Best chain lube to maximize performance and keep things clean

Slight tangent, but one of the many benefits of waxing means you shouldn’t have to wash the bike as much. After most rides a wipe down with a cloth (maybe with some polish on or something) should do it. If the chain is dusty similarly wipe that, maybe with meths. You only really need to break out the big guns (water, soap) after a wet grubby ride, and you’ll likely take the chain off after those anyway to rewax.

Silca Super Secret.

I use the Squirt stuff on my commuter and gravel bike and run Tu Tension stuff on my TT and summer road bike.

I use pedro’s orange concentrated degrease (because I have it, no other reason) and soak the chains 3 times and agitate it every few hours (I do one soak overnight). After three soaks/agitations and rinsed, it goes in rubbing alcohol and that works just as well as any of these other alternatives. I’ve waxed many chains this way. So you don’t need the fancy products. I know many people use zap citrus or simple green (but you need the fancy simple green for aircraft or whatever so it doesn’t denature the metal).

I wax pretty much only for cleanliness and the fact that I know never need to wash my bikes. I might wash them every 6 months to get crap off the wheels or frame. All my bikes are waxed: trainer, gravel, mtb - even when I ride in the rain, just take it off, hot water, back in the immersion wax.

Silca has a video out showing that you can run their used stripper through a coffee filter and back into the original container to get more uses out of a bottle.

The main local bike shop has (bottles of) Muc-Off Ultrasonic Chain Cleaner, and their Drivetrain Cleaner.

It’s the first I’ve heard of the former, and I have the later, which I think is more for spray on, rinse off as a part of a ‘bike bath’, then a concentrated stripper before waxing. I guess I should just order the Silca product, and be happy.