Silca Ultimate Chain Waxing System

[AlanW]

After reading many reviews, at the start of the year I decided to give the Silca Super Secret Chain blend a try on one of my bikes. Its certainly not a cheap route to go down, but I was hoping that if the reviews were right, then long term it should pay for itself and some.

A bag of 500g bag of Silca Super Secret Hot wax granules is around £40, then the top up bottles are around £25 for a 120ml bottle!

Then of course you have the faff, and it is a faff of cleaning the new chain of all its factory grease etc. So at least three large jam are required, mineral spirts in one, degreaser in one and Isopropyl alcohol in the final one! Then wash it all in hot soapy water and hang to dry, so yes a right royal faff. On the plus side, you only have to do it once, thank heavens.

However, once done, you have spotlessly chain that will, after hot waxing, always look the same as well as being super quiet. I re hot wax the chain every 1000 miles or so, and if I get caught out in the rain, wipe the chain down with a lint free cloth and simply a drop on each link from the top up bottle.

I've since done all my bikes with the Silca hot wax treatment and I honestly cannot find any pitfalls about using the product at all, other than the initial cost and the degreasing of new chains. The chain life has extended quite significantly and I'm yet to replace any of my chains and none are even close to reaching the 0.75mm wear limit, taking into account that I do my fair share of riding per year.

However, Silca have introduced the Ultimate Chain Waxing System, and combining this with the Silca Stripchip Hot Melt chain degreaser, as I see it, this is a game changer as it does away with the pre hot waxing chain degreasing process and multiple jam jars and lost time. You simply add one square of the Silca Stripchip into the hot wax in the melting pot and it degreases the chain at the same time, and I quote:-

Silca Stripchip Hot Melt Chain Degreaser
Silca’s StripChip removes the need to degrease your chain before waxing. Its innovative degreaser additive will remove factory grease from your new chain at the same time as waxing, with no prep needed, making the chain waxing process easier and more efficient than ever before. The StripChip Chain Degreaser is designed to be used in conjunction with Silca’s Secret Chain Blend Hot Wax.

This will now make the whole process so much easier, but of course its Silca, so its not cheap unfortunately.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJKNFzQHHgo

 

[fossyant]

So just how much has all this cost ? I find a £10 bottle of finish line ceramic lasts over 12 months on five bikes, one is a commuter, and two go off road regular. No faff either.

 

[AlanW]

So just how much has all this cost ? I find a £10 bottle of finish line ceramic lasts over 12 months on five bikes, one is a commuter, and two go off road regular. No faff either.

The initial outlay was around £70 odd quid, but that will do an awful lot of chains. Plus, as I mentioned above, I've saved at least the cost of two if not three chains so far due to the extended life of the Silca Hot wax treatment, mindful that most years I cover circa 18,000 miles.

But for me, its the fact that the chain and drive train remains 100% clean all the time including the cassette.

Plus, you would need to also the cost of the degreaser/mineral spirits/Isopropyl alcohol, which I already had to be fair.

 

[Sea of vapours]

But for me, its the fact that the chain and drive train remains 100% clean all the time including the cassette.

Very much this. The drivetrain longevity is certainly nice to have, and in the long term it'll cost less as a result, but the cleanliness of everything is a huge benefit. My partner, who is pretty averse to bike maintenance and cleaning, has even just converted her old, cheap 'knocking about town in the rain' bike to wax as she finds the work required, overall, is so much less, plus easier to do and cleaner.

 

[AlanW]

I initially went down the "Squirt" wax route and in the beginning l was quite impressed. The drive remained clean and was also super quiet. However, l tended to find the build up of balls of dried wax around the jockey wheels annoying. Plus, if it was a very wet ride, the Squirt lubricant would wash of quite easierly and the chain would become very noisey very quickly.

 

[wafter]

I'm glad to hear you've had success with this, and while I don't doubt that it's probably somewhat superior to straight wax it's also enormously expensive. I can't help but see this product as a cynical attempt to profit off something that can otherwise be achieved with supplies that are cheap and abundant with a number of non-specialist tools...

As for prep, I usually just sling the new greased chain in the wax pot or if I'm feeling really posh chuck it in a jar of paraffin and soak, agitating occasionally. Both the factory grease and paraffin will just diffuse into the wax once the chain's in the pan. Used chains get a dry-brush before going into the pan to remove surface contaminants.

That said 1k miles between waxes is impressive - typically I manage perhaps 400 dry miles max before stuff starts squeaking. What sort of drivetrain are you running, and are you chains dead quiet until you re-wax at 1k miles?

