Silca Super Secret Lube 3000km review

[Forza20]

chain gang

does it take a "gang of mechanics" to clean a chain, prep it for wax application, or is there a simple way?

ive been using a small ultrasonic cleaner, some solvents, lots of washing ,etc...


thoughts, notions, feedback, advice, 2 cents?

[jimoots]

Originally Posted by Forza20

can i chime in about my wonderful experience with squirt wax lube ..

been using it for around 3 years now

ill never return to "traditional" lubes

my chain life has been extended by at least 50% ( per my trusty park tool, go-no gauge).. reference at 0.5%

Yeah I had the same experience as you, I used and quite liked Squirt for a long time. As Josh says, the Silca stuff just seems to get inside the chain much more effectively. That's not saying Squirt is bad. I just found the Super Secret to be better.

As it stands I'm at 3,000km on one chain and 2,200km on the other, both still exhibiting no wear since 1,500km. That's after one initial immersive application and just using the drip bottle every few hundred kilometers (or after a wet ride).

[reuben]

Originally Posted by Forza20

chain gang

does it take a "gang of mechanics" to clean a chain, prep it for wax application, or is there a simple way?

ive been using a small ultrasonic cleaner, some solvents, lots of washing ,etc...


thoughts, notions, feedback, advice, 2 cents?

Well, it takes at least 12 pages to debate just one drip lube, with occasional ventures into waxing, so I gotta believe that waxing will take a very large chain gang, or many small ones.

There will surely be different groups with different ideas.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by reuben

Well, it takes at least 12 pages to debate just one drip lube, with occasional ventures into waxing, so I gotta believe that waxing will take a very large chain gang, or many small ones.

There will surely be different groups with different ideas.

Here we go again..Bike chain..yes?

Old milk carton, some dino-'stuff' in it, chain in..shake, shake, shake.....hang to dry, lube it, any lube, like anything...install, go ride. When it sounds like there's a bird in yer jersey pocket..'chirp, chirp, chirp'..repeat above.

Bike cleaning and lubing crew...

[soulspinner]

Aint rocket science yet Ive heard noisy chains on five figure bikes. Go figure.

[Dave]

All I do is place the chain in an old water bottle with 8-12 ounces of mineral spirits or camp stove fuel. Shake vigorously, let it sit for awhile, shake again and repeat with another batch of solvent. I reuse solvent many times. Just keep in a storage bottle, and let the dirt settle to the bottom.

Some use diesel fuel, but that's a light oil that never fully evaporates and evaporates very slowly.

I never use water born degreasers. Then you have to rinse with water and get rid of the water.

Paraffin mixes with oil quite readily however, so fears of paraffin not adhering to a chain due a minute amount of oil are unfounded. I mixed paraffin with 40% oil by weight and melted it together yesterday. After cooling back to a solid, there was no free-oil, just a bit softer paraffin.

Paraffin is not the only wax used in store-bought lubes, so their cleanliness requirements may be more critical.

[AngryScientist]

This is ridiculous, there have been multiple 10+ page threads in the last couple months of chain maintenance. I'll at least merge these.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

This is ridiculous, there have been multiple 10+ page threads in the last couple months of chain maintenance. I'll at least merge these.

Haven't you heard? Waxing/lubing chains is a religious experience. At least we aren't talking about politics!

[BagelMaster]

I’m running low on wax in my crockpot, so I figured I’d grab some Super Secret to try since all of my chains are already prepped for wax. The only thing is that I noticed there is a lot of sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Is this normal? Should you agitate or do anything so you have a more homogenous mixture?

Here’s an image of the bottle: https://imgur.com/a/TCGV32E

[jimoots]

Originally Posted by MikeD

Haven't you heard? Waxing/lubing chains is a religious experience. At least we aren't talking about politics!

TBH chain lube and cleaning is more polarising than religion or politics.

Everyone talks, nobody listens, you are right, everyone else is an idiot. Wooooooo.

[HenryA]

I consider it a problem when I have to break the chain, so I only do it when necessary. Necessary is when I put the new one on.

In the meantime, I lube regularly and wipe the outside with a rag. Quite sophisticated I admit, but give it a try. You might like it.

