Відео

Yes RNR gold is pretty old tech these days, there is a lot of carrier, and it is not the longest lasting treatment thats for sure. WT1 is much longer lasting, the main issue of course is that it is very wet, which = high contamination attraction, and a nice easy liquid pathway for that contamination to move from outside to inside where it will cause a lot of wear. Really for offroad you should be on a wax drip - something like smoove is great option for many, it is great price point, long lasting, and IF not over applied stays pretty clean for a decent number of re lubes. Effetto flower power is the lowest wear drip lube tested, and overall it is a brilliant, it just runs a little black visually so not as clean as some -but again just wiping chain post application and post rides things stay pretty good for a good stretch. If you must be on a wet lube even though you ride in the world of dirt and dust cos thats how you roll - then you want a lubricant that very effectively lubricates with a low application amount, and is long lasting. The top one there is silca synerg-E and rex black diamond, followed by silca synergetic and the likes of rex domestique, nix frix shun etc. Pick a wet lube in the top 5 rankings in block 2. If you have been using wt-1 for any length of time, keep a very close and regular eye on your chain wear rate as it may be rapid.

Thanks Stuart! And depends what you mean by protect.... if its protect from friction and wear, then the sticky wax wont be as good. In dry road conditions i would not be too worried about riding it, offroad more dust is going to stick than would likely happen with the wax being in its normal condition. You could expect that efficiency would be also not as good as there will be more stiction and viscous friction on every sliding surface movement, of which there are a lot of those per minute (about 300,000 in the big ring at 90 cadence). Let me know how attempt 2 goes. I am worried that if strip chip is not able to convert the FG as it is designed on the first go, the FG will negatively impact the wax. That is the point of the strip chip, is to stop the negative change to the wax if just directly wax over FG. Once that has occurred, i dont believe you can deal with it retrospect - it could be like asking it to unscramble the egg so to speak. I used fresh wax for my 2nd attempt after first attempt turned out not to be perfect on inspection post ride so i could better assess any difference giving it more time to get back to proper temp. I personally wouldnt re use the wax from my first attempt - but this is easier for me, i get bulk HM at w/sale. If following the instructions leads to an issue for normal consumers - that could be an ouch re wax $$. I think silca will be looking at the above deeper and hopefully change official instructions soon.

Ok so I redid two chains with the original Silca wax. I also recorded the temperature as I put the chains in. The first time I put the chains in to the Silca pot about 3 weeks ago the ambient temperature was 10 Celsius ( I did not monitor the wax temp drop). Today the ambient temp was 22 Celsius, with the 11 speed chain there was no appreciable temp drop (3 degrees at most). I followed the directions and kept monitoring the temp and took the chain out at the appropriate time. The wax was not sticky upon removal. The original chain with the sticky wax was inserted next (flat top SRAM chain 12 speed) into the wax when the wax reached the correct temperature with the strip chip 125 Celsius (I was treating that chain again as if it had fresh factory oil on). I noticed with the SRAM chain when inserted into the wax pot increased the wax pot temp to 140 Celsius before coming back to stabilize at 125 after about 3 minutes of chain immersion. After following the Silca directions I removed the chain, the wax was not sticky and felt like regular wax. The only thing I cannot test, is of course, frictional wear. So for me it seems the rewaxing worked? But of course this is anecdotal. Always appreciate your insight and knowledge. Regards.

Ha yes.......oh man if only peeps knew - let me tell you overall the testing is a grind. Keeping 3 machines going as much as possible is very difficult, and going any more i would for sure need someone to take over other work of mine, which just isnt viable really - the margins just aint there for just selling chain lubricants and chains, and testing is very low $$ for the time it takes, i havent worked out an approx hourly rate for testing as im too scared too hahahahaha. I think if i was in america i could get interns to work for free doing stuff? :)

Can you expand? What independent testing are you looking for? (methodology etc). What bias are you concerned about? In this video i have already explained a concern re the product using as per the instructions. Is that the bias you are complaining about? Please provide more information to substantiate comment.

