This Video Is Not an Ad. Drivetrain Efficiency With Adam Kerin 

That happens when you ride a fixie.

are you related to backwards hat Dylan?

@@thegrumpygraveller8820 no I'm much too out of shape to be related to him. Plus I sold my fixie long ago.

+25 watts close drafting. +5 watts fancy wax. +15 watts aero bike. +10 for tires, +10 for deep wheels .. and of curse +50 watts for shaving every hair. I don't even train anymore, I just buy fast things. I won my last race, and I couldn't stop at the finish arc because I was coasting uphill gaining speed.

@@adaycj Buy a recumbent and get a further 80-90 watts ;)

LOL, Me too!

it's like reading my own comment.

More than a few wax cult members I know of have burned down their house or garage with these cooker contraptions. Be careful!

Odd. I've used three different MucOff lubes on mtb and commuter. Cheap and last long enough - never had a creaking issue. I have no doubt there are better lubes around but I have no care for chasing 5 watts as I don't race.

Muc-Off is only good at one thing, marketing. 😂

Hi Tommy! You are correct - super secret lifespan in wet is not that long. If it survives the typical length of your training rides then it is handy in that post wet ride it is pretty easily reset with boiling water flush rinses, dry, re apply. It also likes a long set time & double application before known wet ride - which may not fit the plans - but can be handy to know - ie if you looking at a decent wet ride on the weekend, apply ss drip, allow 24hr set, apply another coating, allow 24hr set. This will give notable extra lifespan vs say just one application the night before. Synergetic is a brilliant option in the wet as it is not easily washed out from inside chain. However - just remember it is impossible for ANY wet & most wax lubricant options to not have a whole lot of abrasive stuff deep inside & part of the lubricant. So unless you solvent flush clean chain post wet ride, you are just adding more lube over the top of that abrasive contamination. Frequent wet riding is balance of lubricant choice that will a) last the duration you need and b) is the easiest for YOU to reset post wet rides. But definitely for some, a synergetic for wet, ss drip for dry can be a great approach.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 thanks for the info. Do you have a video on how to clean and maintain a chain for synergetic lube (or similar)? Most of my “wet” rides would be wet pavement and very rarely a full on rainy day road ride. Do you recommend resetting a chain after any wet ride? I appreciate all your research.

@@tommyt8857 Not a video as such - i do have one somewhere i think showing the litres of solvent it can take to properly re set a dirty wet lube chain - but thats different to regular clean. Mostly it is a balance. Ie for most - it would be not practical or remotely cost effective to fully flush clean until perfect the chain post every wet ride if riding in wet is frequent. However increased friction and wear will definitely bite your cost to run if little cleaning to reset is done. How fastidious you may want to be can really depend on level of groupset and cost - ie if your chain is $150 and cassette $700 and rings are integrated power meter sram axs red at $1500 - i would recommend flush cleaning post wet rides as often as is practical for you. If it is shimano 105 - maybe weekly is going to be fine. but again there are variables - not all water / wet riding is equal. Areas that receive a lot of rain the water can be a lot cleaner. Other areas are near the coast and there can be a not insignificant amount of sand (as far as your chain is concerned) on the road that will be washed in - and that will hurt if it isnt flushed out. So it is still really individual - how much, how long, how often, your power, cost of components, how easy is it for you do to cost effective decent flush clean etc etc - but if you play around and ponder and find what is a good balance for you, that generally goes much better overall vs not playing around with it and just letting friction and wear run away

@kingofcrunk4237 Two little bits of info that may help - 1) it contains tungsten disulfide which is dark, so the wax is dark - excess wax pressed out and then pressed onto sides link plates will look black and 2) there is an interaction between the wax and the coatings used inside chain which causes basically anything to run black - you could put the most clear clean mineral oil on a perfectly cleaned chain, ride for an hour is a level 4 biohazard lab on an ergo, and it will be black from the interaction between the oil and the chains coatings. So even if the wax had no tungsten disulfide and you used perfectly clean food grade paraffin, what comes out of chain to sides of the chain - initial excess will be clear, later wax coming out will be black. You do not need to ultrasonic clean any more past initial prep. The wax is not dirty in a bad way if you only ride in dry conditions - jut re wax, you will never track a tangible lower friction / wear benefit for your ultrasonic cleaning time vs if you just relaxed and re waxed. If you ride offroad - just wipe surface dust off with an alcohol spray on microfiber cloth to not import surface dust stuck to chain from static elec of chain whizzing through the air into pot, but it is largely just external dust, so you dont need to ultrasonic, unless you just really enjoy ultrasonic.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Oregon Winter--Sounds like Synergetic... Oregon Summer (it doesn't rain) Super Secret.

