I've got did gold, the plating has mostly faded and doesn't look very good under inspection. Not bad, but I'd expect my chain to look like the pictures shown of the Regina chain. My chain is around 15k km old, been adjusted a couple of times. These pictures were after my latest trip around Wales for a weekend where it got caked in mud and grit, I took the snaps after I rinsed it down. As you can see, the gold is patchy and faded, still healthy though.
All chains are sealed units now. Lubing them surely does very little other than keep it from rusting. Oil between roller and sprocket will probably last one revolution. Might treat myself to the Endurance chain on my Desert X next spring.
I disagree with your oil between roller and sprocket statement, as I always have a very thin film of lube there (Motul C5). Otherwise as you say - most stuff put on a chain is to counter corrosion as their O- or X-rings keep the original lube in where it matters.
Indeed, they are there as I don't like the threads being exposed. I should really get round to buying flush seating bolts.
I blanked off the holes, having removed the crud catcher, with rubber PC fan mounts. IIRC I cut them short and just pushed them in. Stayed in place for 12000 odd miles. Crud catcher still in place on the PP, will get removed when I tension the chain next though.
I’m bored and have been looking in to the background of ta-C (tetrahedral amorphous Carbon), a diamond like, carbon (DLC) coating used on the roller and bushing in the Regina HPE chain. Science and engineering are great, creating a hard wearing, low friction, inert, corrosion free, ultra thin coating used in a wide variety of applications from human joint replacements to machine tools, automotive parts and even parts for nuclear power generation. Unfortunately, it has absolutely nothing to do with the apparent increased aesthetic characteristics of the Regina chain. When you get behind the smoke and mirrors, that, it would appear, is down to good, old fashioned, quality anodising Like just about every, modern, quality motorcycle drive chain on sale today, the life limiting factors are the Z-ring and the link pin which is probably why Regina don’t makes any claims about an increased life. ta-C coating is an expensive process and couple that with higher anodising standards, the higher cost is obvious but which-craft and magic, it isn’t. Andy
At the end of the day , my bike has no oil spatter , easy maintenance, and it’s a cost I like . Coming from shaft drive is as good as you get . Recon the way it’s wearing , 20 k and no fooling around , simples
Nah, there’s bike racing to catch up on and chilled beer in the fridge, easiest decision of the weekend. Andy