Ah, maybe not if I were using a strip chip

For normal rewaxing yes that is the correct method (or for waxing post solvent clean etc). Just not for strip chip, the FG will adversely affect the wax before then adding strip chip - it would be like trying to unscramble an egg.

Absolutely MUST be at 0.5% if you want to protect your cassette and chainrings from rapid wear. A lot of wear damage to those components will occur running chains to 0.75%. New chain checkers with the earliest measure being 0.75% or 0.8% should not be sold. It is like saying the best wear mark for your tire wear is when you can see canvas through the tread. It is far too late.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Thanks!

does infa red work accurately on wax? i would double check that..... a cheap cooking or candy thermometer will be cheaper by miles than an infra red

ua-cam.com/video/Fy0pHGcgShs/v-deo.html will tell you the issue with IR thermometers, namely emissivity which if not adjusted for creates false readings.

it is, but there is some fun it seems re pots that do or maybe dont show live temp., but even those that do show live temp, that live temp is well ahead of the actual wax temp due to where the thermostat is. Stay tuned..

No need to preheat the chain. Just put the chain in the solid wax. As it heats up, it'll help the wax melt more quickly since it has much higher conductivity than the wax.

​@@neutronpcxt372 For some reason Silca adds the chain after the chip ( before any grease has dissolved into the wax) when the wax is up to 125°C . Adam currently thinks it likely if you do it your way round ( let the grease dissolve in the wax before adding the chip ) the reaction won't work. Hopefully Silca will tell Adam what can and can't be done ? If not he may test it as it looks just from this video's comments that many will try it.

@@neutronpcxt372 You cannot do this for strip chip use. Strip chip must be melted into the wax for it to take care of the FG, so the FG does not negatively impact the wax. It does not work in retrospect, it will not unscramble the egg. The silca use instructions are clear - heat wax to 125, then melt in strip chip, then add the chain. If you are looking to use strip chip to degrease FG on a new chain, do not put chain in as you heat up wax. Normal re waxing - that is for sure best practice, but not for strip chip.

i dont think for any temps we would actually ride in. It doesnt matter that the wax is softer in hotter temps. I do heat sessions in the sauna at 50 to 55dg c, and havent been able to detect any negative to treatment lifespan or seen a strange reduction in chains lifespan - mind you it is taking me awhile to clock up enough trainer kms just yet - but thus far i cant detect an impact. So riding in even 40dg celsius which for most would be about the max - in 8 years + of selling wax i have had only one or maybe its two - people write in with concerns - but it was just concern based on temp and melting wax, not anything based on hey my wax isnt lasting or my chain didnt last as long as expected on wax etc. So no i dont think so, i havent seen any evidence yet that high temps are negatively impacting wax.

possibly - since i have heard that others have live (albeit apparently quite delayed temp -ie it is showing the temp of the element, not the wax, so the live temp is still WAY ahead of wax temp) - so i will check mine, will press more buttons after setting and see if there is an extra press to lock in that set temp and then show live temp

yeah i got a couple of vids of his taken down due to defamation, and the working plan is that if he kept pumping out vids making up lots of nasty stuff (man i have only scratched the surface of malicious crap he has just made up and pumped out there) - that my lawyer will keep liaising with YT asking to demonetize channel. Along with that i have an email from a guy who rides with him from time to time, and is in some chat group with him - he wrote in to advise me i should be careful as Durian has been looking for anyone keen to "brick my house" for him - so that is nice. Anyhoo will be forwarding that on to lawyer and police. What astounds me most re durian is not that despite he is just so obviously a pile of human garbage who makes up horrific crap about people for drama and views - it is the way of the world that similarly morally bankrupt and stupid people will flock to that, but that he still has people in cycling media that refer to him. It is crazy to hitch your wagon to that immoral train. Thats why i stopped following the likes of chris miller cycling etc - when the co host jesse coyle kept referring to durian - its just frankly unbelievable. For oh so many good reasons he is mostly a pariah in cycling industry, and for those whom he isnt yet - that says a lot of really bad things about them. Anyone in cycling associating with that very, very bad man in anyway should be avoided

I asked Josh about that, thinking as you no doubt do, that the cold chain will cool the wax and form a barrier... and the rest. He said they tested pre-warming the chain and it did work better but the difference was marginal and probably wouldn't make a noticeable difference. I preheat mine too, lol, but I just use a heat gun and measure the temp with a heat gun.

