Silca Super Secret Chain Lube

You could take the chain off, rinse in mineral spirits, finish with an alcohol rinse and then reapply the lube.

I was listening to the cycling tips ask a mechanic podcast on chains the other day (a couple of episodes back) and they mentioned wiping down dusty chains with alcohol. (Personally I never tried it.)

if you like to read, Zero Friction has long test reports on various waxes and lubes. Go to this page:

and scroll to the bottom. Test 13 is Silca Super Secret Drip Wax and if its like Test 20 CeramicSpeed UFO Drip v2, it will have a discussion on the tradeoffs of different cleaning methods. Silca has a degreaser, and I bought the CeramicSpeed one and use it to clean the chain on the bike both the initial removal of factory grease, and when chain is looking dirty. Iā€™m using UFO Drip and the ZeroFriction test report has a long and Interesting discussion of different cleaning techniques and tradeoffs.

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Just wiped the chain with dust cloth and put silca secret lube on itā€¦ will see if it works

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Was going to say, that - maybe with some meths on the cloth - then relube. That or swap for another chain, clean of the bike by running boiling water over it and rewax. Depends how long itā€™s been on the bike. Two hours is a bit excessive to take it off!

Wipe it down with a rag, reapply and let the Silca set up over night. When you are ready to rewax, boiling water flushes will get 95-99% of the dirt off and you can then drop a very clean chain into the wax pit. Really no need or benefit to use mineral spirits after you strip the chain the first time.

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Silca recommends using their ā€œGear Wipesā€, but a clean microfiber cloth works pretty well too. This will take a lot of the external dirt and dust off. Then you can apply the Super Secret lube over the chain. Remember to let it sit at least overnight after reapply. You can likely do this multiple times before you really need to take it off and give it a better cleaning.

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No, i had it for about 800km on the road and everything was fine but two hours of of the dusty gravel made it really noisy

Ah! In that case youā€™ve had it on the bike 300-500k more than Iā€™d usually run a chain before removing and rewaxing as per above, so Iā€™d go with that plan. As ZFC states, once contamination is in the chain thereā€™s pretty much no way round the issue and only a full clean (well, boiling water at least for me) and rewax will get it back to 100% again

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Hi again,

Iā€™ve watched the following video (I Bought a 12 Speed Carbon Groupset From AliExpress - Sensah Empire Pro - YouTube) and, apparently, Francisā€™s received a YBN chain without any factory grease on it. Do YBN chains normally come without any grease on them? (Iā€™ve never bought one or ā€œownedā€ oneā€¦)

Iā€™ve also read in the comments section of the video that YBN chains are better suited for (lube) waxing than shimano ones. Is that true?

Thanks in advance again. :slight_smile:

I ordered some of this drip lube because Iā€™m tired of the gunk left over from squirt. Iā€™m a bit overwhelmed with the cleaning process though.

Dumb question but where is everyone buying the stuff they need for cleaning the chain? Iā€™m in a big city and hardware stores donā€™t seem to carry this stuff.

Sounds like I need:
Mineral spirits
Aerospace degreaser
denatured alcohol

It also feels like I need to keep going with the degreaser in multiple gatorade bottles, I imagine on a new chain itā€™s not terrible but how much degreaser am I going to need for a used chain?

Mineral spirits and either Denatured Alcohol or Acetone you can get at Home Depot, Loweā€™s or Walmart. I get it in big metal containers, usually near the paint section.

I donā€™t tend to use a lot of degreaser, but should be lots of places to order online. I prefer to use Simple Green Pro HD (different than regular Simple Green) in my ultrasonic washer. A container last a long time because it is super concentrated.

https://www.amazon.com/SIMPLE-Purple-Concentrated-Cleaner-Degreaser/dp/B07VZ179K7/ref=sr_1_7?crid=1HA9SWGZHUTNV&keywords=simple+green&qid=1679778543&sprefix=simple+green%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-7

Thank you, I just ordered a gallon of the chemical guys orange degreaser since itā€™s what Silca recommends. The one you linked is much cheaper, but it doesnā€™t state ā€œaerospaceā€ anywhere and that seems to be a big deal?

Iā€™ll look for the rest at my local hardware stores, according to the Home depot site, they arenā€™t available at my local store but if I donā€™t find them at the hardware store down the street Iā€™ll go check for an alternative.

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If you are doing the bottle shaker cleaner method I suspect the Orange degreaser may be better than the Simple Green Pro anyways, so probably a good thing to get.

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Or use ufo clean, as per zfc new recommendations. Simple and easy :+1:

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With the UFO Clean do you spray it directly on the chain, let it soak a bit, and then wipe off with microfiber?

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Trying to figure out what Iā€™m doing wrong with the SSS lube. The initial application is good, but subsequent applications are a mess. For initial prep and lube application, I followed the Silca instructions.

I usually re-lube about 150-200 miles in, or whenever chain noise gets noticeably louder. Is this too soon? When I re-lube, I notice that the lube doesnā€™t stay on each roller very well so it drips down on the floor.

I was a long time user of Squirt which worked fine but have been trying SSS lube recently. With Squirt, the lube was more viscous and stayed put on each roller as I went around the chain.

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You need to rinse it out properly.

So the instructions are to take 100-150ml, soak the chain for like 30min (can be overnight also, I asked UFO), then rinse properly, dry, and then wax :slight_smile:

This for on bike cleaning How to use the CeramicSpeed UFO Clean Drivetrain? - YouTube

ZFC recommends cleaning the chain off the bike, but apparently that works well enough. Iā€™d do another application on the chain after just to be sure.

No this is not too soon.
I wipe my chain clean prior to re application. To help prevent drips I put a latex glove on one hand and hold my fingers under the chain. The extra will collect on on my fingers and I massage it back into the chain. It also helps if the chain is warm, room temp or higher.

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