Rear Wheel Alignment

Morning all,
Dumb question to start the day off with...
I replaced the rear tire and now I'm putting back on bike.
How do I test to see if I've got the wheel properly aligned when I'm tightening down the axle nut? Is it as simple as lining up the markings to be the same on both sides?
I keep spinning the wheel to see if I can see wobble, but I'm afraid I don't have a good eye for that, especially with the knobs.

BCRider wrote:

Morning all,
Dumb question to start the day off with...
I replaced the rear tire and now I'm putting back on bike.
How do I test to see if I've got the wheel properly aligned when I'm tightening down the axle nut? Is it as simple as lining up the markings to be the same on both sides?
I keep spinning the wheel to see if I can see wobble, but I'm afraid I don't have a good eye for that, especially with the knobs.

Misalignment will not cause the wheel to wobble. I measure from the center of the swingarm shaft to the center of the axle making sure it is equal on both sides.

Marks will get you close. For accurate alignment do some research on "string method".

What's MOST important IMHO is making sure sprockets and chain are aligned with each other.

I put bike on center stand, crouch down behind bike with transmission in neutral, and spin spin spin the rear tire while looking down the length of the chain between the two sprockets.

If chain is not freely flowing in a straight and unimpeded manner I know something is not correct with my axle alignment.

Very simple guys, the rear sprocket should be running down the center of the chain. Berwyn

Thanks for the responses fellas... think I got it sorted after spinning and spinning and watching to see the rear sprocket running evenly in the center of chain, as well as measured from center of axle.
I'm afraid string method is well over my head