@@robertwhyte3435 That may very well be true, but preheating the chain gives me a warm and fuzzy.

@@laneromel5667 a warm and fuzzy what ?

Put your cold chain on top of your solid wax, turn on the melting pot and leave it. Check every-now-and-then and once the wax has completely melted, do some swishing and you're good to go.

@@laneromel5667 that could be good idea if using strip chip to degrease - but for normal re waxing just put chain in as wax heats up. Pre heating separately is unnecessary faff, and wont do anything that heating the chain up with the wax would do. You dont need to worry about penetration when you are putting chain submerged in liquid, the chain is far from waterproof, it is not a submarine. The issue that people have who put a chain in cold, swish and remove - is simply the remaining old coating did not have time to melt off, be flushed out, and replaced with fresh wax. So just put chain on wax and turn pot on and the swish when at temp and hang to set. Pre heating for normal re waxing aside from being unnecessary faff, also what happens to the wax melting off not in the pot etc. Overall such a process seems harmless, but remember immersive waxing is constantly fighting a miss conceptions that it is a huge time commitment and a lot of faffing. If i talk a cyclist re waxing i can explain the correct process and how simple and easy it is. Vs some others that add in extra completely unnecessary and zero benefit steps - it just puts more people off who may have considered but then go far out wtf is with all that, i aint going there.

In the testing its new bits every test so new rings are not causing that for the first couple of thousand kms, it starts to be introduced on the worst products tested trying to get through tougher blocks when chain is knackered and lubricant doesnt last the intervals

?? i have 3 test machines, and 3 is the max a) for room and b) i wouldnt have the time resources to try to run more than 3 machines and tests at a time. Alas, i have a lot of other zfc work to do as well as the testing. I am not a government employee :)

thats cool, but unless you are testing and need extremely accurate wear measures - cyclists just need a relatively cheap and simple drop in checker so it can be quickly and easily used frequently, so they know when to replace. Remember also that overall zfc recommends against full chain measure (or even 60cm would be way too long for optimal use) due to the fact chains do not wear evenly, and in many cases the difference by section can be surprisingly large. We want those shorter 8 to 12 link length check tools, and quickly check circa 5 sections, and use most worn section as the replacement mark. It can be on chains that one section is at 0.4, and another is at 0.6 - if a section is that worn, we need to replace chain. Full length elongation measures, or such a long tool - will miss this important part of checking and ensuring not having a more worn than average section causing wear damage to drivetrain. So in short, for 99.99% of cyclists, a shorter tool is the one they want.

That would not be the way to go. Remember strip chip is there to convert the FG to basically wax. Remember on silca instruction vid how much just one chains FG will soften the wax. Once that is done, i do not believe the strip chip can then fix post the FG faffing the wax. It needs to do it live, hence the instructions are very much get wax to 125, then melt strip in, then add chain. I would absolutely not put chain in first with the wax.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Good to know. I have not used a chip yet as current two chains lasting so long! 3500km and 7400km to date. But I drop chains in on top of cold wax, turn pot on, each time I hot melt.

@@stephencharles6932 yep thats perfect for normal re waxing - thats the way to go, just yeah dont do that if you strip chip!

And yet you will use the same chemicals to clear them all. White spirit does not care what company chain you doing, it will work on them all.... Same when you are washing your hands, do you have 10 different chemicals to perform task dependent on what chemicals may be on your hands?

