2019 BMW S1000 XR

[Grumpy Goat]

I have a friend that is on his 2nd S1000RR and he mentioned he only needs to adjust the chain when it's near the end of it's life.
On his current RR he is going without lubing the chain. Last month in Kentucky I asked how the no lube experiment was going and he said the chain was within a couple thousand miles of it's expected life.
He likes to travel light

I suspect that some people get too obsessed with chain maintenance, but at the same time I believe that some maintenance is necessary. Your friend's experiment is an extreme that I probably not good for the chain, but if he is getting the expected life from it then that probably shows that there is significant design margin in the chain. When I had my chain bike I hardly ever cleaned and lubed it every 500 miles, but did it whenever I remembered and when it looked like it needed it, using a good quality waxy lube. That was probably every 1-2000 miles.

I have a friend who has 2 cruisers presently and he does little to no maintenance on them (largely because he doesn't know how and has not bothered to learn) including cleaning and greasing the chain. I suspect that over the many years he has had the bikes the chain may have not been cleaned or lubed and they are still running without failure. Maybe one fine day he will have to change the chain and sprockets all in one shot.