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Written by Zach Overholt
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Earlier this year, Silca unveiled their Ultimate Chain Wax system to make the process easier than ever. Now, you can add faster or more durable as well. Adding to their StripChip chain cleaning wax additive, Silca now offers the SpeedChip and EnduranceChip that claim to offer said benefits.
All of these products build on the Silca Secret Chain Blend hot melt wax performance, which Silca points out has been “on top of the ZeroFrictionCycling charts for the last 3 years with many competitors reformulating to get close, but none of them able to beat it.” Their reasoning is that Secret Chain Blend is a mix of four unique types of wax rather than just paraffin.
But after working with “professional cyclists, WorldTour teams, and now Olympic medalists,” Silca is responding to requests for specific chain wax blends for individual goals like Leadville, Unbound, short Time Trials, track racing, and more.
Enter the two new chips, EnduranceChip and SpeedChip. Like the StripChip, these chips are meant to be melted together with Secret Chain Blend in the new Ultimate Chain Wax System. EnduranceChip is a semi-synthetic wax blend with “some of the longest molecular chain lengths possible in a wax for ultimate durability.” The resulting wax is said to last 2-3x longer, which should work out to 600-800km, (372-500 mi). The wax will be slightly less efficient than Secret Chain Blend alone, but still faster than traditional wet or dry lubes.
SpeedChip on the other hand is a full synthetic wax made from the same base oils as Silca Synergetic. Silca states this has proven to increase chain efficiency by up to 0.6″ over Secret Chain Blend, but it won’t last as long. Expect up to 8hrs of use on a SpeedChip depending on conditions.
According to Silca, no more than four SpeedChips and four EnduranceChips should be added to a full bag of Secret Chain Blend Hot Melt Wax, so there is a limit to the performance.
Benefits
- Event-specific performance.
- SpeedChip improves efficiency up to 0.6% (1.5w savings on 250w input) for events up to 8 hours or ~200km (125 miles).
- EnduranceChip can extend Secret Chain Blend application longevity from 300-350km to 600-800km(up to 24hrs of use) with only 0.4% efficiency loss (1w on 250w input) compared to Secret Chain Blend.
- The SpeedChip and EnduranceChip forever alter the wax in your pot to be that specific formula.
- SpeedChip and EnduranceChip are also compatible with Strip Chip when used according to directions.
- Developed for Silca Secret Chain Blend: For best results use with Silca Secret Chain Blend hot melt wax and the Silca Ultimate Chain Wax System.
Available now, each SpeedChip or EnduranceChip is sold for $29.00 each, with a 5% discount for two, or a 15% discount for four or more.
Zach Overholt
5,693 articles
Zach Overholt is the Editor in Chief of Bikerumor. He has been writing about what’s new in the bicycle world for 12+ years. Prior to that, Zach spent many years in the back of a bicycle shop building and repairing nearly every type of bike, while figuring out how to (occasionally) ride them.
Based in Ohio, Zach is now slowly introducing a new generation to cycling and still trying to figure out how to fit the most rides into a busy schedule as a new dad.
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B Barber
8 days ago
I started in a shop waxing chains with the old timers hating the process and hoping for a simpler option.
Not in a shop anymore yet it seems we still haven’t found a better option.
If the alignment tables make a come back in out
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Robin
8 days ago
Reply to B Barber
Waxing a chain is dead simple. It takes all of about 10-15 minutes of actual hands-on time. Sure, it’s not for everyone, but it’s certainly no laborious task.
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R Taylor
8 days ago
Reply to B Barber
I use Silca’s wax pot and it could not be easier. I’m even waxing my kids bikes, my parent’s bikes, and any friends who want it done. After about 250-350 miles of gravel riding, I top off with Silca’s drip on wax. If you follow their guidelines from their YouTube videos, it works as advertised. You have to follow all of the instructions. It’s science. If you ad lib or don’t follow the instructions, it won’t work as well.
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Peter
7 days ago
Reply to R Taylor
And how you clean the chain before putting it again into pot?
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theKaiser
2 days ago
Reply to Peter
Some people just wipe the chain down with a rag and put it back in, claiming that the wax attracts so little dirt that the amount of contamination is inconsequential.
If you are more of a perfectionist, or if your chain is particularly dirty from a muddy or wet and gritty ride, then the preferred method is to simply boil a tea kettle of water, remove the chain from the bike, and pour the water over the chain. The hot water will melt the contaminated wax and carry it and the associated grit away. Then wipe it down to dry it, and put it in the pot. While not a traditional bike maintenance method, it works quite well and is actually a lot faster and easier than doing a conventional degreasing of a dirty oiled chain.
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MTB Biz
1 day ago
Reply to Peter
Ultra sonic
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Reply
Grillis
8 days ago
What if you add one or two of each? Do they cancel each other out? lol
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Veganpotter
8 days ago
Reply to Grillis
Not quite, Josh went over it on a new video. You’ll get a small amount of the efficiency gain but about half of the longevity gain.
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Deputy Dawg
7 days ago
Love the endurance additive approach, but find the cost a bit steep.
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Josh at SILCA
1 day ago
Reply to Deputy Dawg
Endurance chip doubles the mileage per application while also increasing wax volume by 15%.. so you end up with the equivalent mileage of 2.3 bags of SecretBlend for the cost of 1.75 bags of SecretBlend hot wax, so it’s not cheap, but represents a pretty good value.
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Michael K Donahue
5 days ago
Sorry…I have been using just paraffin, where is the baseline if you want me to accept
the value of the increased cost? Comparing your product to factory grease does not convince me.
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Richard
2 days ago
Reply to Michael K Donahue
See the cost to run data if you scroll down (noting that each chart has several pages – 3 for cost to run).
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/lubetesting/
If using lower end components, the cost between high quality food grade wax and e.g. Silca, the cost to run differential isn’t that big.
if I was using $$$ mid-high end components, spending the extra $$ and time on a premium wax makes sense. When I say time, I mean hot water rinsing a chain before re-waxing, to ensure that the $$ isn’t ever contaminated.
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Josh at SILCA
1 day ago
Reply to Michael K Donahue
Tour Magazin (Germany) showed SILA hot wax to be 1.5w faster than plain paraffin on 250w input.. that’s equivalent savings to upgrading to the Ceramicspeed OSPW system (which costs a LOT more), while ZeroFrictionCycling shows SILCA hot wax to have ~50-75% less wear per block than plain paraffin while also having longer single application intervals..
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Bbb
4 days ago
Is the pot large enough for more than one chain? Waxing several chains at once saves a lot of time.
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Bryce
4 days ago
Reply to Bbb
Silca’s wax pot can only accommodate one chain at a time. When I have multiple chains queued up for waxing I’ll have two or three strung thru a wire hanger to save time. The first chain can pre-heat sitting on the hard wax as it melts. The next chain in the queue will need to sit in the hot melt for 10-15min to bring it up to equal temp while the previous chain cools. I just move on to other tasks and circle back to the wax pot from time to time to swap chains in/out of the hot melt.
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