I don't think they claim they're removing the grease so much as converting it to something that is so soft it's displaced by shaking the chain. That's how I took it anyway. I have the strip chips but I'm still doing a strip before I wax but i'm going to at some point give it a try.

That is a valid concern, but to a degree i think we need to take Josh's run through on this at merit unless we discover otherwise. I think it was on their own marginal gains pod re launch - josh covers the very large amount of testing over the last couple of years to ensure that the above concern is not a concern. Yes indeed the FG's are superficially at least quite different, but overall will still be variants on a main theme. Overtime if we can detect that strip chipping a shimano vs a sram vs a ybn etc lead to a different post strip chip result with the wax treatment, and there was not as optimal outcome - this will come to light. But from what i have done so far - the concern i have had is with the temperature drop, and the first sram strip chip wax a little (but detecably) tacky, whereas second sram chain factoring temp drop - is not. Have also done a ybn - all seems perfect (again giving an extra 10 mins due to temp drop). Will do a shimano soon - but im not expecting an issue - i really think they will be covered. Yes you are for certain far from alone re concerns on how hard silca goes on the marketing - and if some products are over sold and promised / priced. I give a bit more leeway as long as a product is a genuinely performing product - its up to me / consumer to weigh up if the price & performance match re should i spend my hard earned $$ on that, or something cheaper that i think would do just as well. But i can be more lenient because i do want companies heavily investing in R&D and bringing genuinely good to great products to market to make viable return and survive into the future. From investing in creating, testing, bringing to scale production , launching, global distribution, sales and customer and as always some warranty support etc etc - company overheads, staff , insurance on and on and on - all has to be able to be paid from the margin by mfg to the sale price to the importer, who then adds margin to sell to w/sale accounts - who then add margin to sell retail. So for the big majority of sales, silca isnt pocketing the margin from production cost to RRP, its the margin of production cost to importer sale price - and that margin has to cover all costs of running the business plus pay back the R&D and bringing to production and market. Going hard on the marketing to try to sell as much of your product in a competitive space as possible - that is going to be pretty normal - but the products at the end of the day need to walk the talk. I am more concerned re the a number of MFG who pump out marketing that is complete BS vs product reality, and they are much bigger than silca and selling way more stuff to way more people - and products that do not walk the talk of the marketing at all. But as they are so cheap to make, they offer vastly better margins to importer and w/sale accounts, so better margins to all involved in selling - hence what you see taking up most shelf space at most LBS. But overall - i for sure get where you are coming from - it is getting to be a more and more common concern re silca, and i think they will have to pay attention to if they are pushing the marketing line too hard sometimes.... but again if the products are genuinely good to great - i give much more leeway vs others. Sorry for the over type - but yeah businesses staying viable in cycling is hobby interest of mine! :)

It does have live temperature, but it’s measured closer to the heating element than the wax. To see for yourself, set the pot to 90 °C. It will reach 90 in a few minutes but the wax will still be solid.

​@@andorsnhmm, will it go back down if stirred?

yeah i should remember to do that thanks! i did make a mental note once but it seems i filed that mental note in my recycle bin...

wow that is interesting, that is really what it needs - why dont we have that......

Our pot that we have been using in the shop has a live temp readout, we are in Australia.

I have also such a pot. The readout is not the real wax temperature. Probably just the temperature of the heating element steered by the pid controller.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Adam, my Australian one also has a live temp readout (but yeah, it reads close to the element, it's not showing the correct temperature of the contents). Happy to drop it past for an examination...

My order took over a month, arrived yesterday. They are changing warehouse/logistics supplier for Europe according to their customer support team. An absolutely s*** show.

​@@lh3071thanks that's good to know. I don't mind delays but I expect regular updates from them. I'm hoping for a very big discount off my next order.

@@lh3071 lets hope that gets improved soon as they bed in. that is a long long time these days....

@@lh3071 did you get tracking info? Were there any taxes/duty to pay on receipt?

I went to order something yesterday and all my loyalty points have gone. It was only about $10 worth but I decided not to order because of that

For testing or for just general chain wear checking?

