I know this one comes up regularly on this sub, but given how impressed I am with it I can’t resist a post.
I started early this spring, and have used it exclusively on my road, tt and gravel bikes since. I use the silva hot wax system and top up with their drip wax for a few rides before rotating chains and re-hot waxing.
This is was my chain looks like after a 60 mile, soaking wet and muddy gravel ride in south wales today. Since it’s last hot wax this chain’s done a 70 mile gravel ride, a 40 mile commute on gritted roads and todays ride, with just a wipe and quick drip wax top up after the first two. It’s still silky smooth, no squeaks with perfect shifting, and as you can see, much cleaner to the touch than my mudguard.
I get it that hot melt waxing isn’t for everyone. But if you are the sort of rider who cleans their bike after most rides, and/or gets through lots of chains per year it’s brilliant (I used 4 last year with a rigorous cleaning regime and using silica synergitic lube).
Yes the initial degreasing the whole drivetrain is a faff, and for it to feel easy you do have to have multiple chains on rotation. However the ease of cleaning far far outweighs that and saves time after a ride. Once you take into account the decrease chain wear (see zero friction cycling) I honestly think it more than offsets the cost of even an expensive system like silca’s.
by Ok-Rhubarb747