Never see any data sheets for any of this expensive cycle snake oil. Or independent testing, or peer review, or COSHH info, or anything really 😂

MucOff is a marketing "lifestyle" company. Your results are not surprising. I compared the difference between a crank based and trainer based power meter and found the delta was noticeably lower with fancy wax. The results seem to hold for a long time between waxing intervals too.

How to wax 12s chains, the quick links are not reusable?

@@arhu74 Two things. At 1000+ miles between waxings one SRAM 5 pack of links isn't expensive compared to buying drivetrain parts more often. Also, you absolutely can reuse them. Use your phone camera or a lens to magnify and look at the groove interface. You can see when they are bad.

@@adaycj I need to wax way more often due to climate, sometimes after every ride

@@arhu74 I reuse them. I've never had a problem. Granted, I only use them a few times.

@@DaveCM I use the same quick links for years without any problems.

Hey peter! Mostly correct there depending on riding. If it is a dry road ride, being solid - there is SO LITTLE contamination that just re wax is the way to go, you would need the resources of CERN to detect a difference from any cleaning intervention first. The black you see on the side of plates is just friction modifier stuff in the wax (moly or ws2) - it isnt collected abrasive contamination. Off road rides one should absolutel wipe chain with a cloth to remove surface dust that will stick to surface of chain from static elec of chain whizzing through the air, same as dust sticks to frame and you didnt lube frame. However, even if one never did this, re waxing will remain much lower friction for much longer as it takes a long time for abrasive contamination in the pot to approach anything remotely like what happens with drip lubing. Most lubricants - especially most wax lubricants - you will apply about 3ml to chain per application. Your chain will be over 100 links long - so that is 0.03ml per link of new lube going over the top of old lube which will have X level of contamination mixed in. Many wax drip lubricants, at least half of that amount is carrier, so less than 0.015ml of new lubricant per link. Over time the ratio of contamination to lubrication will continue to get worse as there is just such small overall amount of new lubricant coming in. Vs immersive waxing, chain is going into a bath of circa 500ml of 100% lubricant. Yes over time the contamination will build up in the pot - but it takes a very long time for this to remotely approach what is happening in a drip lubricant chain - most especially for road riders. So really, one can just relax and re wax and enjoy the great flush clean and contamination reset every time that this method brings

@@zerofrictioncycling992 I ride in ireland, mostly country roads so that should be noted. I also base most of my 'wax' experience with Squirt which isn't a proper wax.

A long time (20 yrs) ago I did a long XC race in wet conditions, Test of Metal in Squamish BC. Rain preceded the days before the race and it was wet and rainy day-of. Tantalus Bikes suggested the Pedro's SynLube Wet Conditions. It went on like molasses but my drivetrain worked perfectly. The mud/muck there is more big-grain and not clay-like, but it still wants to stick to your bike. I've used wax process (dunked chain, melted wax) on my road chain, probably 30 yrs ago. Found it annoying as a process, but in constant dry conditions it was smooth and quiet for a surprisingly long time.

I love, love, love R&R GOLD. Absolutely the best here in SoCal

@@jeremysweeten2792 - Agreed. If you apply every ride it’s great! Very clean and quiet. But I’m blown away by the Silca products now. Their oil based lube lasts for many rides.

Every ride!? Ain't no body got time for that! .... having said that, it does make sense, as my chain squeals like I washed it with rusty water after just two rides with R&R Gold when on dusty trails. Just wondering if you should fully degrease after every ride too?

