Okay before everyone screams at me yes I agree belts are better BUT here in New Zealand our roads are sealed with bitumen with coarse chip which is made from crushed rock so is pea sized with sharp edges covered in sticky **** so they adhere to your belt. I have just dropped my drive belt at 5000miles. My brother has done two belts in two years on his Fatboy.
Yes I know about the oil issues but O-Ring chains are a solution. So my questions are:

1 - Given NZ roads and the fact I am about to move to a new property where I will have to do 1/2 mile or so on gravel road to get to my house am I better to convert the FXDF to chain drive?

2 - What kind of life can I expect to get out of sprockets and chain?
(do around 2500-3000 miles per annum).

3 - Any recommendations/suggestions?

Thanks

 

Interesting problem! With unmade roads your chains, which will need lubrication, are likely to pick up dust and muck and will also suffer to some degree. So their life expectancy is likely to be poor, although they should be more reliable as regards breaking in service.

Have you considered trying to enclose your belt more? To reduce the chance of those pesky sticky chips getting at it? Might need a bit of imagination, but there must be enough lengths of plastic mouldings (electrical conduit/channel?) out there to make it feasible to enclose the upper and lower runs right up to the front pulley, using your current guards as the foundations.

US Ebay is a good source of secondhand parts, if you want to butcher bits and keep your originals to one side.

A shaft-drive BMW is a possible fix.....

 

1st, if your the kind of rider who keeps your bike spotless don't go chain or it will drive you insane tring to keep your bike clean. (I have 2 chain bikes & 2 belt bikes) 2nd, I ride hard and I get app. 5k out of any type of chain and I can get 2 chains to 1 set of sprockets (steel). 3rd, I recomend the same thing as grbrown, add more belt guard! The crap is coming off the tire on to the belt, so tie the upper and lower guards to geather with some thick black plastic something on the inside. Good Luck!