[joshatsilca]

Originally Posted by BagelMaster

I’m running low on wax in my crockpot, so I figured I’d grab some Super Secret to try since all of my chains are already prepped for wax. The only thing is that I noticed there is a lot of sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Is this normal? Should you agitate or do anything so you have a more homogenous mixture?

Here’s an image of the bottle: https://imgur.com/a/TCGV32E

Just shake the heck out of it.. it'll be fine. The overall discoloring of the bottle is due to the lack of bottles during crazy-covid where you couldn't get SiO2 lined HDPE bottles.. so over time, the WS2 will stick in the microscopic imperfections of the bottle and cause permanent discoloration. Good news is that we are putting 3x the amount of WS2 in the lube as required for it to be effective, so there is no reduction in performance and in fact, the ZFC data is from Batch 2 using these discolored bottles.. So just shake it good before using and you will be fine.

Best
Josh

[GregL]

Adding a post to this thread after a six-month break. This thread inspired me to give chain waxing a try as part of my winter maintenance. I waxed four chains with Silca hot melt wax and have been topping them off with Silca drip wax as needed. I’ve completed about three months of riding, including dry, wet, dusty, and muddy conditions. My $0.02: I’m a convert. I find waxed chains to be cleaner, quieter, and to have longer intervals between lubrication.

Yesterday, I did a hard, fast, 40-mile gravel ride with friends. The roads/trails included both mud and dust. The chain stayed smooth and quiet despite the conditions. The bike was dirty enough to need a thorough cleaning today. I was amazed at how quickly and easily the drivetrain cleaned up. The chain, chainrings, cassette, and derailleurs cleaned up nearly spotless with just soap and water. In 30 years of off-road riding, I’ve never had a drivetrain clean up so easily. I’ll top off the chain with drip wax tomorrow and the bike will be ready for its next ride.

Greg

[BdaGhisallo]

Originally Posted by GregL

Adding a post to this thread after a six-month break. This thread inspired me to give chain waxing a try as part of my winter maintenance. I waxed four chains with Silca hot melt wax and have been topping them off with Silca drip wax as needed. I’ve completed about three months of riding, including dry, wet, dusty, and muddy conditions. My $0.02: I’m a convert. I find waxed chains to be cleaner, quieter, and to have longer intervals between lubrication.

Yesterday, I did a hard, fast, 40-mile gravel ride with friends. The roads/trails included both mud and dust. The chain stayed smooth and quiet despite the conditions. The bike was dirty enough to need a thorough cleaning today. I was amazed at how quickly and easily the drivetrain cleaned up. The chain, chainrings, cassette, and derailleurs cleaned up nearly spotless with just soap and water. In 30 years of off-road riding, I’ve never had a drivetrain clean up so easily. I’ll top off the chain with drip wax tomorrow and the bike will be ready for its next ride.

Greg

That's was the most surprising thing for me when I started waxing my chains - the bike simply doesn't get as dirty as it did when I used oil lubes. I guess without the chain flinging oil about there's less of that to clean up and there's less dirt stuck to the frame since the oil that causes it to adhere isn't there.

[NHAero]

Resurrecting the thread...

I just did four chains yesterday in a thrift store crockpot with the bag of Supercalifragilistic Chain Lube. I did the chains one at a time and agitated the lube while doing it, and indeed saw the air bubbles emerge from the chain. Maybe 2-3 minutes per chain. Then I pulled the chain above the hot lube and let it drip, shook it a bit, and laid onto a paper towel.

Questions for other Silca dip lubers:
- On Low, the crock pot was keeping the wax solution at about 157F. Is that about right?
- Once dry and cool, the chains still have some lube visible and they are fairly stiff. Once mounted on a bike, does the wax on the side plates fall off, and do they loosen up right away?

The first one that I intend to mount when my Park chain pliers return with my Litespeed from Asheville (I shipped them because I was worried TSA would confiscate in my carryon) will be the XX1 chain onto my Pivot FS29er. The other three are all KMC x11EL and are for the Bingham, for me to try the rotate-the-chain every 1,500 mile method, once the existing chain wears to 0.5% (it's been lubed with Squirt and is at just under 4,300 miles).