Really the tight wad thing was a bit of a joke. But, having worked in a dealership in sales and parts I can tell you most non-O-ring chains were sold only based on price, few know the reason why racers run them, but you do.

Does take hard core bike maintenance to keep that bit of power from the lower amount of drag, far more than most would be willing to do. The trick would be to have two chains and alternate when it comes to maintenance to do a good clean job on the dirty one. I remember what it took to maintain the ones on my short tracker and hare scrambles rides.

So, to insult the other riders, lazy riders use the O-ring chain which is far easier to live with. I like not having to oil the chain as frequent as would be needed, I know the chain life is good too, and can live with the loss of whatever power and gain in mpg might be. I also remember how messy it was having to lube the chain all the time on the street bike pre-O-ring, then having to lube during trips, not fun. That's why I use the O-ring chain. They just plain take so little maintenance and run long miles. 15,000 miles with minimal cleaning and lubing on a dual sport is pretty darn good. I'd do chain and sprockets along with tires at the same time.

But if I should pick up a trials bike I'll probably use a non-O-ring and have a chain or two ready to swap out Makes it so I yank off the dirty chain and throw it in a can of some cleaner, to finish cleaning and lubing later.