So did you hear about the new maintenance-free - diamond-coated chain from Regina?
Buy REGINA HPE - CHAIN 525 High-Performance Endurance | Louis motorcycle clothing and technology
BMW offers it with its high-end models, no cleaning, no lubing, no tightening required...
...on paper, because in the small print there is a certain amount of maintenance required and Regina is not responsible for any future mishaps
It is also very expensive without lasting longer than a regular set according to the factory.
I am too neurotic to ride thousands of miles without caring for the chain, so not for me!
Yeah, I don't care how "maintenance free" a chain is, it's still getting lubed.
Actually this is a hot topic over on the XR forums and I have a lot of insight, from personal experiences with friend's bikes too.
The HPE or M-Endurance chain (literally the same thing) is truly maintenance free and you're NOT supposed to lube it as it's actively BAD for the chain. The only sort of lube you should ever use on it is dry lube but even that's hardly necessary. This is because wet lubes cause dirt to stick to the chain and grains of sand (with quartz in them) can damage the coating on the rollers and essentially strip the protection on the rollers. The rollers with this coating and the side plates being zinc coated are almost completely weather resistant so once again lube is not necessary to shield from weather. The only explicit maintenance that's required is cleaning the chain, but this can be done much less frequently due to the aforementioned, less dirt sticking to the chain.
In general there isn't a lot of feedback yet but most people that went fully no maintenance route with it are around 10-15k miles with the chain being WELL within spec and no apparent tight spots on the chain. There was 1 guy who reported their chain has rusted, but the rust seems to be around the inner pin and it's only surface rust, probably a one of case, and it's not even clear if he has the M-Endurance chain or just a standard chain. Most also say basically no adjustment was needed in this time frame.
I have a friend who has the M-endurance chain on his Gen 2 XR and I regularly check in with him. The sprockets also experience much less wear due to the overall less friction between the chain and sprockets.
For overall life I've not seen anyone having to get rid of their M-endurance chains yet, there are some people that've done 20k on the Gen 2s already but I don't know if they have this chain or not. To me though even if it only lasts the same time as a regular chain, which I think it'd last more, I still think it's worth it, because it's not only hassle free, it also saves you on chain lube and cleaner!
Tallying it up for my XR (just chains alone):
DID ZVMX (Their top chain): £120
Tsubaki Sigma XRG (A chain I've been running on the ER6 too and it's one of the best traditional chains period.): £155
BMW M-endurance/Regina HPE: £230
Now add about ~£80 for chain lube and cleaning spray for the life of the chain (3x£10 bottles of lube, 5x£10 bottles of cleaner, probably underestimating even). And you're damn near the M-endurance chain. And that's a lot of hassle saved.
Hope this was informative, don't mean to be nit-picking, but I was suspicious/sceptical about this maintenance free chain so much so that I ended up getting the Tsubaki for my XR instead of the M-endurance chain, but I've seen a lot of results that really changed my mind and once this Tsubaki is done i'm 100% getting the M-endurance/Regina HPE chain. By then they probably would've worked out any kinks and/or improved the product even more.