@@ljadf - No need to degrease. The cool thing about R&R Gold is that you flood the chain, and that cleans it out. Then you crank it to get it to penetrate. Finally, wipe it down to get the crud off and dry it so it doesn’t attract more crud. Applying it is quick because you just squirt crank. No need to go link by link from the master link. Wiping and drying is the time consuming part. It never gets perfectly clean, so if you have OCD, it could take a while. I just made it part of my pre-ride ritual and didn’t worry about perfect cleanliness. Great longevity of my chain doing that! If you don’t want that much work, Synergetic is perfect. I handles ride after ride. Perfect for wet riding. Super Secret lasts reasonably well too, but it gets noisy more quickly. The good news is that it wipes down clean. The bad news is that you should apply it well before riding, if not the day before. It’s harder for me to get a post ride ritual!

@@jeremysweeten2792 Its good stuff... and inexpensive so you can really flush out the chain with it. BUT... must apply at least half a day before riding. Put it on then go immediately and the carrier fluid hasn’t dried out yet and its gonna cost you nearly 10 watts.

I share your thoughts. I will cover this in a vid soon i think, but i definitely have concerns re the sales / marketing model of the likes of Muc-Off. Firstly they obviously have an ENORMOUS marketing machine, which costs big $$$. And they offer retailers industry leading margins , which is why it is so prevalent. It is extremely clever - from a marketing strategy perspective. A rep goes to visit an LBS - shows them their amazing testing, R&D, work with top world tour team & athletes. LBS owner has zero reason to doubt such NASA level work behind lubricant. Then they see the margins they can make vs other lubricants - AND in some countries they appear to offer 70% margin on ALL muc off if they stock exclusively muc off. So LBS owner thinks it is a win win, great product for customers, great margins for them. But for M-O to sell products (often through an importer for that country) at such a low price such that muc-off make enough money to pay for this monster machine - AFTER the importer has made a viable cut, and the retailer has made a great margin - what do you think the actual production cost of the products are..... I would hazard a guess that like their industry leading margins for retailers, they have industry leading lowest cost to produce. And so IF i am correct, we can follow a bouncing ball that we have a very low cost product, delivering what appear to be really poor results - which is a bit of a match. However if the retailers make great margin for products that have huge marketing by muc-off to drive sales for the LBS - well we see why so many LBS have massive muc-off stands, whilst other amazing products & manufacturers struggle to get a spot on shelves and penetration. It is a great competition lock out strategy by Muc off, and overall just a very clever and well executed sales & marketing strategy overall. But at what cost to cyclists? I sure have some work to do to try to make any impact in the above. I am going to need a lot of help by a lot of cyclists around the world sharing proper knowledge with their cycling friends - One day i hope M-O are forced to actually make a very low wear lubricant option!!

In practice the moment you apply some power through the pedals it quickly squeezes out the excess wax. Basically you're wasting more wax, because forces are far too great to leave anything more than thin layer on the contact surfaces. Silca wax user myself, I know they present this method in instructional videos, but it's just not optimal. Bigger mess on your frame, longer break-in time when freshly waxed. Check Adam's video on it.

Wut?

LOL 😅

Do you really know the answer? I thought it was Classified;) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EUBGKbuifmU.html

I don't like having even more quantifiable proof that I'm making bad decisions

25 bucks for 60ml - you must be kidding me

@@climatechangedoesntbargain9140 lasts for more than a year

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Since I am currently using Squirt can you please share your thoughts on your perceived advantages of switching to the hot melt wax please? When I use Squirt I submerge the bottle into a cup of hot water and have found that it penetrates well although I feel that it does not last very long. Thanks :)

@@vietnguyen4312 Hey Viet. Absolutely. Please remember that I'm just one person and other people may experience something different. When I started using Squirt around 20 years ago, it was the best lube on the market. Hands down. I used it on both my road and MTB. It worked great for a very long time. My biggest, and really only, complaint was that it just got gummed up after only 1 or 2 reapplications and it really didn't seem to self-clean like so many wax based lubes claim to do. In the last year, as I started learning more about chain lubrication from Zero Friction Cycling (ZFC). Adam said that Squirt was still a decent lube but it did have trouble getting into the rollers and deeper parts of the chain. And I can confirm that as well. Adam did say in one of his videos that the only way he'd recommend using Squirt was to fully immerse the chain, and that's exactly what you're doing. However, if you're already taking off your chain and immersing it, you really should be using hot melt wax. The chain stays unbelievably clean (seriously), smooth, and quiet. And I only have to spray a little isopropyl alcohol on a rag a wipe it down after ever ride to keep it that way. It really is amazing. And I have pretty much zero chain wear. I thought waxing was only for racers and was a huge hassle. I was very, very wrong. It's about as easy as it gets and I don't have to deal with degreasing and washing the chain ever again. It's a win win win. Just watch the Zero Friction Cycling channel. You'll get it. As for which wax to use, any of ZFC's top rated hot melt waxes will do but I love Silca as a company and Josh Portner is a genius and seems like a genuinely great person so it's Silca's hot melt wax for me. Hope that helps and best of luck.

