Was doing routine chain maintenance and decided to take a bit of a closer look at my setup and figure I need some input here. Would this be considered normal behaviour for a chain when I've got the bike in 1st gear on a rearstand? I find the drive line tends to be very jumpy even when holding steady throttle.

I've got my suspension set slightly tall but firm for aggressive riding. Measuring by the KTM manual I've got exactly 7mm where they spec the tension adjustment to be read from. Stock front sprocket, +1 rear power parts and a 4,000km DXD chain kept clean and lubricated with Motul street lube.

I figure this is standard with the big twin and no load on the rear wheel, but I swear I can feel (and hear) it cruising in 4th and 5th even at highway speed and steady throttle.

Looks bad in slow motion, but then again, most things do! It looks like it's jumping as it leaves the rear sprocket. If it's lubed and in good nick, maybe it's rear wheel alignment kicking it up? Check the sides of your sprocket teeth...

Every bike I've ever owned does that on the rear stand. Might be something to do with slight variations in engine speed but the rear wheel acting as a fly wheel still driving chain forward/taking up slack.

x 2 - might be worth checking rear wheel alignment though.

I agree with Klinck.

When I clean my chain I let the bike run on the rear stand to warm the chain up and the wheel will start to spin a bit faster than the engine and it'll push the chain towards the front sprocket.