Right – out of wax again!! Things were already really touch and go, and then Dave Rome released this most awesome article – https://cyclingtips.com/2020/08/how-to-wax-a-chain-an-endless-faq/ and my shelves were bare by the end of the day and already back orders piling up. If you want to make sure the next case landed gets to your back order, get a good spot in the line!

But even more excitingly, whilst for those on back order have a mini wait, Mspeedwax has gone METRIC!!!! That’s right, rather than 1lb bags you now get 500g bags (which coincidentally makes them exactly half the price of Silca Hot Melt….. I don’t think that’s a coincidence….). And there has been zero price increase so its all yeehaa.

Please note that the out of wax means all bundle packs are also out of stock until the wax lands, and its too much to shift it all from out of stock to in stock to then out of stock 3 days later when all the wax is gone to back in stock when next case lands… you get the picture… will try to have a more generic message cover on pages if I can.

Aside from that, mini update on silca super secret drip on test, it is has completed block 1 of the ZFC torture test with the lowest recorded wear rate to date for drip lube. That is impressive enough in itself, however the really, really interesting part re this is that it is a wax emulsion lube.

To date, every single wax emulsion lube tested (squirt / Smoove, AB graphene prototype most notable) have had SIGNIFICANT initial penetration issues. As such this is why a) AB graphene stresses first application must be immersive, and honestly both Squirt and Smoove should also be doing this as the initial wear rate in clean block 1 for both was VERY high, a rate which drops dramatically once the lube finally penetrates to pin properly. To negate this to some degree with Smoove / squirt one needs to be heating chain, heating lube, working in like crazy etc – its all a fair bit of work.

So now we have the first wax emulsion lube known that has ZERO initial penetration issue, which I will be honest, when I saw Josh Poertner massaging the lube into chain with his fingers, I was worried, that’s normally a sign penetration is going to be an issue – and he also has released a tub of silca secret drip so you can immersive apply – I really expected the usual high initial wear rates as per all other wax emulsion lubes tested, I was really surprised, and pleasantly so – this makes silca super secret drip a MUCH easier wax emulsion lube to live with vs squirt / Smoove etc as if you do a proper clean for new chain or post wet / muddy ride, you can just apply the lube as per instructions and know you are going to wake up to low friction low wear chain, and not spend 15 minutes faffing around heating chain and lube to half negate the issue.

Have now re-started the test with a new chain using the immersive tub application to start with to see if any difference, and will continue that test to the end, then I will be testing a new chain by using the immersive tub for every application, and we shall see what the differences are. Then it will be onto the hot melt.

Right – must dash off to start sorting out back orders!!! Have a great weekend of riding, and make sure you read that great article on Cycling tips!