For testing. You seem to have very precise values.

@@vitalbikechains it is kmc digital chain checker (i have 3) - they measure to 0.01mm, so all check measures are to that.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 That was going to be my guess. I'll order one. Thanks so much for your help.

@@vitalbikechains ah they are not always awesome just for general use - i have 3, they all measure differently - so all are rated to the one i use as the main tool in case there is ever an issue with that tool (and i double check measures). But for about $250 you could get one that measures a 0.5% chain as circa 0.3 or 0.4 or 0.5 - so will need to calibrate your new tool with chain at 0.5%. Once done, and you know how tool reads - then all groovy, but sadly for $250 they are not plug n play as their baseline measure is too variable out of the box. I have filed 2 of mine to get into the ballpark.

most chain checkers can be forced into a brand new chain. The two prongs enable the tool to self adjust for differing roller sizes. They will already be compressed once inserted - that is what it is meant to do. Then simply tilt drop in end down, and if it hits roller and stops, not 0.5. When it touches roller but slides down it with no force and "drops in" = 0.5. I have checked so many them over the years from different batch orders, and every single one i have ever checked has been dead on 0.5 every time - ie it will in no way drop in on a new chain, and just slides past roller perfectly with no force on a 0.5% worn chain i use to check chain checkers. We sell a fair few of these as they have been the go to recommendation for awhile from ZFC - we get the odd feedback of it measuring new chain as worn, but then we simply correct them to use with no force, and all is grand after that.

Basically I can only tell between it falls in on its own vs it doesn't. In the video there clearly is some resistance, as insertion slows down, so there's no way I can learn what the right feel is without having worn and fresh and almost worn chains to actually go practice regularly. And when it falls into the chain on its own, it's arguably too late. That's why in forums people often say it checks 1% wear because that's how they use it. My safety net are the mechanics at the bike shop who generally use the Rohloff tool as German bike shops do, as it's only a two prong design presumably they may replace at 0.3%-0.4% adding more uncertainty (un-disclaimer: the mechanics are paid flat monthly service fees, and I don't buy the chain from them, but they also don't make money on parts). Probably should just get the KMC digital one, that is a nifty design and it's the same approach I just dreamt up, though I do wonder why there's no analogue version. Basically you just need a spring mechanism in the middle to move the prongs closer and some marks indicating wear like on a ruler. That would probably be the best balance of price/performance for people like me :D

@@JulianAndresKlode I think there is maybe some worry where there need not be. On the video the amount of resistance you are seeing is extremely small. It is extremely close to just sliding in with zero resistance. From a new chain, you simply check regularly - say each month. Then when you get to the point where it is no resistance to slide past or really basically just extremely low resistance- then thats close enough to 0.5, there is for sure no harm in erring on replacing a smidge early vs having to way until it has absolute zero resistance. So really with like one chain of experience, you will have gotten to know the tool, but basically - it wont go past without some force when new, it will go past with no force or close to no force = 0.5, thats it. The kmc digital checkers are VERY expensive, and each one does not read the same. i have 3, they all read different, and 2 of the 3 were a decent bit out. One was very close to accurate but i filed one end very carefully until it read 0.5, and then the others are marked how different to that tool (0.07 and 0.12). A friend bought one as well, and out of 4 kmc digital tools, we got 4 different measures. Just two prong design is overall fine, but just note it will not be able to adjust to differing roller sizes, so if one day you move to a flat top chain with oversize rollers, you will get a false low measure. And you will have to use force to get to the tool in, and try to calibrate your hand to how much force that is when to a 0.5 tool it going to think the chain is only at around 0.3 thanks to the larger rollers. I dont understand what you mean re rohloff tool and 0.3 or 0.4%. The rohloff i have seen are only 0.75 or 1%, both of which are useless for 11/128 or narrower chains. There is not much point being told cool chain is at 0.75, congratulations you need a new chain AND a new cassette, and you have made good inroads into your chain rings - vs chain is 0.5 or very close too, replace now and ensure cassette and rings are all ok. Tools like the shimano, the park tool cc-4, and the pedro's - the way they work with the dual insert ends is they adjust to varying roller sizes. The Pedros and the park tool are easier to stuff up in use as you need to firmly squeeze the chain towards the tool, or you get a false high reading. The sprung dual prongs of the shimano just take user error out of the equation, and its simply the easiest to use. Insert the two prongs, and does the other end slide past roller with zero / near zero effort - thats it. Really all the rest you are worrying about i have to say is needless worry - just use as above with one chain from new and you will find all is easy and groovy with the shimano.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Oh that's peculiar with the Rohloff, but essentially what happened is I ran a HG701 chain for 7000 km on dry lube back in 2021, I couldn't detect it as 0.5% worn with the Shimano tool, but the bike shop measured, told me it's way worn and worried that maybe even the cassette needs replacing (it didn't, but in any case that's why I said they're my safety net), so I had to assume it measured wear earlier. 🤷‍♂️