@@vietnguyen4312 Hi Viet! In short the main (but huge) advantages of immersive waxing is that every rewax resets any contamination that started to build. With a drip lubricant, contamination will build over time until you flush clean it again, and then some lubricants - like squirt - require a bit of faff post clean to ensure penetration. After every re wax, all parts of the chain are simply re coated in a super slippery wax. You dont have to do any cleaning of chain or drivetrain - just re wax. Aside from remaining day in day out lowest friction and wear, everything also remains lovely and clean - every time chain comes out of the pot it looks brand new, but you have had to do any cleaning, just popped it into a pot and turned the pot on and swished it when wax melted. Typically the benefits of immersive waxing vs drip lubricants will either be very obvious and a cyclist as soon as become aware of it cannot wait to switch. Others - it just doesn''t click that it would be worth it for them, and so best to stick with a top drip lubricant option that matches your riding. Immersive waxing is not for everyone, just that for those whom it is for, it is a really happy time all the time forever and ever amen. Extremely pleasing friction / wear & cleanliness results can be attained without too much more hassle with top drip lubricants - one just needs to do a bit of the correct periodic maintenance for that lubricant. And remember - now also becoming quite popular amongst those for whom immersive waxing every time is not for them - using with an immersive wax compatible lubricant is the perfect middle ground - wax - use SS drip / UFO drip / Tru tension tungsten all weather for next 3 to 5 applications - then re wax again to reset any contamination that has started to build - no cleaned before waxing is needed with those options. This really takes the pressure of for many vs re waxing every time, and delivers still the majority of the friction, wear and cleanliness savings of immersive waxing.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Thank you very much. You advice is excellent. I have just purchased some UFO drip and love your second idea. Thanks again. Enjoy

@@CatManDoSocial Thank you for your informative response. I think I will give the hot melt wax a go.

ZFC actually already have a paper on that from a while back, I only looked at it today though. I had previously watched the same Hambini video you mention. I think the price of Ceramic bearings are beyond my performance needs, but very interesting to read the paper by ZFC and given the approach ZFC take to data and openness, worth a read.

@@funfriends609 Thank you for letting me know, I'll check it out.

I do a very similar thing. I run Smoove. I keep it in hot water. Clean my chain with a degreaser and a clip on cleaner. I then rinse the chain thoroughly. Probably two 2l kettles worth of boiling water. Dry the chain. Then in big ring big cog I apply the smoove, two revolutions of the chain and I just keep hand cranking for a good five mins. Then I allow to dry for 5 mins before making another repeat application. And then I allow to dry overnight

@@alastairstedman7840 Hi guys - yes this does help, but viscosity is strangely not all there is too penetration. Some wax lubricants tested have been very thin, but still had notable penetration issues. A bunch of complex stuff really determines if the wax can get past the very narrow gap between inner plate link shoulders to get to the pin or not. Lower viscosity really does help for those lubricants, but it doesnt solve the issue - it just lessens it a bit. Best practice is to apply to a warmed lube AND WARM CHAIN (if chain is cool, the 0.1ml hitting the link will instantly cool to the chain temp, so it doesnt matter if you warmed the lube if the chain is cool, the lube will be same temp as the chain in about 0.5 of a second). If applying at 20dg + room temp, dont worry. if your room / shed is cold - then absolutely warming the chain is needed or there is just no point warming the lube. Apply initially on max chain line angle - BEFORE the cassette. This has the link parts opened up as much as possible where you are applying, but they will straighten up again when they run over the cog. This provides a bit of a pumping action for the lubricant and gives it best chance of getting through the inner plate link gap. After this, run chain for a about 10 runs around drive train in smallest cog for max link articulation, wipe any excess thoroughly ,and allow any specified set time as a MINIMUM. Many drip wax lubricants can see a notable lifespan increase if this repeated - ie if you had a very long hard ride coming up - do the above, allow 24hr set, and repeat with a 24hr set before the big ride.

