Originally Posted by
MikeWMass
I'm not sure the link wears like the chain. My understanding (which may be flawed) is that the wear and elongation occurs in the holes that the pins go through, not in the pins themselves. The holes on the link are not load-bearing, they just keep the link linked. I know my old links look the same as the new ones, just less shiny.
Having said that, the KMC chains (and Nashbar and Performance, which are also KMC) come with a new link, so I do change them when I change the chain.
The holes in the inner plates wear, *and* the surfaces of the pins they rub against also wear.
Superlink had a bad batch around 2000 with soft pins that wore *much* faster than the plates. In just 200 miles you would start to hear the link clicking. Removal would reveal the plates had worn grooves in the pins.