A bit tense, following strange chaps (7)
I believe the answer is:
oddment
'a bit' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'tense following strange chaps' is the wordplay.
'tense' becomes 't' (abbreviation used in many dictionaries).
'following' says to put letters next to each other.
'strange' becomes 'odd' (I've seen this before).
'chaps' becomes 'men' (I've seen this before).
'odd'+'men'='oddmen'
't' after 'oddmen' is 'ODDMENT'.
(Other definitions for oddment that I've seen before include "Piece left over, no match" , "Just a bit left" , "Remnant" , "spare part?" , "a bit spare" .)