I'm in the market for a chain. I'm looking for a decent chain to get me around for a season or two. I don't drive very hard but I do have a 14t up front. I just don't see the GS as being a chain snapping beast  and I religiously maintain both my bike and car. This translates into me cleaning/lubing my chain at the very least every 300-400 miles.

Saw a DID oring chain from Chapparel for 30 bucks. Says its good for 7500lbs tensile strengh. Does this sound like a good idea?

I'd like to add that I see the difference in "wear rating" or whatever that is. And there is a large jump from standard -> oring -> xring. 100 all the way to 3xxx. I suppose I will go with an oring but I need some convincing that the standard is a definite bad idea. I mean what would happen if I did?

Would the chain...

break?
stretch everytime I rode it?
wear the teeth more so any another chain?
wear out in less than 1 season?

$30 for an o-ring chain!?!  That's a GREAT price!!

You already know that it will stretch ever other day, for the first two weeks of breaking it in; well that's an o-ring chain, so maybe every day.
It definitely should not wear the teeth any quicker than any other chain.
The standard chain would probably wear out in less than 15,000 miles, but I conjecture.  Do you wanna be the guinea pig?

the standard chains are fine they just require more lubing as they have no way of keeping in the oil like oring or xring chains, and with lots of care they will last just as long as a better chain,
if you are on the lazy side of things(like me) then get a good chain you won't have to lube as often

my new x-ring chain cost a little over 120$, but the chain it self came with a 20k war. and i will use it.

my stocker only lasted 15k and that seems to be normal.

i didn't rivit my new chain, i use a master link. my boss, in all his wisdom. said that it will snap. yea right. its not a busa, and i want to remove the chain to clean it when ever.

its settled, i'm buying it. might aswell buy new handle bars while i'm at it. 

thats where my last chain snapped, cost me over $500 in hotel stays loss of wages getting a towing company to collect me and the bike off the motorway and drop us off at the hotel, all for a damn $5 link.
but in saying that im using split link in my xlink chain, but i have a spare link that lives on the bike now

but how was the clip installed?

it should (the closed end) face the direction of travel, and then silicone the thing in place (after cleaning that area) that way it wont vibrate off  if it does at all

bought an extra master link too.

Maybe if I feel hassled by the extra chain lubing I'll go ahead and get another chain and keep this as a spare.

mine just snapped right in the center of the link, it had done close to 30k so wasn't really a huge surprise, but it was foolish of me not to be carrying a link or not changing the chain before a 2000mile ride.

o well in that case

30k is a bit much i think   

yep but with a new link it did another 2k then got replaced with a nice shiny gold x link

thats what i have now as well an gold RK Xring

I will tell you why high-speed roller chains can and do fail at the splint-link. I see it constantly in my job in industry. You can take it, leave it, argue over it ,whatever, I dont give a sh** but based on what I know and have seen I will never use a splint link on any bike I own other than one with 2 pedals. Here is why in the simplest of terms.
Before you put the clip on you slide a link plate on over the 2 pins agreed?. There is a very slight clearance between the pins and the holes in the link plate...there must be otherwise it wouldnt slide on. I guess its about 0.025mm either side of the pin. The pins are riveted to the opposite link plate and are normally parallel to each other but when you crack open the throttle the forces generated stretch the chain and cause those 2 pins to flex and they move apart from each other by a total of 0.05mm at the loose side and take up the clearance in the holes in the loose link plate. Agreed? For that to happen the other link plate must bend. That movement is fu**-all but over time it causes work-hardening of the metal, (bend a thin strip of metal back and forth it becomes brittle and breaks, its due to a condition known as work hardening), stress risers form which ultimately lead to fracture and failure. Its practically impossible to say when it will happen as there are far too many variables such as quality of steel, temperature effects, lubrication, load factors,  blah blah blah but ultimately you can bet with 100% certainty it will happen. In most cases the rollers wear out before it fails and it is replaced but if you give it a hard life with lots of snatch loading  i.e. dropped clutches and hard acceleration it will fail before it wears. Plenty of people in here have commented on snapped links before. Hmmmzzz is a case to point 30k then it snaps in the middle of the link plate........Ha! Go figure.  Another question? why dont Suzuki fit a splint link at the factory and make things easy for everyone?? Could they perhaps know something the average person doesnt?? I have this image of someone who has bought a new GS5 then thrashed it for 11.5 months, then the split link fails, the chain wraps round the rear wheel our hero slides 300yrds down the tarmac hits a lamp-post spends 3 months in a coma and when he wakes up he has to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair being fed through a straw....those corporate liability laws can be a right Bastard......again go figure.

was never debating whether crimped were better or worse than split link, we all know that they are better, just not all of us have a crimper to do the job properly, or like me just can't be fuct taking to a bike shop and paying some one to do it,
i sure its just another risk to add to the large number we all face each day riding a bike.
cheers for the comment sledge, always knowedgable

split link?

Thanks for the comment Hmmmzzz, its part of my job to determine how and why component parts fail and I guess I worry too much as a result. I see loads of things go fun bags-up and when I see a broken chain and the damage they can cause I always think  "FU** ME!"  that could have been on my bike.....then I think "FU** ME AGAIN",  I could have been on it and doing 80 down the M62 when it let go  

Aye Ranger.....split links, forget about HP and torque, they are not worth 2 sh**s in a brown paper bag in my view, unless we are talking about BMX bikes, even if the little fishy is swimming up the river, I am sure know what I mean 

no, i dont think i do. but i will run with it