Tenere 700 Chain Reactions and Myth Busting BMW's M Endurance Chain 

The original plan wasn't to test it out, I was just looking for a chain that would last me longer than a couple months (12,000 miles)of riding. I do not work for RevZilla or get paid to test this chain out. I paid full retail price for it with no intention of a scientific test. I have no chain sponsors or chain cleaning sponsors as you claimed. Last year, well after this video was posted, ScottOiler sent me an automatic chain oiler to help lower my daily maintenance on the road. I'm still looking for the longest wearing chain as I pay for them myself. When I saw the internet blow up with an incredible new lifetime chain from BMW, I hoped the extra cost would result in longer life and less fussing. At the time, it was only available from BMW. (Regina is the manufacturer and now sells it for any bike with a 125 pitch) RevZilla was interested in the new chain and reached out to me because they know the miles I pile on. Like myself, they expected the chain to last longer than a stock chain and had some doubt about the BMW's original press releases that claimed ZERO maintenance for the life of the chain. This chain absolutely did not live up to the original hype BMW claimed, and it was BMW themselves that did indeed change their description from the miracle zero Maintenance for the life of the chain to now state it is a "low maintenance" chain. BMW walked back the claim because it wasn't tested in real world conditions and they took Regina's word that it would last forever with no adjustments and no lubrication. BMW agreed it was wrong to claim zero maintenance and changed the way they describe it. They now actually do recommend lubrication and adjustments when the bike is at the dealer for routine service intervals. I really hoped the chain would last longer, as I was looking for ways to lower my yearly travel expenses. I'm sure my experience with the chain was not isolated and BMW decided it could no longer claim it was a lifetime chain based on what they were seeing in the field.

@@longhaulpaul Thank you for your calm and constructive response to that person @cosef4491. His attacking and confrontational style is ruining the discussion. If he were a journalist, he would be the cause of the degradation. Sincerely, subscription added.

For this particular experiment, we followed the claim from BMW at the time that it was a zero maintenance chain. No oiling, no cleaning, no adjusting. (BMW has since change their description of this chain to low maintenance, which I would agree it is. With proper cleaning, oiling and adjusting, it will hold up better than a traditional O-ring chain)

I’ve had two catastrophic failures with clips over the last 100,000 miles. No thanks. Yes, they were pressed on and the clip in the groove. The pins wear, and the link pops off. I’ve heard from hundreds of people who have seen it happen on migh mileage chains.

First clip installed at a dealer was missing the next day / 1200 miles later. The chain had so much play it was visible in each link. Clip is hardened steel, so it didn't stay connected. Second one came off after about 9000 miles, that's the one that ripped a hole through my engine case, broke off the boss for the bolt holding the front sprocket cover, took out my rear wiring harness and locked up my motor at 80 mph. I'll never trust a clip again.

I'm on my 8th set of chains and sprockets on this bike, (85,000 miles) and they all end up stretched after 12-15,000 miles. I replace both sprockets with the chains despite no measurable wear on them. The BMW chain experiment was done according to BMWs claim of zero maintenance and monitored by RevZilla for their report. No build up of grease as we didn't use any. Sprockets were installed properly and no issues until 12,000 miles when the chain had stretched considerably. It was only after riding another 1000 miles past the worn out phase did the pins start to deform considerably, yet not uniformly. Read the RevZilla Common Treads story, as they disassembled the chain and show the deformed pins. A used chain was installed in CA to get me home (3000mi) on the old sprockets and it did not pulse, so output shaft and/or sprockets are not the issue. The rear spring has just been upgraded with the hope of allowing the suspension to have less stress, as loaded up I was cranked fully on the preload and putting more stress on the drive chain.

New chains will always "stretch" because each individual roller and bushing will wear slightly, increasing the gap between each contact point (2 per link, 100 links or so, adds up) so of course you'll need to readjust it at least once after a few thousand miles. Letting it stretch, then not adjusting is the worst thing to do.

Should be careful riding near geese by the sound of it!

This is absolutely not true. I’ve had many chains wear out exactly like this.

Yeah, that's what they said about my Tenere on display at Barber! My bikes tend to rot away the wiring and connectors from riding through a few winters. 2-3 years and 180,000 hard miles is about what I get out of using a bike to travel full time. After that, it's raffled off for the charity. If I followed the maintenance schedule to the letter, It would cost over $10,000 more a year for service. I'm certainly not going to oil my chain 4-5 times every day I log 1000 miles. My abuse of motorcycles is well documented and if I get 150-200,000 miles out of a Yamaha without doing much preventive maintenance, imagine how many miles it would last someone else who did!