All wet lubes soak deep in chain as the chain is not water proof. By what mechanism does clean ride keep your chain clean? I havent tested it as WL honestly are pretty shocking.... (in my opinion based on a fair bit of focus in this space) and so they are not on my priority list to test at all, im not really here to spend a lot of time proving lubricants are bad vs what lubricants are the genuine top options. At the end of the day if you are happy, then for sure stay happy and dont let anyone tell you otherwise, including me. However, i have an extremely strong feeling that if you are happy with a WL product, trying a proven top product like synergetic, revolubes, rex black diamond (which is black but... amazing re performance) will have you doing cartwheels

@@zerofrictioncycling992 White lightning clean ride is a “wax Lube” May not be as slick as some others , but boy I’ll tell you what, it gets inside the chain

​@@XCRiders yes it wont have penetration issues as it is very thin - it is mostly carrier, not a lot of lubrication is left behind. Whilst not overly expensive per bottle, to maintain some hopefully effective lubrication you need to apply it a lot - lubricant cost adds up quickly vs many other options where a bottle lasts a lot lot longer. Again if you are happy with it, thats cool - but the odds that it will remotely compete with the proven top products is just incredibly low. It is very old tech - so it is a bit like an i-phone 1 vs an i-phone 14, and that is being really generous - and yes enviro wise it is pretty nasty stuff. So overall you would undoubtedly be able to choose a different product that costs you less re usage, gives you lower wear, and will be much more enviro + home toxicity friendly. I understand if you have been really happy with a product for a long time, and are still really happy with it that you want to defend it in the face of it being criticized vs modern proven stuff - however - i would say that until you have tried some of the top 10 tested stuff, you just wont really know if what you are defending should be defended. One large local bike store stopped stocking WL clean ride and epic ride a few years ago due to never ending complaints from customers, and they tried it themselves, were of the opinion that clean ride needed to be re lubed with a large amount every 100km to keep chain effectively lubed - and so even though they are super happy to sell the likes of muc-off and finish line and the wear life problems that come with those (in mine and others opinion....) - even they could not abide stocking white lightning products. So from friction facts testing, to jason smith following on from that, to josh poertners knowledge of lubricants, to mine based on A LOT of testing + workshop, to even a major bike store who was happy to stock basically anything but had to give up on stocking WL , to it being very old tech that it is hard to say was competitive 15 yrs ago vs now, to the eviro credentials - the case against i would say is pretty strong, the case for is relying on some die hard legacy customers and just long term brand name recognition. And bike stores that really like fast parts wear rates to try to get more sales of chains, cassettes and chain rings. But again - in all honesty, if you are happy - stay happy - i will rest my case here and you can ignore all silly input from me :)

The speed gained isn't linear. The difference is more like 1.5 seconds per hour. The actual difference is very small.

@@OUTDOORS55 oh. 🙁

Are you vegan ? Try beef tallow 😅

They have this explained in their website Wax FAQ

How do you know this? Can you point to the data?

SILCA did a great video on how to hot wax with heir product from start to finish, they rec an ultrasonic cleaner (the be$t option) but you can also use their (or any other perhaps?) biodegreaser as well to remove all the weird lube the chain manufacturers ship their chains in. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-m3uSbNjI53Y.html

for oil based lubes ZFF has always recommend multiple turpentine oil baths, then once with mineral spirit

But 100 to 200 km is only two to three days. Imagine if you had to change the oil in your car every two to three days? Even 1000km between lubes is still only a couple of weeks. Ideally I want an oil that will last for three weeks at a time unless I have been caught by heavy rain. I have found such lubricants. Remember that if the lube runs out the wear rates skyrocket. You cannot just stop by the side of the road, remove the chain, clean it, oil it and reinstall it when this happens. So persistence is more important to me than power efficiency.

Your screwed😂 I’m gonna empty my bottle of muc off and fill it with a better lube it’s a very nice bottle

Some quick links are made for single use but if you go for a good quality chain like KMC most of their quicklinks are made to be reusable multiple times.

that chart only shows that it may consume less watts, but it could eats up dust and dirt which might kill your drivetrain.