@@JulianAndresKlode ah yeah that would be a world record for a 701 chain on a dry lube! but sorry my memory might be failing me and im short on time to re read the chain, but i thought this started with your concern the shimano was able to easily measure new chains as worn, but now its it wasnt able to measure a clearly worn chain to 0.5% - im a bit confused! (maybe its my memory...)

Friction yes - it is really really fast - as in right up there with the fastest chains tested by ceramic speed denmark lab. Wear testing - it is on my very big to do list, but i have no idea when i will be able to get to that. At a guess however, i would say it will be a fair bit less wear life vs srams top tiers of flat top chains as srams hardchrome treatment is extremely wear resistant. So the mk12 for many will be more of a race day chain vs training chain, and if using for training, keep regular checking of wear rate.

Yep that method is for sure all groovy, but again MANY cyclists do not remove their chains - even for (depending on lubricant choice) - much needed flush clean maintenance. So having a set up to remove chain and do full elongation measure and either using number of links x 12.7mm x 0.5%, or comparing to a new chain in waiting - simply 99%+ of cyclists will never do that method. Chain wear checking needs to be fast and easy, something that can be done in 20 seconds on bike, and then it has a chance of actually being regularly done. This is where accurate drop in chain wear checkers come in. Also full length do not pick up the variance in wear from one section of chain to another, which sometimes can be quite large. Ie one section might be at 0.4, another at 0.65. Overall average in a full length chain may be close to 0.5, but that 0.65 will be doing damage, and especially if your components are worth some good $$ - that is best avoided. Drop in checker one can check 5 sections in 20 secs, and use the most worn section as replacement mark. Over time we are driving to get a) vastly more people simply getting on top of chain wear checking and then b) matching that to kms attained so they can assess their lubricant of choice's performance. If the majority of cyclists did this, then some very common, very poor products / brands would see a much needed decline in sales....and mfg making actual great products would see a deserved upt ick..

I havent go pricing for aussie yet, but i am hoping they will be not too bad. They will be cheaper than most T-Type at least hahahaha! The platings on all chains are cosmetic, some cost more to do. Ie silver is nickel plating - whilst black, gold, rainbow etc is Ti-N - which can cost more. For the existing ybn sla chains, rainbow costs more than black and gold which costs more than silver. Some brands the pricing is all the same all the time which will often mean the price is set for good margin on the most expensive to mfg, and so even better margin on silver vs if they were priced more in line with costs.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 on a German website the silver is 68€ while the black & gold are 95€! The name states that silver is also Ti though? Just a name error then? Does that mean the Nickel Plating treatment isn’t as good as the Ti-N treatment? Also what’s your opinion on their SLA claim? Still better to thoroughly degrease their news chain and remove alo that SLA thing? Thank you very much

