Motorcycle Repair: 1982 Honda XL500R, fly wheel, tension settings

Question
Hey there Chris,
My name is Dan and I'm 16...I've been riding and fixing my own dirtbikes since I could walk...I have managed to gather quite a bit of knowledege over the years but I have a problem with my bike that I juat can't seem to fix...I was riding along one day going at a good clip and my bike seemed to be running just perfect..all of a sudden it just flat out died. I tryed restarting it and I couldn't even get it to fire.  I thought that the spark was probably the problem but it was fine...I replaced the plug anyway thinking that it might be grounding out somwhere and getting an eregular spark.  I kick started it a bunch of times and it fired a few times but it was like it wasn't getting enough gas or somthing...it would just splutter and die...and occasionaly back fire...so I ripped my carb apart and cleaned it and made sure that it was working fine...it was...I then thought that it might be the timeing so I pulled my flywheel off and checked to make sure the fly wheel key was not sheerd or if the flywheel had slipped or somthing...When I pulled the fly wheel off I noticed that the timeing chain in behind it was quite lose...I'm not sure if that could be the problem but I don't think that it being lose would put it out of time that much...also it hasn't jumped any teeth because all the factorie marks line up on the chain...I was wondering if you maybe could find a remedy to my problem...If u could please get back to me I will be ready and waiting for any advice...feel free to share this problem with anyone u think could help me out...thanks a bunch

Dan

Answer
Hi Dan.
 As a matter of fact, the chain being loose could throw it out of time enough to cause it to die like that.  There is a reason that there are tension settings for these things.  It keeps them correct and functioning.

Reset the tension and recheck the valve and ignition timing.

Clearly, you're thinking in the right direction, keep up the good work and study more.  You have an excellent base knowledge to work from.

Good luck.
FALCON