you changed the oil recently ? Maybe the wrong type or is the oil level correct? Check those things.

Re the chain, push up on the mid point and measure the slack is within 15-25mm. Briefly, the way to adjust the chain stroke to bring it within spec if its too loose: you need to loosen the rear axle nut (RHS) just off the tight position and move the wheel  rearward by way of the chain adjusters by exactly the same distance on both sides of the axle to take up the slack. You need an Allen wrench to move the chain adjusters.  Measure the distance on both sides of the swingarm axle slots so that you don't mess up the wheel alignment. Otherwise you'll end up wearing your chain and cogs out as well as causing your steering to be affected. Once the adjustment is correct, you need to  retighten the axle nut to within the range of 85-95 Nm. You MUST use a torque wrench to retighten the axle nut.

If you have any doubt about doing this procedure properly then best get someone to help. There's no room for error with this adjustment, so don't experiment.Good luck.

[crossfire]

grumpy, thanks for your reply.  as far as the acceleration goes, it's like there's no torque behind it.  maybe i'm describing it poorly, but you know how it should be when you accelerate a sports bike.  there's no misfiring or anything, it accelerates smoothly enough, just not quickly at all.  the RPMs still go up, but the bike just putzes along.  just changed the spark plug to an NGK and will be doing an oil change shortly

as for the chain, it is definitely loose.  looks like it moves 1.5 to 2 inches.  thanks for your description on how to tighten it.  i will have to get some help with that one

on another note, does anybody have a decent way to contact Zongshen America?  I've tried emailing them, but have not gotten a response.  I'm looking to get manuals for my bike.

[grumpy]

Strange problem. Try changing oil with correct type for this bike just in case you have a slipping clutch caused by wrong oil type.

As for Zongshen, try info in this link. This contact seems to respond ok.http://zongshenforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=187.0