From Zero Friction Cycling;
This is a very exciting new wax product!
Over the years ZFC has extensively tested, benchmarked and reviewed many of the top wax products known on the marketplace today.
Overall we see some general trends within the top performing waxes. All of the top waxes deliver a very good treatment lifespan as well as outstanding wear protection for the chain and drivetrain components.
Not always the case, but a stereotypical trend is that to make a wax treatment longer lasting, such as using a Silca endurance chip, this will make the wax harder and so can increase the length and difficulty of the wax break in process post each re wax.
Conversely we see with using a Silca speed chip this makes the wax softer and faster, and with an easier break in process, but at the cost of treatment lifespan.
Squirt have undertaken years of extremely in depth product development and testing, but going down a unique and novel wax blend path.
Their hot wax is soft, and thus has almost no initial break in period (and very little initial wax shedding), and yet has exceptional treatment lifespan. In fact it has RECORD setting treatment lifespan of any wax / lubricant tested.
At the time of writing this for initial product review & stocking at ZFC, Squirt Hot Wax has completed the suite of single application longevity tests, and is about to embark on the main test protocol. Based on its performance through the S.A.L’s, Squirt Hot Wax has a high chance of moving to the top tested product ever in terms of lowest wear across the full main test.
I have also seen in depth detail of Squirt’s in house testing (equipment, protocols, results), and so have seen extremely impressive results with regards to outright efficiency. Whilst these test results are by Squirt for their own product, I have no concerns about the accuracy of the results based on their equipment and methodology, they have followed or exceeded established gold standard in FTT and FLT testing.
The soft wax approach also delivers a silky smooth and quiet ride feel which continues for a very long treatment lifespan. All top waxes will at some point when the wax layer becomes very thin start to sound and feel dry. Whilst they have proven to retain performance and protect against wear for a period beyond this point, this sound and feel is generally less pleasurable to ride, and a big hint it is now time to re wax ones chain. Squirt hot wax you can expect will feel silky smooth and quiet for notably longer than any other hot wax tested to date, and the transition from smooth and quiet to distinctly dry will be longer and slower, leading to less chance of being “caught out” with a noisy chain on a long weekend ride.
In summary of above points – we have a new hot melt wax that is silky smooth and quiet for record long treatment lifespans, it is extremely wear protective in all conditions, it has practically no initial break in period post re wax, it has very little shedding post re wax, and it is highly efficient and race ready.
We have a wax that has covered ALL the main bases one could look for in their hot melt wax, and covered all those bases well really without one performance aspect compromising another, which quite frankly is exceptional.
Other aspects in cycling the above product attributes will be of great use / desirability;
The properties of this wax make it more suitable for some use cases where other waxes can sometimes present challenges despite their overall benefits. Such as if one is cycling in very cold conditions, the break in period post re wax can be notably longer and more difficult than in “normal” temperatures. This can be even more so if one has added an endurance chip to extend treatment lifespan. With Squirt Hot Wax you have record setting lifespan, but without any difficult initial break in to overcome post re wax.
Next – the very low amount of shedding post re wax will mean this Hot Wax is more desirable for those looking to use on indoor trainers where traditionally the “snowflakes” from many other hot waxes can become a bit of a mess and a pain to clean up.
On top of all that this wax is also inherently biodegradable and environmentally friendly. There are no concerning PFAS additives or friction modifiers.
As you may be able to tell by this point in the information, I have found this new wax product to be simply exceptional. I think I am going to need to make a new classification of “Super Wax” – a classification that at this time I would populate really only with Squirt Hot Melt and Cyclowax Race Wax due to both waxes outstanding treatment longevity and performance.
Another very important aspect to wrap up this product info for Squirt Hot Wax is the pricing. We really do have what is essentially a “Super Wax”, but priced very competitively at $64.90 aud for 500grams. This is basically a pricing match for Mspeedwax, Silca Hot Melt etc, and much lower than a number of brands from Europe which currently are a bit more costly to get in Aus.
In fact considering the price of the wax combined with how long each treatment lasts, I believe wax cost per kilometre for Squirt Hot Wax would likely be the lowest of any wax product on the market at this time. I think many DIY’ers using candles might struggle to get their wax per km to be as low as their treatments just WILL NOT last like Squirt Hot Wax, wear rates WILL be higher for them etc – I believe the majority of DIY waxing will be a false economy vs just enjoying the super long lasting silky loveliness of this very well priced wax.
