Minimal maintenance will get you 20,000 miles out of a chain. Some have gotten twice that by taking very good care of them. You can tell when they are worn because they tend to wear unevenly causing them to alternately tighten and loosen as they go around the sprockets. In turn, this causes the bike to rhythmically “surge.” When it first started on my first chain I thought I had engine problems. There is an aftermarket belt kit available through Brent that avoids that and will probably last 100,000 miles. But, it’s not cheap and manufacturing delays can be lengthy.

We all like to think of ourselves as rugged individualists. But when push comes to shove most of us are sheep who do what we are told. Worst of all, a lot of us become unpaid agents of whoever is controlling the agenda by enforcing the current dogma on the few rugged individualists who actually exist.