 

[AlanW]

Yes it is expensive but I've saved £60 in not having to replace two chains so far this year, and with no wear yet showing on the chains, I would expect that saving to probably double. So is it expensive in the long run?

Two bikes have Ultegra 12 speed Di2 group sets, and three bikes have Ultegra 11 speed mechanical group sets.

At no time have I ever suffered from a squeaking or noisy chain, even during a very wet ride. I re hot wax at a 1000 miles, Silca suggest between 1000 and 1500 miles between hot waxing. So I might extend the mileage before the need to re wax again. That said I do apply the Silca top up wax, certainly after a very wet ride and after wiping the chain down first.

If its mainly dry riding, then I might reapply a top up to the links every 500 miles or so. Does it need it, in truth I dont know, the chain is not making any adverse noises that suggests it requires lubrication. Probably just to ease my mind for than anything else to be fair.

But the win win for me is how clean and non greasy/tacky all the drive train is and remains clean, the extended chain life is a bonus.

Don't take my word for it, have a look at this website - https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/ Its an independent test house, some of the results on some of the product's on the market right now are indeed very interesting.

 

[wafter]

Yes it is expensive but I've saved £60 in not having to replace two chains so far this year, and with no wear yet showing on the chains, I would expect that saving to probably double. So is it expensive in the long run?

Two bikes have Ultegra 12 speed Di2 group sets, and three bikes have Ultegra 11 speed mechanical group sets.

At no time have I ever suffered from a squeaking or noisy chain, even during a very wet ride. I re hot wax at a 1000 miles, Silca suggest between 1000 and 1500 miles between hot waxing. So I might extend the mileage before the need to re wax again. That said I do apply the Silca top up wax, certainly after a very wet ride and after wiping the chain down first.

If its mainly dry riding, then I might reapply a top up to the links every 500 miles or so. Does it need it, in truth I dont know, the chain is not making any adverse noises that suggests it requires lubrication. Probably just to ease my mind for than anything else to be fair.

But the win win for me is how clean and non greasy/tacky all the drive train is and remains clean, the extended chain life is a bonus.

Don't take my word for it, have a look at this website - https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/ Its an independent test house, some of the results on some of the product's on the market right now are indeed very interesting.

Cool, cheers!

I certainly agree in principle regarding cost; the comment was directed at that of the propriatory chain waxes versus straight wax / home brews rather than lubrication in general. I too love a clean chain!

It's interesting that both th Zero Friction site and your experiences suggest there's a marked difference between the Silca stuff and plain wax..

It would be interesting to know what additives it contains; typically I think it's likely going to be moly, graphite or PTFE. All can be bought and added to normal wax; although I'd never touch PTFE since it's so environmentally nasty.

Looking at the safety data sheets on their site...

Their "secret chain" wax give little information on composition, which makes me wonder if it's just a straight wax with no addititves. The sheet does list density at 0.82kg/m^3 and a melting point of 58-62 degrees C.

"speed chip" addititve appears to be mostly wax with less than 5% Tungsten disulphide my mass. The wax is listed as "branched and linear C24-54 branched and linear alkenes", the overview of the Tungsten Disulphide listed is covered on the same site here. Density is listed as 800kg/m^3, melting point at 74 degrees C.

Tungsten disulphide is similar in structure / properties / applications to graphite and moly disulphide. Both of the disulphide compounds are comparable price; pricey in the small quantities found on ebay but a lot cheaper I suspect if bought in bulk..

 

[AlanW]

To be honest, l have not delved into the chemical make up of the product at all, but what l can tell you is that it's adheres to a clean chain like sh*t to a blanket!

 

[wafter]

To be honest, l have not delved into the chemical make up of the product at all, but what l can tell you is that it's adheres to a clean chain like sh*t to a blanket!

That's fair enough; ultimately all good if it works and you're happy to spend the money.... personally I'm tight and resent some of the rampant price gouging that goes on in the cycling industry so am always looking for cheapo alternatives

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

I've been using Silca Secret Blend Chain Wax with the CGR Ti.

I bought three additional chains up front, degreased them with UFO Drive Train Cleaner - each chain got an initial clean in the dirty bottle, a rinse, a second clean in the clean bottle, another rinse, dried with a microfibre and then hung up and blasted with a hot air gun on the low setting to dry them out.

Buying four Ultegra/XT 12 speed chains up front, as well as a crock pot added to the initial expense. I've not got enough miles down to determine what difference, if any, has been made to the longevity.