Obviously this hot wax is going to make quite a number of competing manufacturers sit up and take notice (and not be super happy with this product write up ! Sorry other wax manufacturers I have loved for a long time, I can only type out a product performance and experience as it tests & field tests!). I imagine many manufacturers will very shortly be purchasing some Squirt Hot Wax for in-house testing and comparing to their own products and then having some fun ponderings from there – a gauntlet has been thrown down indeed.
If there is any negative noted at the moment from field testing for this new wax it is simply that it is not as clean to handle if you should you need to handle the chain for a rear puncture repair or similar versus most other top rated hot melt waxes. However note it does not easily become dirty visually – but it may look slightly less clean than some other top waxes. If this is any issue then periodic wiping with a microfiber cloth sprayed with isopropyl alcohol easily helps keep chain and wax on the outside looking clean.
I did have some initial concerns that a soft wax would cause some gunking up of wax on the drivetrain components as this is a problem that has come up in the past with other soft waxes (and many DIY waxes). It is possible this may occur if one is re waxing with Squirt Hot Wax unnecessarily frequently.
However due to this product’s exceptional treatment lifespan, one does not need to re wax very often at all. Due to generally much longer re wax intervals for this wax, this keeps drivetrain very clean and any excess wax build up extremely low.
Overall treatment lifespan for any particular rider varies a lot depending on their power, terrain, type of riding conditions and more. However based on the single application longevity testing as well as my own field testing, I can confidently say that with Squirt Hot Wax you could expect around two to four times the treatment lifespan versus most competing hot melt waxes, even the very long lasting waxes / endurance chipped wax.
(*As always with chain lubrication be guided by the sound and feel of the chain as opposed to a static number of hours or kilometres as there is too much variance behind any cyclists riding to really put accurate numbers on what to expect. When a wax chain starts to sound and feel dry it is time to re wax to get maximum performance and chain longevity)
FAQ’s
Q: Can I use a wax drip product such as Silca Super Secret drip to top up this wax treatment in between waxing’s if I need / want to?
A: It is not recommended to use other brand wax drip products with this hot wax as it is a completely different wax base. Squirt have advised it is designed to be able to use Squirt DRIP lubricant if you need / want to in between waxing’s.
In theory – potentially KMC GO wax and Smoove MAY (MAY…) not be terrible to use with Squirt, however Squirt have advised very clearly that they are different and that only Squirt Drip is compatible with Squirt Hot Melt – so user beware.
You can re wax without any cleaning if you use Squirt Drip wax.
Q: Would I still need to protect chain post wet ride if using Squirt Hot Wax?
A: Generally it will always be recommended to re-wax post a wet ride to both protect the chain as well as reset contamination. It is common with wax products that the outside of the chain can begin to rust soon after wet rides – especially if salt roads or off road minerals are involved as they will be a rust catalyst. However, Squirt have worked to have this wax provide a good level of protection.
Depending on your wet riding you may find you do not need to re wax or need to add a protective coating of Squirt Drip Wax / KMC Go Wax to protect chain from rusting. However there is really no “normal” for wet ride conditions. How wet? How long? What is in the water? How freshly waxed was the chain? So a light to moderate spray soon after a wax treatment – likely fine. But the same ride deep into the treatments lifespan – maybe not. Note there is also variance with chains and their level of wanting to rust or not. So whether you will risk any post wet ride rust concerns is very much “It depends”, and so the general recommendation remains that if practical it is always best to re wax post wet rides to both protect + reset contamination, or if a re wax is not practical, wipe chain and apply top up coating of Squirt Drip / KMC Go wax which is a 40 second job once home.
Another top tip post wet rides is to wipe chain with isopropyl alcohol sprayed onto microfiber cloth. This removes surface water and minerals and can be all many hot wax cyclists need to do post wet ride regardless of hot wax brand choice. Or if one lives in very rust prone conditions such as salted roads, the alcohol wipe really helps if one has still been having issues even after applying drip wax to protect (again some chain models REALLY like to rust such as Shimano M8100 and lower 12spd chains).
Q: Can I use a Silca Endurance chip or speed chip in this product?
A: No. This is a completely different wax base. Also you do not need either of those as its longevity exceeds other waxes with an endurance chip, and its efficiency looks to be at least on par with speed chipped wax. In short this product is believed to give you both at once, hence why I am about to be creating a new “Super Wax” category and populating with Squirt Hot Wax
Q: What is the best temperature for this wax? Can I use other brand wax pots such as the Silca wax pot or the new Cyclowax heater?
A: Squirts official instructions are 93 to 95c, which is a pretty precise number. They also have more involved instructions around swishing which I will be following up with – they advise to swish for 3 to 5 minutes after wax is at temperature.
