Latest Zero Friction Cycling News – Ceramic Test one = Fail, Bike shop waxing done perfectly
Latest News 61 – Ceramic Test one = Fail, Bike shop waxing done perfectly
Let’s cover some very pleasing news first – thank you too (I think it was long time customer Bryan O) who tagged me into a great highlight article on RideMedia, which did a feature on Tune Cycles in NSW who are one of the few bike workshops offering a professional ultrasonic clean and waxed chain to look after their customers drivetrains.
That sure is some level above what the average LBS offers which is here have a bottle of Muc-Off or Finish Line lube.
I must say, when I am tagged into a video re immersive waxing – I get very nervous and have to steel myself to watch it. Easily 90% + are terrible, and provide a lot of incorrect information which put a lot of people off from going down what for many would have been a fun and joyful path of lowest wear and cleanest drivetrain possible. (and that includes very poor video on waxing from media titan’s like GCN – who sadly – in my opinion – focus much more on clicks and good looking production vs accuracy of information – not all the time, but far too often. It is driven by $$ first, accuracy of information a distant second. ESPECIALLY when the content is sponsored – you won’t find anything other than glowing endorsements of muc-off there, because muc-off pay them the big bucks. When advertising $ drive the accuracy of a lot of content, how accurate are expecting such content to be? They will not bite the hands that feed them).
I would LOVE to see oh so many more bike shops offering the same level of service like Tune Cycles. Look what can be done when the customer outcome is the core focus of your decision making. They obviously also understand the mantra of “look after your customer to best of your ability, and the customer will look after you” approach.
REMEMBER – if you are looking at starting the immersive waxing journey yourself but find the process completed by Tune (very similar to pre prepped chains by ZFC) to be too daunting – that is not the level you need to go to at all, and you absolutely do not need an ultrasonic. Tune / ZFC – we are providing a professional service, so we want to deliver perfection every time and a higher level than what you can reasonably expect to do at home. But you can do an excellent prep yourself at home without any fancy equipment – just follow chain prep guide – instructions tab on Zero Friction Cycling website.
But again, great work Tune Cycles, great highlight RideMedia, and everyone if you can, you should be having a chat to your bike shop re this. It doesn’t need to be immersive waxing – why are they putting customers bikes out the door with soon to be very dirty and abrasive factory grease and a lubricant independently tested to abrade through components rapidly? Why not pre prep them with Effetto Mariposa Flower Power, or UFO Drip, or Silca super secret, or Tru Tension Tungsten all weather, or Rex Black diamond, or Silca Synergetic – it is not like there we are short of proven amazing options that will look after their customers drivetrains from kilometer zero.
Good bike stores should be moving (rapidly) to offering the customer the option of pre prepped chain with a top lubricant option, vs not being unhappy at the thought the customer may soon need new drivetrain components.
Check out the RideMedia feature and Tune Cycles video here;
Ceramic Lubricant Test one = Mega Fail.
Finish Line Ceramic Wax -**AVOID AT ALL COSTS**
Well, I was expecting a poor result, but never did I expect a lubricant to test THIS BADLY.
Honestly, one can barely even call this a lubricant.
For the clean block 1 of ZFC main test, the standard protocol is to apply the lubricant as per mfg instructions, run a 400km flat riding simulation, re lube, 200km hill climbing simulation, re lubricate – 400km flat riding simulation.
Almost all lubricants have no issue lasting those interval lengths – it is in very good cycling conditions after all. More lubricants tested lately can go the full 1000km Block 1 on a single application absolutely no issues at all (Silca Synergetic, Rex Black Diamond, Silca Syneg-E).
By 70km into first interval with Finish Line Ceramic Wax, the chain was very dry, by 100km it was squeaking badly, and so I re applied, and I had to re apply every 100km flat sim and 50km hill sim, using a full bottle just to get through the first 1000km clean block one.
Unbelievable.
If you are going for a ride longer than about 50kms of perfect conditions riding, you better pack the bottle with you. If it is not perfect conditions, perhaps see if you have a friend that can ride beside you applying a constant drip application.
And the wear rate for applying this lubricant circa 3x as often vs other lubricants tested?
72.3%!!!
That’s right, despite what are beyond perfect road conditions, and being re applied basically every 100km, the chain was still almost completely worn at the end of the first 1000km test block.
Compared to the lowest wear drip lubricant tested to date after full main test comprising of;
Block 1 – 1000km – no contamination
Block 2 – 1000km with 7 x applications of abrasive dry contamination
Block 3 – 1000km – no contamination
Block 4 – 1000km with 7 x applications of abrasive wet contamination
Block 5 – 1000km – no contamination
Block 6 – Extreme contamination – 14 x applications of double the amount of wet contamination used in block 4.
Total Test – 6000km, with a lot of abrasive contamination addition – and note there is ZERO cleaning of chain throughout the main test – it is all up the lubricant.
Effetto Mariposa’s Flower Power Wax completed the 6000km of testing with a total wear rate of 80% ( this means it used up 80% of the recommended 0.5% wear allowance – which is the general wear replacement recommendation for your chain).
Flower Power Recorded a wear rate of 2.3% in Block 1.
Finish Line Ceramic wax is almost double the wear rate of the previous worst lubricant ever tested (Muc-Off Nano chain lube).
Again even calling this product a lubricant is in my opinion a pretty big stretch. I don’t know what it is, but it is not very lubricious. Or if it is, it certainly is only for an extremely short period.
The fact such a horrifically performing product is on the market, and marketed by finish line as a pretty amazing product – is astounding. I will go into more depth on all that you can be sure when I get to the detail review.
Due to severe limits on time resources, I won’t be able to steadily work my way through finish line product line ups – but I can say from the workshop years, customer chains and drivetrains on finish line lubricants – I never saw a happy outcome.
In ZFC opinion there is absolutely NO WAY this company should be rewarded with your patronage and support for putting such products to market, and with the marketing claims that sit behind them.
And if your bike store recommends this product to you, wow should you be having a conversation with them re this situation vs what the likes of say Tune Cycles is doing for their customers.
If you want another opinion on the problems with products like finish line – I know this video is from a competitor to finish line, however the information presented stands on its own merits – this video is WELL worth a watch for overall learning of these legacy lubricants that are still on LBS shelves, and should be banished.
MGTV Lubricant Showdown 3: White Lightning Clean + Epic Ride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsyCEOlqSXY&t=293s
Data table pic below, and also – we can see that most of the volume is carrier (environmentally BAD carrier), what remains – who knows what it is, but how much of it do you believe is “ceramic” particles forming a wonderful wear protective coating on your chain as per Finish line marketing?
Based on ZFC testing, you may as well just wee on your chain pre ride for likely similarly effective lubrication, but more environmentally friendly and much cheaper.
(Lots of carrier – what remains is……. Seemingly almost useless as a chain lubricant).
