Thanks guys! I am glad I read this post before purchasing the RK chain. I was a few hours away from buying it at my local motorbike store. The shop quoted 110 bucks for the rk chain + front and rear sprockets. Just lucky I did not buy it.   

I used a DID oring chain , 11,000 Miles on it, all weathers...

a chain is a metallic item, it can rust.

I lube my chain after a rainfall/ride in rain or once a week (I ride 110 miles/day for work).

clean with wd40  and  lube it with silkolene pro chain lube



never rusted on me.... manufacturer manual indicates lubing is required every 500 miles to maintain the proper operations of the chain.

i heard them "smart chains" from sidewinder are good heres a site....http://www.sidewindersprockets.com/

DID and Tsubaki do not rust (my experience is 3-4 years old though ... many be even older, I slapped a chain I had from wayyyyyy back on it 3-4 yrs ago)
Cool.
Buddha.

Chinese crap steel! Not enough chromium and magnenese=faster rusting.As particular metals rise in cost they are cutting back on the amount used to make the steel.Worst part is that along with that the tensile strength is being sacrificed also!! One has to wonder also about the suspect heat treatment of this Chinese crap. Go with any Japanese or American chain.

Quote from: pbureau69 on April 23, 2008, 04:23:58 PM
I used a DID oring chain , 11,000 Miles on it, all weathers...

I've always used DID chains, and they've always been good to me.

Actually the metallurgical properties of steel means unfortunately good ones are prone to rust. The ways to prevent this are to plate it (expensive) or to use a black phosphor conversion coating. Surprisingly this works very well and is economical but it makes it look cheap, like those cheap black economy chains and they want to avoid that because it doesn't sell like shiny though rust prone steel. When you increase the carbon to make the chain harder, chains don't stretch they wear at the pins, and make them more wear resistant the result is steel that is prone to rust. You can look it up but high carbon steel is very hard but rust prone. That is the problem we've got here. It's not cheap chinese steel it's that people don't wanna buy a black chain but aren't willing to shell out big bucks for nickel or titanium nitride plated chains. And as far as adding chromium you don't want to add too much since that'll make the metal gummy and prone to creep which would "stretch" in no time flat. I've actually had very good luck previously with plain black bikemaster non-oring chains. For $20 I was able to ride 16,000 miles, of course that meant lubing the chain every 250 miles, I just basically lubed the small easily accessed portion of the chain with a brush dippied in oil every moring before I rode.

qwertydude, you oil your chail with a brush every day, are you one of these people that just use 10w30 type oils on their chain?

in my experience, engine oil is a great thing if you like to oil your chain everyday... problem is that it gets flinged (yes fling-ed!) off the chain with usage, I dont mean to start a debate if you enjoy oiling your chain on a daily basis by all means don't let me stop you (smile).

usually you want to use an oil that is tretated so it clings to the chain, or leave properties on the metal so it remains "lubricated"
dryness (lack of lubricant) will cause premature wear at the pins.

There is a group of Wee-Stroms riders that are ADv-riders that dont oil their chain per say (stil investigating facts) but use a product that basically "lubricates with a dry product", supposed to "lube" and "coat metal" with some properties making stay lube for like 10-12,000 miles...

Ill post about it when I have more details.

cheers

My bike has sat out in the Florida elements (with a cover)  since Good Friday or March 21 and it had rust all over it. My friend said it wasn't a big deal . So, I took some WD40 to it did some good cleaning and lubed it up real nice. This is the chain that came on the bike when I bought it. When it was serviced on March 20 dealership said it was fine.

Is it ok or should I be lookin' at another chain. Just want to be safe!

mary S

anyone have a link to that chain for the gs?

I only oil the chain before a ride on my honda rebel, the chain has no rings so it needs constant lubing, I'm still on my original GS chain at 12,000. Looks to me that it'll last at least 20,000. I lube the GS's chain once a week considering I'll put 700 miles on my bike in that one week. I use a special oil that I make using a one part bardhal's no smoke and one part 75w-140 mix that with enough mineral spirits about 2-3 parts  to thin out just enough to make it easy to brush on and you'll have a very fling resistant chain oil that also creeps in between the links but provides plenty of high pressure lubing capability that the chain needs. Yes it is messy when it does eventually cling and but just a little bit of gasoline on a rag will wipe it right off.

Quote from: The Buddha on July 01, 2003, 07:07:25 AM

Quote from: werase643um,  
ah,
chains rust on the side plates unless you buy the expensive ones that are nickle plated/gold annodized/or plated with a color....

and most chain lubes are black and gunky....
sorry, no bling bling for you :kiss:

the all knowing BS'er of everything GS is working on a nice clean BELT CONVERSION.....to go with his 16 inch rims and crap-shin tires :nana:

at least he won't patch a tire....i have a nice used excedra rock for him to fix a flat..... :mrgreen:

I never patch tires...not when there is tubes to be put in them....Ha ha...
Belt drive thing may not work for any others...The rear 16 off a ninja 600 will take a vulcan 800 pulley...the front of the GS will take a vulcan pulley as well...The GS rear wont take the vulcans or any other aftermarket pulley. Unless they up and make the marauder system you need to make your own rear. Anyway the whole idea is that it also has to be cheap...I am thinking I should get the pieces and make it myself.
Cool.
Srinath.

hey srinath if/when you do the belt conversion, i demand pics and or  a write up