In double checking with Squirt, they were keen to stress that they very much wish for 85c to 95c be the maximum temperature target range. Extended time at 100 and above will cause damage to the wax, and it was not stated what the issue is at lower temps – however I will just have to take their word for it that cooler temps are for reasons currently unknown – not desirable. They were especially keen to stress avoid lower temps like 70dg c.
My normal “relax and rewax” recommendations for most waxes, with a big easy target to hit of 70 to 100dg c will have to be changed a bit for this product with Squirt stressing the importance of 85 to 95c. This much more narrow temp range may have many Squirt waxers looking for a temp control pot to be sure. (Silca, Cyclowax etc).
Q: Do I really need to swish for 3 to 5 minutes?!
A: It depends. Squirt have put that on the instructions to cover off in case someone puts a cold chain into wax which may drop the wax out of the desired 85 to 95c range (depending on where in that range it is, how cold is the chain, volume of wax in pot etc etc – maybe your chain drops temp 5dgc and you were at 93c when it went in. Maybe it drops wax 8dg C and wax was at 86dg c when it went in).
This will give the wax time to get back up temp and being mixed properly.
Normally recommended is to put chain onto swisher and put on top of wax and turn pot on. That way when you come back and wax is at correct temperature – then you can merrily swish.
Squirt have advised that in this case 30 to 60secs swishing to properly mix wax is fine and dandy – the 3 to 5 mins is just to cover off people putting chains in and dropping wax temp vs chains heating up with the wax.
Q: Can I use Silca strip chip with this wax to remove factory grease on first wax?
A: No that is no other cross compatibility with other wax products outside of Squirt, or chains pre prepped with KMC GO wax.
Q: Can I wax a pre waxed KMC Go Wax chain in Squirt Hot wax?
A: Yes. KMC Go Wax is designed to work perfectly with Squirt Hot Wax – no cleaning at all is required before waxing. In fact it is recommended to wax in Squirt Hot Wax as soon as you are ready to get highest performance and chain life span versus pushing a KMC go wax treatment.
In short if you have a KMC go wax chain and you also have Squirt Hot Wax, just get that chain into hot wax and then enjoy much awesomeness.
Q: If I am currently using a different brands wax and want to switch to Squirt Hot Wax, do I need to clean the existing wax off chain before I move to Squirt, and if yes, how do I do this?
A: Yes that is best. Nothing will explode if you don’t, but a different brand wax will simply inhibit squirt wax working how it wants to work, and you are mixing in a different waxing with Squirts special blend of waxes.
However, you also don’t need to do a perfect strip clean. Not many solvents work on wax, so completely stripping previous coating back to perfect bare metal – in 99% of cases, this is not worth the stress or effort – a more general easy reset to switch waxes will be perfectly fine.
- Ride existing treatment until chain starts to sound and feel dry. At this point there is very little wax left on chain – likely around 1 gram.
- Boil up the kettle and do 3 x 500ml boiling water baths – (OPEN CONTAINER) – allow chain to sit in water for 30secs, then swish for 30 secs, repeat for a total of 3 rounds. *Wear protective gloves to avoid burns.
- Dry with a hairdryer or heat gun for 3 mins. (*Wear protective gloves to avoid burns if handling chain at time / immediately after!)
- Bonus flush with an alcohol bath (isopropyl alcohol or methylated spirits, and repeat drying step).
- Put onto swisher and put on top of wax and turn pot on.
Post boiling water flush rinses, on and already worn down existing treatment – likely less than 0.5g of wax will be remaining across entire chain.
It is possible a very, very thin film may remain of the old wax, that may inhibit to some small but unknown degree the first waxing treatment of Squirt Hot Wax from reaching its full magic. It is possible that it may to some small but unknown degree lessen that first treatments outright longevity.
However, from pressure loads etc – that tiny amount of previous wax will simply be worn off and become part of Squirt wax in the chain. Re wax again after first ride, and now you will have basically contaminated X hundred grams or ml of Squirt wax with around 0.1g of previous wax, and this will be far to small to make any negative difference even if you had the resources of CERN to conduct testing to try and find it.
So if you are switching from one wax to run Squirt, and you have an event where you want to ensure ultimate maximum treatment lifespan – just follow the above and re wax again after first ride post switch, and all will be mega.
You do not need to worry about trying to strip that final 0.1 ish grams the above process leaves with fancy expensive solvents and ultrasonics – the above is easiest, cheapest, and you will after one ride maximum have a perfectly switched chain.
