The Ultimate Mid-Drive Chain Care Thread

[smorgasbord]

Just wanted to add a note - was perusing the ZeroFrictionCycling web site and came across an article on Master Links:

https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Master-Link-FAQ-Guide.pdf

In which it says:

Sram eagle xx1 / x01 chains are by far the worlds longest lasting chains but they are so, so slow.

Of course, he's talking acoustic bicycling where every watt matters. For most of us, I suspect losing a few watts to have a longer lasting drivetrain is well worth it.

 

[mrgold35]

I purchased two KMC e10 EPT Chains for my Himiway Cobra Pro with a 1000w/160Nm mid-drive (keep a spare in rack bag). Also giving the Silca wax system with Nano Tungsten Disulfide wax and one endurance chip a try. Tired of having to degrease the chain so much with a ton of black gritty muck when riding in the sandy/dusty southwest (always used squirt bottle Teflon or wax base chain lubricants after degreasing chain).

 

[smorgasbord]

The lube testing at ZeroFrictionCycling have been discussed up thread. I recently had an opportunity to email the owner, Adam Kerin, and asked him some questions about his test procedure, which he was gracious enough to answer.

As those that have visited the site and read the extensive documentation and spreadsheet know, his testing has been going on for several years using a machine-driven normal acoustic bike drivetrain. The testing is done in 1,000km sequential "blocks," where the blocks go from clean/dry to dusty to clean/dry to wet to clean-dry to "heavy contamination." The purpose of alternating is to simulate different riding conditions week by week.

While the chains are re-lubricated on a specified schedule (every 333 kms in the clean/dry and every 167kms on the others), he does not perform chain cleaning at all. He believes this to be a fair approximation of real-world use. I took issue with that because the re-lubrication process for the immersive chain wax products is quite different than for the others, which are all in drip bottles. The immersive chain wax re-lube process has him remove the chain and submerge it into a vat of hot/molten chain wax (different brands), stir, then hang up to dry and re-install on the bike.

He agrees with me that this process will remove more dirt/contamination than just dripping new lube onto a chain that's still on the bike. And, he thinks this show-cases the advantage of immersive chain waxes. However, the amount of effort involved in doing this is quite different. I suggested that he include at least a minimal chain cleaning step before the drip products re-lube in order to normalize the time and effort between all products. He doesn't agree.

To me, this calls into question comparing the effectiveness of different product types. He is saying "no cleaning for any product," but he's not normalizing the time and effort needed for the re-lube process. He did say he's had a few similar inquiries from other people, and so added my "vote" to include such a comparison in future testing, which would involve an initial immersive wax followed by periodic drip waxing. This is more in line with what I suspect many riders would tolerate, time-wise.

When you look at ZFC's table, all the immersive wax products except one (which must be really bad) are at the very top. To me, that says more about the process of re-lubing than the effectiveness of the products themselves. That any of the drip wax or wet lube products can come close to that performance given the handicap of not having a vat of product to flush out dirt - just a drop on each link - is actually pretty amazing.

EDIT: I should mention that all the wax-based products have the disadvantage of needing hours to dry before you hit the road/trail. You can drip wet lube onto your bike just before heading out, but the drip wax products need to dry first or they'll be wet and dirt will stick to them like crazy.

 

[smorgasbord]

To save people time, here's the current (Oct 2025) top 25 or so lube listings, cumulative from all blocks, in order from Zero Friction Cycling, with product type notation and private products removed:

Product	Type	Notes
Silca Hot Melt	Immersive Wax
Mspeedwax New Formula	Immersive Wax
Finish Line Halo IM wax (*RE-Test Jan 25)	Immersive Wax
Rex Black Diamond Wax - 11+1 mix	Immersive Wax
Rex Black Diamond Wax - 4+1 Mix	Immersive Wax
Silca + Endurance Chip - *Extended intervals*	Immersive Wax	More distance between re-lubing
Optimize Bike	Immersive Wax
Dynamic Wander Wax	Immersive Wax
Silca Hot wax X	Immersive Wax
Candle wax	Immersive Wax
Effetto Mariposa Flower power wax	Drip Wax
Ceramic Spd UFO Drip New Formula	Drip Wax
Molten Speed Wax Original Formula	Immersive Wax
Tru Tension Tungsten Race - (*D.A)	Drip Wax	Less distance between re-lubing
Tru Tension Tungsten All Weather	Drip Wax
Session S-Wax	Drip Wax
Silca Super Secret Drip	Drip Wax
Silca Synergetic	Wet Lube
Ceramic Speed Wet Conditions	Drip Wax
Rex Black Diamond	Wet Lube
Smoove	Drip Wax
Allied GRAX	Drip Wax
Rex Domestique	Wet Lube
Squirt	Drip Wax
Nix Frix Shun	Wet Lube
Boeshield T9 - Aerosol	Wet Lube

It was interesting to note that Shimano factory grease did reasonably well on the first clean/dry block, but as soon as things got dusty, the chain wore out. Also, that Muc-Offs lube products were uniformly really bad.

