Currently waxing with super secret and a crock pot but mildly curious about the endurance chip and the wax melter.
Is anyone using the endurance chip and how did you find it? Do you save the expensive blend for wet riding or default to it all year?
Anyone using the silca pot? Feels like a bit of an extravagance but might be worth it if it needs less supervision
Yeah I use all the Silca stuff inc. endurance chip (and strip chip). I've not used their wax without an endurance chip for comparison but it does work well (and I use it all year). It lasted ages over summer but I am finding every couple of rides in the wet now I'm having to apply Silca drip wax. I did see on one video they recommended adding a few drops off their synth-e (?) oil to the wax for better wet weather longevity so I'm going to try that next. I'll also be adding a second endurance chip into the pot as their (and Zero Friction's) testing show that helps a fair bit.
The pot works pretty well, I do find you need to make sure the lid is on properly when heating otherwise it never gets to temp (assuming you are doing a 125c strip wax anyway), not sure how it would fair in a cold garage either (I do mine in my living room). Top tip though, the pot isn't actually attached to the cradle so don't try and move the pot whilst it has molten wax in it unless you're paying close attention, otherwise it makes a right mess of your carpet 😭
I get the feeling it's best not to ask how you know about that last bit.
I'm rotating chains every ride at the moment now it's turned sloppy. Maybe just top up with the drip lube is it was short, or not too sloppy. Wondering if endurance might extend that to two rides.
Yes, did see the video taking about adding 29ml of their oil to soften the wax. I thought that was more for sub zero conditions than wet weather.
I'm using Silca Wax + one endurance chip + 1/3rd bottle Synergetic, as per Josh's suggestion in one of his videos.
I've gotten on well with various waxes (GLF, MSW and Silca) but none delivered even remotely what they claimed in my local conditions when wet, sometimes I would be lucky to get 80km on a wet ride.
Synergetic itself seemed hopeful but I found increasingly it made a godawful mess of the drivetrain, it seemed impossible to get all the excess out from between the rollers until you started riding at which point you would look down and find a gritty black paste had formed! That's applying the smallest possible amount per roller using the needletip applicator.
Supersecret + Endurance + Synergetic has been good though, haven't tested over a long wet gravel day but I'm building up to this with no failures to date. Still have some unadulterated MSW which I was going to keep for summer road-bike duties but I'm not sure I'm noticing any disadvantage to the SS/Endurance/Synergetic blend so I might just keep using it on all bikes year round.
Using both but don't have anything to compare to...
The pot has smart temperature control so it won't overheat the wax, but does take quite a while to heat up.
Silca's advice is "Because we use a PID controlled heating element instead of a thermostatic one it means that if you put it at 75c it will take a very long time to get to 75c as the heating element never goes over that temp. With a crock pot or instant pot (thermostatically controlled) it goes all the way on to 150c or whatever that temp is, then turns off, then all the way on, all the way off, until it reaches the desired temperature.
I always recommend going to 125c to heat up, dip the chain at 100 or higher, and then drop to 75"
It's small, neat and has a hanging hook over it with a chain holder (so it must take up a lot less space than a crockpot arrangement).
I used the standard wax blend for a while, then added an endurance chip. Just use it all the time - it supposedly trades a tiny bit of speed/friction for significantly more longevity. But so tough to actually measure that. The amount of wax I've actually used in the first year or so of waxing is so little I'm not worried about having two different mixes.
Cheers. That's what appeals about the meter, the fact you can't over heat the wax.
I'm careful with the Crockpot, lots of stiring and a thermometer say in there, but there an appeal to just laying the chain on top of solid wax, setting it to 100 and going for a shower.
I'm rotating chains every ride at the moment now it's turned sloppy. Maybe just top up with the drip lube is it was short, or not too sloppy. Wondering if endurance might extend that to two rides.
Yeah every ride would be too much hassle for me. I'm getting 2 rides (around 100 miles) of wet road riding on drip waxing at the moment (chain was originally immersion waxed but has prob got 1000 miles on it now and has been drip wax topped-up several times recently due to the crap weather). After tomorrow's (wet) ride I'll swap in an immersion waxed chain and will see how long that lasts. If it's still only 2 wet rides I'll try the synergetic in an immersion wax, if that doesn't help I'll just drip wax only over winter I guess
Supersecret + Endurance + Synergetic has been good though, haven't tested over a long wet gravel day but I'm building up to this with no failures to date. Still have some unadulterated MSW which I was going to keep for summer road-bike duties but I'm not sure I'm noticing any disadvantage to the SS/Endurance/Synergetic blend so I might just keep using it on all bikes year round.
Wet weather is definitely an issue with the wax alone. I think you probably have a reasonably amount inside the rollers still, but you definitely can't just leave it as it will rust up. Riding this summer in Ainsa (where there tend to be a few river crossings and such) I was wiping with a rag and using the drip wax after each ride (so no different ot any other dripwax) and was planning to do that over winter in the UK.
But the idea of adding synergetic is interesting. It's a wet lubricant isn't it? how clean/dry does the chain stay with 1/3 of a bottle of that in? Why wouldn't you ride with that all year? Does the wax still set?
But the idea of adding synergetic is interesting. It's a wet lubricant isn't it? how clean/dry does the chain stay with 1/3 of a bottle of that in? Why wouldn't you ride with that all year? Does the wax still set?
Yep, it's a wet lube. Chain seems virtually as clean and dry with the wax/Synergetic mix as it did before.
I will almost certainly be running it all year, unless I see a good deal on another crock pot in which case I'll stick the unadulterated MSW puck in that and do the summer road bike chain with the MSW.
The wax still sets, and the chain still needs broken and run in, 1/3rd of a bottle doesn't go very far!
Nothing to add to this thread other than I've just bought a Silca lube kit in their BF sales. With a number of bikes to look after, I'll probably try it on one first, then see how it applies to the others. I'll not be using it until I need a new chain fitted (I bought the Stripchips too). Swapping chains after every ride though, sod that!
Just replaced an old slow cooker I got for free from someone on here with the silca pot. First impression is that it’s a bit quicker than the old one and I like not having to keep an eye on the temperature. Here’s hoping that it’s a bit more resistant to the temperature swings in my garage than the ceramic one was.
An aside, I’ve got a bit of MSW in the old pot that’s going spare now I’ve switched to the silca wax. If anyone could use it I’ll try and rescue it and pick out the bits of broken crock pot and send it to you in exchange for a small donation to your local foodbank.