You wouldn’t believe what BMW Motorrad have done!
Name me the most frustrating moment for anyone who owns a chain drive Motorcycle? CHAIN MAINTENANCE! You’re either going to say: Lubrication or even worse, the dreaded Chain Clean.
Either way it’s not great news.
Until now.
So those Motorrad people at BMW have only gone a created a maintenance FREE drive Chain! And they’ve gone and called it the “M Endurance Chain”.
Just imagine, no more greasy chain lube covering the rear tyre. No more maintenance and no more wasted time with lubrication.
At this point I need someone to wake me up from my chain maintenance dream. But hold on, this is actually real.
BMW it seems has covered the rollers in the chain with a material called “tetrahedrally amorphous carbon (abbreviated ta-C)”. More commonly known as “Industrial Diamond”. And everybody knows Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Nope, that’s not the saying I was going for! What I meant to say was “one of the hardest natural substances on the planet”.
At this point, you are probably wondering about the rest of the chain. Why won’t they cover the whole chain in “tetrahedrally amorphous carbon”. Well, due to the friction caused with the sprocket the rollers are the only part of the chain that needed lubrication. Furthermore, even when chain lube was required. It wasn’t required in between the chainplates as everyone always believed anyway.
So, is it worth it? Well, I think it is. But like with most new gadgets and upgrades it all depends on price.
To start with BMW have announced they will be rolling the “M endurance chain” as standard on the S1000RR and S1000XR. With the intention to expand the new chain across the BMW range.
But hold on how about the rest of us?
It’s not all bad. You see a BMW S1000RR off the assembly line uses a (525.120). So, as long as your bike has a chain that uses the same pitch and is equal to or smaller than the length used on the BMW. You are in.
What you have to do however is buy a BMW part for your Yamaha/Ducati/Honda/Suzuki/Kawasaki … etc … and I don’t know if you will be able to stomach the BMW part on your bike.
Curious as to the Pitch and chain length on your bike? simple. Follow the “JT Sprocket Link” and insert your bike details. I know my two Suzuki’s are in the club. (DL1000/L5 & GSX-S1000/L7)