Yes. It was a non o ring chain only thing available in Vegas on a Sunday. It stretched so much in a day that the clip disengaged.

@@longhaulpaul sounds like it was a crap chain. I've also used clip type master links for decades, and have NEVER had one fail.

@@phillipbatho3213 first one was a DID NON-O ring. Only 525 122 link or better chain available in emergency. Second was a HK x ring I believe that ships with only a clip.

Shafts are nice. Put 300,000 miles on Super Tenere. Have over a million miles on various shaft bikes. The chain is a lighter, less expensive drive train. With my oiler, I’m not getting 25,000 miles per chain with no cleaning or adjusting until tire changes.

Of course. I’m now at almost 200,000 miles on this bike, so I’ve gone through over a dozen sets. I installed a chain oiler and now get 25,000 miles from a chain set without any cleaning or oiling. I only adjust when replacing tires every 7000 miles or so.

Yes, BMW actually changed the description of the M-chain after my testing it with RevZilla. They absolutely did first call it a No Maintenance chain. No adjusting and no oiling for the life of the chain. It’s right in all their original advertising. I did not do anything to the chain to ruin it. I ran it in the same conditions I did the other 10 chains I’ve had on the bike.

Incorrect. You can replace as many as 3 front sprockets for 1 rear (depending on the front to back teeth ratio). So, if your front sprocket has 15 teeth and your rear 45 you are exactly at 1:3 ratio which means the rear should last as 3 of those 15-teeth front sprockets. The chain is checked for stretching and that's about it. Mechanics and shops want to sell you stuff, hence the myths. P.S. Links with clips are fine as long as you don't mess up the orientation of the C-clip.

A shaft on a 900 or T7 would be awesome. I enjoyed my 1200's, but the 7 is just as good or better except two-up travel. Tubes and chain are the only items needing attention. If I can get 25k out of a chain, I'd be 1000% satisfied!

Of course. Clean and lube any chain properly and you will get 25,00 km out of any of them. I’m getting 40,000 km out of my X ring chains now that I use an auto oiler. The M chain was originally marketed by BMW as a lifetime chain with zero maintenance, zero adjustments. That was our testing criteria. BMW now admits it is only a low maintenance chain and pulled all the ads claiming zero maintenance.

I wouldn't swap for a 1200. Wheels are great now and I'll figure out the chain issue. Highway isn't high reving as far as I'm concerned, at a GPS 85, I'm just about 6k rpm. It redlines at 10k, so enemy at 100mph, it's not working hard st all. Zero vibrations at high speed as well.

@@longhaulpaul So you're saying the T7 is a great next bike for someone seeking something a bit smaller? I have a KLX 300 as well, for really tight trails and stuff, but I'm looking at a Norden 901, KTM 890 and T7 as potential replacements. The T7 is much less expensive, and much more reliable.

I had a Bull Ulysses once. Broke two belts 12,000 miles apart leaving me stranded both times. The venture never had an issue, but I didn't adjust it between tires. . I've had a couple shaft problems as well over the last 45 bikes. I've have probably owned 10-15 chain bikes, but they were never my long distance 50-80k a year bikes. I knew chains and tubes would be my only issue switching to the T7, but my job is to try and break it! I love the versatility of an adventure bike as well as the smaller size. I've solved the tube issue, so I just have to solve the chain issue and it's a perfect machine. I was told to get a chain oiler, fill it and forget it. That didn't work. Then I tried keeping a good eye on the adjustment and lubed it every day on the road. Not much better. I was told a clip link was fine and one of the new chains were delivered with only a clip. No idea it would just fall off after a while. Tried the BMW chain because it claimed to be lifetime! I hoped for 25k at least. But it didn't last any more than the others. For an average rider, 12-15,000 miles means a year or two in between chains and it is pretty easy to swap out. I'm just nonstop and long days, high speed and terrible at keeping thug maintained during my trips. Oil and tires every 4-5 weeks or 7- 10k miles. I just swap out the chain at the same time I suppose!

Yeah, I wish small adv bikes had shafts as well, but for most people a chain every couple years isn't a issue at all.