But it has really simplified the bike cleaning routine. My rides tend to be within the region of 50 to 80 km. Every third ride, I whip the chain off, clean the bike and put a fresh chain on. No degreasing required - just regular soap and water + brush is enough to clean up any residue/dirt from the chainrings/cassette/jockey wheels.

I'm not sure I'd want to contend with it on a bike used for regular commuting / wet weather riding. Theoretically, it should still be cheaper and some people are drying their chains off and then topping up with drip wax and they seem to be happy with that.

I'm going to use a wet lube on the Felt Broam when that arrives as I'm expecting to use it in all weathers - not decided which yet. Worth noting that ZFC say that even if using wet lube, 'contamination should be reset' after every wet ride because not only does the lubricant get washed off (particularly a problem with wax) but the contamination gets washed into the chain.

The Trek District has a belt and that is what I'd use as a commuter bike if I didn't work from home, providing the commute was not more than 12 or 14 km.

In the before times, I just used the Finish Line green stuff. Riding fixed, it didn't really matter too much - the drive train lasted ages and was cheap to replace when it wore out. Riding gears, stuff wore out faster and I took it as a fact of life. I'd experimented with the various affordable dry lubes that were around but they didn't have the longevity to stand up to the rigours of commuting.

The fact that people are now willing to dedicate their lives to testing the manufacturers claims about various lubricants is something I wasn't aware of 10 or 20 years ago. It certainly gives us something to think about.

 

[cyberknight]

Just read an article about a someone who did a long term test and he went back to lube as he said wax is indeed great but if your riding in the wet the wax doesnt last as long as lube and the chain rusts quicker as its not as protected .
Now im not biased one way or another although im still running lube i have considered wax but as most of my riding is commuting i am interested how wax copes with bad weather , sometimes i have been wet after a mile or less even in wet weather gear due to the amount of rain .

 

[wafter]

Just read an article about a someone who did a long term test and he went back to lube as he said wax is indeed great but if your riding in the wet the wax doesnt last as long as lube and the chain rusts quicker as its not as protected .
Now im not biased one way or another although im still running lube i have considered wax but as most of my riding is commuting i am interested how wax copes with bad weather , sometimes i have been wet after a mile or less even in wet weather gear due to the amount of rain .

Yup; water is really the wax's only achilles' heel.

Running a waxed chain wet will result in it squeaking once it's dried out and won't prevent corrosion as well as oil. That said there's an argument that a short period of effectively running unlubed (because the water has facilitated the wax migrating out of the joint presumably because it prevents it adhering to the metal) being preferable to constantly running in a bath of abrasive paste; which is essentially what contaminated chain oil is.

Also while a waxed chain will definitely show light surface corrosion in areas of metal-metal contact once it's got wet, I've found this to be minimal and requiring of no attention other than slinging the chain back in the wax pan. If you're running carbon steel sprockets you'll get superficial corrosion on the cassette, however again this is likely to happen only in areas of abrasion (assuming there's some other finish present), will be worn off the next time the bike is used and I suspect is a lot less damaging than agrasion from filthy oil. I reckon there's even an argument for micro-pitting caused by light corrosion giving a better surface for the wax to adhere to.

Below is an image of the KMC chain at about 850 miles of all-weather use; showing the extent of corrosion I'd expect after getting wet. Again this corrosion disappears with a subsequent waxing / use:

I typically re-wax once a chain's been used in the wet. dry I'd expect to re-wax every 300 miles or so as a matter of course; I've just checked my records and found that typically my Brompton chains get done on average ever 160-170 miles; this increased frequency usually being because they've got wet.

This can be further mitigated by running multiple chains. While a good idea from a wear perspective anyway, if you run two, three or more chains you can just keep fitting a new one every time the existing one gets wet, then when you're down to your last one bulk-wax the rest. I can fit two chains in the wax pan at once (obviously a bigger pan can do more) and it takes barely any more time to do two than it does one - just the extra work needed to hang the extra chain, then remove it from the hanger at the end.. plus I guess the time getting the chains on and off the bike.

While not perfect I'd still much rather run waxed on my utility bikes than suffer the mess and accelerated wear associated with traditional lubes.

 

[AlanW]

I now run a Silca Hot waxed chain on my 'everyday' bike and l haven't encountered any issues riding in the wet with it at all. Yes, you have to wipe it down after a wet ride, but you would do that with any chain regardless of what chain lube you used.
Depending on when the chain was last hot dipped depends on if a reapply some Silca bottled top up wax.