Expected Chain Life?

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generally there is no time limit its down to how well its maintained what grief it gets and the quality of the chain..
you tend to find the sprocket teeth hook or go to a point..
At that mileage id fit a new chain and obviously sprockets

 

Doesn't look too bad. Needs a fekkin clean, obvs. Use your thumb and forefinger and try to pull the chain away from the rear sprocket. If it comes away a few mil and has play back and forth, change it. Even if you think it's seen better days, change it. Gives a good base line. And clean the fucker regularly too.

 

Looking at the pics the sprockets do not look worn... so would guess a previous owner already changed them.

Rotate the chain and look for sticky links or play in links and then as Mary said check play on rear sprocket..

See if there is gaps where orings are missing...

If any are then change chain..

Id say your putting on too much lube... - try changing to Wurth or Profi Dry Lube....

Also its a Regina Chain set - I thought standard was DID... so a good brand too...

A chain well looked after, tensioned correctly with regular cleaning and lube for road use.... is probably between 10,000 and 20,000 - depending on your right hand.., bike power etc...

 

I think that the chain and sprockets have been changed before. My test is to look for tight spots in the chain as you turn the wheel. There will be some but if it gets excessive then it becomes difficult to adjust the chain correctly. Also, try pulling the chain away from the rear sprocket. It should not be excessive as this is an indication that the chain could jump off the sprocket!

Looking at the lock tab on the front sprockey from your pic then that looks kike it has been changed.

 

As mentioned, the life of a chain will vary depending on how well the chain has been maintained, the use (or abuse) that it's been subjected to, etc. Clean the chain every 600 miles (or less) and ensure that it's properly adjusted. Unless there's evidence of link binding, physical damage, etc., you won't be able to look at the chain and determine if replacement is warranted. 520, 525, and 530 chains all have the same pitch. Hold the chain taut and measure the distance between 16 links. If the measured value exceeds 256.5 mm, the chain should be renewed. The sprockets... the teeth on a new sprocket will have a blunt tip. As the sprockets wear, the teeth take on a hooked shaped appearance. When this occurs, the sprockets should be replaced. The chain and sprockets should always be replaced as a set. The life of a new chain can effectively be cut in half when installed on worn sprockets... the pitch of the new chain will differ from the pitch of the worn sprockets. What is pitch? Chain pitch is the distance between the centerline of one chain pin to the centerline of the next. Sprocket pitch is the distance between the center of one sprocket tooth and the center of an adjacent sprocket tooth when measured along the diameter of the pitch circle. The pitch of the chain and sprockets must match. While a 520, 525, and 530 chain or sprocket may have the same pitch, they are not compatible with one another. The chain's inner width and pin length will differ as will the thickness of the sprockets. If (for example), you purchase new 525 sprockets, you must also purchase a 525 chain.

 

Sorry to disagree with a previous post but the front sprocket is quite worn, look carefully on the drive side of the teeth around 2 o'clock in the photo and the wear has taken up to a mm out of that side of the tooth (it will be obvious when compared to a new one). You get some idea by comparing the drive side wear with the non drive side wear profile - they are identical when new.
Often you get more wear every second tooth as the chain wears as the contact ends up unevenly spread to every second tooth which accelerates the rate of wear of the chain as the load on each tooth contact is greatly increased - it is this you find when pulling the link away from the sprocket and checking how snuggly the chain fits within each pair of teeth. A link should not be able to rock back and forward around the perimeter of the sprocket, yours most certainly will. You have AFAM fitted which are good but not OEM. Get a new set then compare them and you will see the wear.
It will run ok for quite a few miles but if it was mine I would change it all. You need to clean the sprockets as well as the chain and I would recommend using dry chain lube which gets rid of most of the grinding paste wear you see on the front sprocket due to dirty lube

 

What he said ^^^^^^^

 

Wurth Dry is very popular over here.

 

The dry lube from Wurth was my number one choice, but since they've closed up shop here, I'm now using a Motul product. The choices are limited in my location as well... you have to use what you can get your hands on.

 

My hyperstrada chain was toast at 10000 miles, play between links, needed adjustment almost after every couple of rides, tight links. Same again at 20000 miles. Lubricated and cleaned regularly.
F & R sprockets changed at same time.
The torque and wheelies don't help.
£264.00 on AFAM chain and sprockets.

 

my 620 monster chain was fooked after 1000 miles... sprockets were fine.. thats what happens when you spend £26 on a chain... (launching it offa speed humps probably dont help) buy quality...

 

I've seen a few on here complain that the original when new chains on dukes seem to be not that great.

Away from that when regularly lubed, I'd expect my chain and sprockets to last between 20,000-25,000 miles. I've used in the past, scottoilers when having heavy touring years but, as the yearly mileage drops I've gone back to regular light cleans and oiling. I tend to oil the chain weekly with the oil I've taken out of the bike on the last oil change.

 

I disagree that the front sprocket is badly worn. Of course, it is difficult to tell from just (very good) photos without being able to touch and feel. And it does look much worse in the first photograph than the new ones. I think that it has been changed but we don't know when and for what reason. But to get thorough two front sprockets in 16k miles would, I consider, be very excessive.

 

Chain life threads are nearly always controversial and can often end up in a bun fight, glad I didn’t comment earlier/no point. What I will say is that Regina made some damn fine chains in their time and nothing wrong with the quality, they were standard fitment on some Lancias for many many years, I still have around half a dozen new ones and would have no qualms about fitting them. Can’t comment for quality of current production but certainly not to be written off as quickly as people tend to on here.

 

Perry, there is a difference between my statement "quite worn" and "badly worn" which is your interpretation of my post. The engine sprocket is plainly worn in both sets of photos, rear not so much

 

It is hard to comment accounting for parallax error and distortion from a mobile phone camera lens. I thought the front sprocket looked ‘non symetrical’ on the teeth but put it down to the above so didn’t comment on it either way

 

OK, I accept that we may be getting down to semantics, now. I was really thinking about 'would I replace it' rather than is it worn. I would maintain that it is not worn enough to warrant replacement yet - but, it is not easy to rely on photos. If it was the original, then at that mileage, I would say replace anyway. My experience is more from just going by the rear sprocket and chain. When I think that replacement is necessary from the test as described in various posts above, then the whole set get replaced anyway. In my experience, it is never the front sprocket that begins to start the process.