They have like the same horsepower, lol

horse power has nothing to do with it. What loads the chain and puts it in tension is the torque (and maybe more significantly, shock loads from the environment, but those are unpredictable). The F800 actually has more torque than the T7 (83 vs 69Nm), so I don't think that explanation holds up. However, maybe the suspension travel of the T7 has something to do with it. Iirc the T7 has an unusually long rear suspension travel, and change in the travel also causes a difference in the length between sprockets (and hence chain length). It could be that if your suspension is set too soft, that (nearing) bottoming out can cause a lot of shock loads on the chain, more so than more road oriented bikes.

Always fitted new sprockets with chains.

Chains stretched enough that it popped off the pins.

That’s because the bike doesn’t come with the center stand. The measurement is the same as long as the bike is unloaded of weight. As my bike has luggage racks and a fuel cell, it would be an hour job to unload the weight to check on the side stand. The chain is in the exact position when on the side stand (without load) or on the center stand with any amount of load.

I think it all depends on weight and sag. Different for each rider. I just put a heavier spring in (I'm at 80k) and will probably go back closer to spec. With the stock spring I had my preload at 100% fully loaded up and I was setting the chain about 1/2" more than spec.

Yes, because the bike doesn’t come with a center stand. However, the chain slack measurement is the exact same center or side stand as long as you have no load on the bike when on the side stand. By using the center stand, you don’t have to unload the bike to adjust the chain.

Yes, but I did not adjust or oil the chain. Just removed the axle and put it right back where it was.

I do. 2.5 gal. Bunch about mounting it in my last couple videos on set up. Both T12s were custom built. 5 gal and a 6 gal.

@@longhaulpaul Thanks for the reply Paul and the inspiration!

I do. There is a Tube Only version of the A41 tire that gets me 10,000 miles from the rear. If you use the regular tubeless version, I get about 7500 miles out of the rear. I've gone 12-14,000 on a front, but usually change as a set. I used the A41 exclusively on the T12s and was very happy with them there as well.

@@longhaulpaul Do you perhaps have a rationale for the diferrence in mile life time between tube and tubeless? Had a Vstrom 650 a couple of years ago and I got around 9500 miles outside the rear, now I have an old CBF 600 with similar power with the A41 and after 3000 miles they are 75% gone… although both are tubeless. I cannot explain it

Yes. I get 7500 miles typically out of my rears. 13,000 or so out of the fronts.

It's the heat build up from 15-16 hours nonstop at 80-90 mph that is sucking the life out of the metal. If a KTM was ridden the same, it would be similar. Even oiling it three times a day didn't help extend the life.

@@longhaulpaul man come on, It’s impossible to ride 15-16 hours nonstop every day or even every other day. If u r doing that, it’s not safe!

@@TWPeeps With Paul, it’s not only possible, it’s normal…. That’s his way of life!

@@stoney3398 this is the last I will say on the matter. I’m sure the guy is great and rides more than anyone, but 16 hours per day everyday would be from 6 a. m. to 10 p. m. I believe extradited somewhat, don’t u? No more comments from me. I really don’t give a crap!

Probably maintaining their bikes correctly, and not just trying to ride them to destruction! 😂

NO!

@@C_R_O_M________ why not?

@@lukew1779 because it's a stupid idea for an off road machine. Belts would get destroyed there. Not only from potential branches , rocks and twigs that could get caught in there and slice the belt up but also because the swingarm of offroad bikes has a much greater range of motion than that of a street bike. The chain is designed to have a looser tension (and flexes itself after that), that compensates for extreme swingarm movements. Belts, can't be set to be loose and don't flex. If they do flex they are incapable of transferring power above a certain load. There are very good reasons why off road bikes use chains and nothing else (differentials are fitted in bikes where mild offroading is expected - such as the Super Tenere and GSs - and weight isn't a problem, everything else gets the lightweight chain and sprockets application and its superb reliability).

@@C_R_O_M________ This guy is doing long road trips on highways, not single track. It would work fine and last much longer.

I used a DID X ring. At 11,000 miles it had enough play in just a section of 10 links, it moved 1/2". Wasn't impressed at all. BikeMaster chain was the best so far, but I'm on my second RK GXW chain and they are showing promise. Two Factory chains were not bad either, but come solid, have to break and add a master.

@@longhaulpaul Thanks for the info. I have 8k miles on my DID chain and It's almost as good as new. I do run it loose and gear oil it every day. Also I don't ride at as high speeds at you. Would love a video / article on chain recommendations tho :)