@@SamuelBlackMetalRider Yes i think so re naming - as far as i have ever seen so far silver / shiny silver is nickel plating. And yeah thats a way big price difference, there is no way the w/sale pricing is like that (i will find out soon...) - sometimes its just a supply / demand thing and what a retailer thinks they can charge. No there is no performance difference at all between any colour platings - they are 99%+ just cosmetic. All the action happens inside the chain, thats where all the surfaces are sliding under load, so it is the design, tolerance and surface treatment / finish INSIDE the chain that = performance & wear life, colour platings are purely cosmetic. There is some sliding friction interaction between side of plates and sides of teeth on chain ring / cassette on chain line angles, but its been too small a loss area for anyone to measure - or for anyone focussing on such things - to bother trying to measure to see if there is any difference between say the dull grey plates of a shimano chain vs silver Nickel plating vs Ti-N. Any difference is going to be so miniscule that really just treat all such as cosmetic. SLA is superior lubricating aid - this is an embedded low friction coating onto the chain metal as part of the mfg, and is done prior to chain construction, and forms part of a chains performance. You are not cleaning that treatment off when you clean off factory grease, and yes you absolutely want to clean factory grease off any new chain as step one, and move to a chose top lubricant.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 thanks a lot for yoir thorough answer, as usual! Yeah it’s probably just a marketing pricing difference. Gold & black being more rare? More bling? Who knows. Glad to know Silver won’t be less efficient than Ti-N hahaha

no a powerful magnet is a good idea to swish through the wax periodically. Even from normal wear over time fine metal particles can also get into wax

Just to be safe if you are using a Neodymium magnet of unknown grade , keep the wax temperature less than 80°C. Do a search for ... how does temperature affect neodymium magnets If you are buying a magnet for wax cleaning you can get a grade that makes temperature a non issue !

Some have a slow cook option, or manual etc, and then the ability to change the temp. On mine i use manual and then set the temp to 90dg c.

Don't put undue pressure on him as he has limited space and equipment / resources . He has a relatively small operation . Not a large commercial laboratory .

Yes honestly if we could get the majority of cyclists to simply track kms to genuine 0.5% (factoring their riding and conditions) - then the cyclists over time would easily be able to determine for themselves what is good, great, meh, terrible - and not buy the meh or terrible - and that would put pressure on some brands selling really poor performing products (but with powerful marketing, bike store penetration, and benefits for the LBS to sell those brands and products). Overall we have a long way to go re above with still the majority of cyclists never checking chain wear, or if they do that part, matching that to kms and so they just assume that what they are using is good. It can even be that marketing has them convinced such that even if they did get a poor result, wow how much worse things would be if they were not on a product that claimed x / y / z like theirs etc.

yeah i loved it but then i love movies and experiences like that so i am fairly easily pleased on that front! How about yourself?

@@zerofrictioncycling992 I thought that the entire sensory experience of The Sphere show was amazing. I was marginally impressed with the AI robots in the atrium (full disclosure, I work in IT and I was trying to explain how the AI worked to my wife, she just rolled her eyes and walked away, her usual response). Being from the US, I found the story line of the movie to be an interesting choice, that we are ruining the planet via pollution....here in the US, that idea will immediately alienate about 50% of the population. Overall, I would highly recommend The Sphere show to anyone, a truly incredible experience. I would love to see someone strap an 18,000K camera to Tom Pidcock on a huge mountain decent and then turn that into a Sphere experience!

ha yeah.....to be honest im also trying to slowly reduce my work hours..... and i am really going to try to limit that more strictly soon, just too many other things i need to do as well, some of which require a bit of focus and energy - and so the outright speed i can work through everything will not be as rapid as someone going hard 8 to 10 hours a day. This was supposed to be a hobby business, and i really need it to be, so fingers crossed lets see how i go..... :)

Ah yes sorry i may not have been clear there - yes absolutely it is a sram red chain still, so it is same compatibility as normal red, just lighter and more expensive. The Red / force / rival line of chains are for the srams axs road and xplr drivetrains, but not t-type. You can run t-type on axs road, but..... not the other way around. Sram is doing super re compatibility!

