I put thick transmission oil (75W90) on the chain. It sticks enough to prevent salt and rust.
Never found better and cheaper chain lube. It just smell bad.
You’re obviously riding in the wrong type of rain. 
I think BMW offer a maintenance free chain as an option on some of their bikes, so I did a quick Google on maintenance free chains and came across the Regina HPE chain.
On their website it states -
“In addition, the Regina HPE eliminates the need for chain cleaning and lubrication. This is not only less labour intensive, but also more environmentally friendly.”
It then goes on to say -
"Care instructions:
To guarantee the function and aesthetics, please follow 3 simple rules:
Clean and relubricate the chain:
- after washing the motorbike
- after a ride in wet and/or salty or dusty conditions
- Before storing the motorbike at the end of the season (winter)."
That doesn’t sound any more maintenance free than any other chain to me!
1 Like
Yeah, I read that as well and had exactly the same thoughts as you. I’m not interested in one as I’m happy with my own chain maintenance again but I thought it might be interesting to hear from anyone that’s got one, or one of the BMW M endurance chains.
Unfortunately the winter road salt treatment that local authorities use in the UK is highly corrosive, and not like the product used in Europe, even the best cleaned and lubed chain is not enough to stop the corrosive salt from attacking the chain, and consequently even a 2 hour ride out is enough to show signs of chain rust. When it rains then matters get even worse, the road salt activates further with devastating results, it is not only machines that are affected, when it rains the surface water is heavily contaminated with road salt, this goes into the drainage systems, then in most cases it diverts into the sewerage system, (these are very old networks of pipes remember, not new systems that legislation requires separate drainage), this then goes through the pumping system, and you have guessed it causes corrosion and failure of machine parts. I know I have digressed slightly, however the problem is huge, this can be overcome if our local authorities used the same non corrosive treatment for winter road ice as our continental friends do, our local councils always cite a “lack of extra funds”, maybe if they sold off the mayoral cars with private plates and cut back on all the council business lunches and expenses, then more funds would be available, and meanwhile our poor chains rust away, unless you have a good old shaft drive bike.
The product in Europe, as I understand it, is still rock salt. There are some country-specific differences in grain size and chloride content, apparently, though I’m not sure how much difference that will make. It isn’t salt without the chlorine.
And the salt crystallises on the road when it’s dry and then next time it rains- it starts all over again and warm wet spring days will only make things worse.
I think we have less salt spread on the roads there in France.
Snow tires are mandatory in some departments. Salt is mainly used on motorways (I remind they are private and blo…y expensive, so it’s a minimum service).
Germany also salt the roads a lot.
Everyone that wants to import a second hand car from Germany should know that.
Rusted chassis is not uncommon there.
1 Like
This what I use. Doesn’t fling off at all. I just replaced my chain, having done in excess of 22K miles with it. It was on the bike when I purchased it, so I’m not sure how many miles were on it in total. Pretty good going, I think.
I didn’t find much of use when I searched for information on chain lubrication the other day but this just appeared in my Twitter timeline.
That’s the review I linked to
1 Like
Can’t see what all the fuss is about myself 
1 Like
Oops, I scanned back but obviously not very well. 
Didn’t see anything that would make me change from ep80/90 gear oil.
3 Likes
Gear oil is my preference too, been through them all including scott oilers. I find gear oil cheap, effective, easy cleaned, easy applied, does not leave a grinding paste behind the front sprocket cover, and easy to work with when on tour. For me and many others, its the best solution by a fair margin.
2 Likes
It seems to me that it doesn’t matter too much what people use, the important thing is keeping the chain cleaned and lubed regularly.
4 Likes
I gave the chain a good going over with the WD40 chain cleaner and lube and it all looks nice and shiny again now. We’ll see how it holds up.
4 Likes
My concern with WD40 is iwhether it can penetrate the o-rings. That sounds like a Bad Thing for the longevity of a chain. I suppose the effect could be masked if a chain is regularly cleaned and lubricated but then you’re not getting the benefit of a chain that’s probably cost a bit more to start with.
It’s not regular WD40, it’s WD40 chain cleaner and WD40 lube for motorcycle chains, so I would hope they’re not producing a product that damages chains.
3 Likes
I recently purchased Muck off lube. I have not ridden my bike since its application last year however it shows up under UV which allows u the areas missed to be easily identified