Note that if you're a dry, on-road cyclist, you might not care about performance in Block 4 and 5 (wet and contamination). When you do that, the top list changes to:

Silca Hot wax X	Immersive Wax
Rex Black Diamond Wax - 4+1 Mix	Immersive Wax
Mspeedwax New Formula	Immersive Wax
Rex Black Diamond Wax - 11+1 mix	Immersive Wax
Effetto Mariposa Flower power wax	Drip Wax
Silca + Endurance Chip - *Extended intervals*	Immersive Wax
Ceramic Spd UFO Drip New Formula	Drip Wax
Silca Hot Melt	Immersive Wax
Silca Super Secret Drip	Drip Wax
Optimize Bike	Immersive Wax
Tru Tension Tungsten Race - (*D.A)	Drip Wax
Molten Speed Wax Original Formula	Immersive Wax
Finish Line Halo IM wax (*RE-Test Jan 25)	Immersive Wax
Dynamic Wander Wax	Immersive Wax
Candle wax	Immersive Wax
Session S-Wax	Drip Wax
Silca Synerg-E	Wet Lube
Rex Black Diamond	Wet Lube
Finish Line Halo Drip wax (*Re-Test)	Drip Wax
Tru Tension Tungsten All Weather	Drip Wax
Smoove	Drip Wax

Of course, if you do get caught in the rain, then you might want to re-lube that night before putting the bike away.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

To save people time, here's the current (Oct 2025) top 25 or so lube listings, cumulative from all blocks, in order from Zero Friction Cycling, with product type notation and private products removed:

Product	Type	Notes
Silca Hot Melt	Immersive Wax
Mspeedwax New Formula	Immersive Wax
Finish Line Halo IM wax (*RE-Test Jan 25)	Immersive Wax
Rex Black Diamond Wax - 11+1 mix	Immersive Wax
Rex Black Diamond Wax - 4+1 Mix	Immersive Wax
Silca + Endurance Chip - *Extended intervals*	Immersive Wax	More distance between re-lubing
Optimize Bike	Immersive Wax
Dynamic Wander Wax	Immersive Wax
Silca Hot wax X	Immersive Wax
Candle wax	Immersive Wax
Effetto Mariposa Flower power wax	Drip Wax
Ceramic Spd UFO Drip New Formula	Drip Wax
Molten Speed Wax Original Formula	Immersive Wax
Tru Tension Tungsten Race - (*D.A)	Drip Wax	Less distance between re-lubing
Tru Tension Tungsten All Weather	Drip Wax
Session S-Wax	Drip Wax
Silca Super Secret Drip	Drip Wax
Silca Synergetic	Wet Lube
Ceramic Speed Wet Conditions	Drip Wax
Rex Black Diamond	Wet Lube
Smoove	Drip Wax
Allied GRAX	Drip Wax
Rex Domestique	Wet Lube
Squirt	Drip Wax
Nix Frix Shun	Wet Lube
Boeshield T9 - Aerosol	Wet Lube

It was interesting to note that Shimano factory grease did reasonably well on the first clean/dry block, but as soon as things got dusty, the chain wore out. Also, that Muc-Offs lube products were uniformly really bad.

Note that if you're a dry, on-road cyclist, you might not care about performance in Block 4 and 5 (wet and contamination). When you do that, the top list changes to:

Silca Hot wax X	Immersive Wax
Rex Black Diamond Wax - 4+1 Mix	Immersive Wax
Mspeedwax New Formula	Immersive Wax
Rex Black Diamond Wax - 11+1 mix	Immersive Wax
Effetto Mariposa Flower power wax	Drip Wax
Silca + Endurance Chip - *Extended intervals*	Immersive Wax
Ceramic Spd UFO Drip New Formula	Drip Wax
Silca Hot Melt	Immersive Wax
Silca Super Secret Drip	Drip Wax
Optimize Bike	Immersive Wax
Tru Tension Tungsten Race - (*D.A)	Drip Wax
Molten Speed Wax Original Formula	Immersive Wax
Finish Line Halo IM wax (*RE-Test Jan 25)	Immersive Wax
Dynamic Wander Wax	Immersive Wax
Candle wax	Immersive Wax
Session S-Wax	Drip Wax
Silca Synerg-E	Wet Lube
Rex Black Diamond	Wet Lube
Finish Line Halo Drip wax (*Re-Test)	Drip Wax
Tru Tension Tungsten All Weather	Drip Wax
Smoove	Drip Wax

Of course, if you do get caught in the rain, then you might want to re-lube that night before putting the bike away.

How are these lubes ranked? On miles to some fixed measure of elongation?

 

[smorgasbord]

How are these lubes ranked? On miles to some fixed measure of elongation?

Yes. He uses two KMC digital chain checkers, measuring each chain when new and then at intervals during the test. He considers a chain worn out at 0.5% even if some drivetrains can tolerate more stretch, that's OK since this is a comparative test.

Unfortunately, the numbers he enters into the spreadsheet are not the actual percentage elongation numbers, but "number of chains worn to 0.5% by the end of the block." I believe there's a straightforward mathematical formula for converting (eg, if a chain is worn to 0.75% then 1.5 chains were worn during the test), so I don't know why he felt the need to invent a new metric.