Not really, silca sells a pack with stripper and SSS for not much more than the cost of the lube only. Ufo clean, stripper or even the old school spirits/alcohol option are also good and none of them need a silly expensive pot either

Hmmm not sure how one would get that takeaway but maybe i am missing something. Between DT clean, stripper, and now strip chip - thats already 3 very easy methods to prep a chain, all of which compete well on cost vs traditional solvent method. Those 3 methods are all much less time and steps vs degreasing / solvent. And at the end of the day, any one of the prep options at a cost of around $8aud - really that is nothing to worry about when that means your chain on a top lubricant (depending on model and riding) of really anywhere from circa 8000km to 25,000km, as well as the accompanying bigger savings to component wear - which depending on groupset can be huge these days. Ie my new T-Type drivetrain - the chain is $250 aud, and the cassette is $1100 aud. Honestly not immersive waxing, or at the very least a proven top wax lube option - the $$ hit from any level of great wear is going to be very big very quickly. And sadly, there will be lots of mtb riders still who are on T-Type who just ride in the world of dirt and dust with factory grease, and then move to a who knows what wet lube (finish line? muc-off?). That is just big $$ ouch. Just omg so big $$ ouch - a lot of T-Type riders are going to get drivetrain running cost bill shock thats for sure (and after the first hit, then the smarter ones look at doing things differently next chain and cassette). So yeah, $8 to easily prep a chain for a great long life on a top lube choice (and thus great cassette life) - i dont see the same point you have picked up, nor see where that was picked up from - my messaging has been the opposite.

​@@zerofrictioncycling992 My SRAM transmission chains and cassettes aren't quite as costly as you have quoted here .

I find Silca hot waxing inexpensive and easy (see ZFC's "waxed life like a boss" vid) after the initial investment and chain prepping. I wax my commute and road bike often rotating multiple chains. I tend to remove the chain often anyway to work on bike, clean and check bearings running smoothly , so putting the chain in and out of the wax pot is easier than all the faff, waste and mess of wet lube or even drip wax. I really notice the difference riding, and cleaning and maintenance is quicker than before.

@@robertmcfadyen9156 thats aussie rrp. In aus sometimes peeps can purchase from online sellers at under rrp (some of our big retailers have been able to buy direct from sram, bypassing the importer, and so sell at prices everyone else who has to purchase via sram importer cannot match). but purchasing components under RRP, and by how much is not a known thing, so it is easier for me to just assume RRP cost to replace components.

Isn't that a good thing? Sure you have to wait longer for the thing to fully melt but if you were heating the wax via a sensor in the middle isn't it possible the wax on the outside would get too hot? A lot of those wax products have relatively low max temps listed for the friction additives they use. e.g Absolute Black say never exceed 100c.

hmmm - i have a digital thermometer, i will check how long it takes to get to 125 after showing 125 - good thing to flag, it will need to be factored in if its any real delay as the strip chip needs that 125 for 10 mins, so if its not 125 when it says its 125, that will need to be flagged for sure.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 to be fair, it works better when set to 125ºC: above about 100º, the displayed temperature rises slower and 125 is only reached when all wax is melted. But at my usual waxing temperature below 100 it doesn't accurately tell the temperature while the heater is on.

yeah some diy testing vs commercial im not sure if / when could get to, ideally those putting forward DIY should be presenting the testing & proof of their DIY vs me trying to check such. It is relatively difficult to assess these things just based on feel, really i need to wear test a strip chip prepped chain vs DIY prep - which i will add to the list, but yeah.... timeline on that i am not sure...

@@zerofrictioncycling992 I completely agree with you. Still would like to see some proper testing to find out if and how stark the differences would be.

Thanks neil! and not so much, as best is subjective (ie fastest = Dura ace, or best blend of speed and wear life = ybn sla, or ultimate wear life = Shimano link glide lg500 or sram xx1 11) - if you were looking as best $$ for lifespan then link glide lg500 for sure