Strip chip and Chain prep

[@Thrash155]

LOL.. Dur**** Rider. What a piece of work.. Keep up the good work ZFC..!!!

[@freebird61885]

I have several comments: 1) You are a decent human who is doing useful work and charge a reasonable cost for that. Kudos. 2) D*^&rider is a well-documented agitator and, in my opinion, rotten person. 3) Excited about Silca Strip Chip and their full system. If that system works (1 strip chip for every factory chain added to the pot, no strip chip for rewaxes), then it actually is a game changer. I don’t care that much about performance gains, but much moreso the increase in durability 4) It’s time to get a new camera set-up. A simple light solution and a Sony A6700 and Sigma 16mm or 30mm f/1.4 would be less than $2000 and would make your videos look 100x better Thanks for everything!

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Thanks freebird! and yes sorry lighting at my desk is not optimal, and may look at the camera - but also i am doing these pretty quick most fridays and i think i will be having a very limited time on you tube overall..... you tube is not a chosen career path :)

[@Darthshearer]

Because of you I am now taking the dive into waxing my chain! Keep on doing the great stuff and thank you.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

thanks so much and ah you are in for a grand ol time, it really is a hoot and the best path!

[@zygmuntthecacaokakistocrat6589]

In addition (now it reoccurs to me): lots of years ago I was tech editor at one, then another of our national cycling magazines, & I was lucky enough to go to Japan, then Taiwan, and interviewed some of the product development team at Shimano and KMC (shh, some Shimano chains are made by KMC). I remember asking them specifically what the chain preservative/"lube" they put on chains before they were cut to length and packed was, as I had wondered about this many times when I was a mechanic in various shops (leading up to/concurrent with my writing jobs). I had witnessed some quite heated arguments regarding whether this should be thoroughly cleaned off before the chain was put into service, which was most notably in the negative amongst Campagnolo adherents (I can't imagine why). The best answer I received was from a junior engineer at KMC, detailed off as my chaperone round the production lines, as he was walking me and the photographer (pre-videography/KZbin stone ages: early 2000s) back out to my taxi after my tour of the factory/headquarters. He pointed to a 10 metre long tanker that was entering the yard, and said that was how they bought the packing grease ("lube"), and he said it came from a refinery/factory that also made fuels and chemicals. He said that they didn't have to pay much for it, as it was made from distillation fractions and soaps that not many other industries wanted: & was only as an afterthought engineered to provide lubrication, and as its major function was a corrosion inhibitor for the chains inside plastic bags. Which is what I had suspected all along, and what nearly everything thoughtful I have read and heard on the subject has said since.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Yes it is a strangely odd debate that still has to be had! It should have been easily settled a long time ago. It is not helped when sometimes head tech people - such as Nick Murdick at shimano - i have heard him on podcast interviews saying things like - and i am para quoting here from memory - "If people knew how good the FG shimano has developed is they would never clean it off", and similar from KMC and campy over time - it is used by the brands as another way of marketing like hey not only our chains great but they come with this amazing lubricant that cant be matched by anything else.... And then we have had experts in the field starting with jason smith of friction facts, josh poernter years and before he even bought silca and started selling lubricants - advising why the first thing one should do is remove the FG. Campy's long time stance against masterlinks - and thus long time stance against cyclists being able to immersive wax for lowest possible wear, or if on wet drip lubricants - remove chain for best periodic maintenance to extend lifespan - only recently being changed with c-links for some chains, and may i say a stunningly ridiculous price (up to $30 aud for a super record 12sdp wireless c-link - single use of course) - i think it is safe to say the brands are not giving out the best most accurate information on this front. And they bloody well know. But corporate lines from above must be towed...

[@stephendenagy3396]

Thank you for your work! I jumped on the Silva strip chip strategy. I will now wax all my bikes and thus save wear. I like you SILCA has a great reputation like you. I think this is a game changer. This lowers the effort of entry to waxing. Keep up the good science and tight ethical standards!

[@CS1174]

I have just stripped 2 11 speed YBN chains using 100ml of UFODT. Both chains seemed squeaky clean, leaving no residue, as far as I can see and are now fully waxed in MSW. Time will tell I guess once out on the road. I cleaned each one separately in the 100ml UFODT and soaked for 5 mins. Thanks for your instructions Adam, please keep up your excellent work.

[@garynoble668]

I do the same. UFO works great!

[@JackMott]

I found strip chip to be very compelling since dealing with the chemicals to strip otherwise and dispose of them properly is a huge, smelly hassle. Also, people love you, don't waste any more time thinking about or talking about Durian Rider.

[@dmitryhetman1509]

But it much cheaper and you dont have to dispose it, you can burn it or store to strip other chains, clean greasy stuff etc.

[@urouroniwa]

Argh... Second post. I don't think you are correct about how the Strip Chip works. My understanding is that it's a oleogelation process. Basically, the 125 C temperature period activates whatever they are using (they promise more technical details later, so I'm on tenterhooks). This transforms the grease into a soft wax-like substance. Other additives in the strip chip harden that wax-like substance so that it has a similar melt temperature to the wax. From that point on, you rewax the chain *in that same wax* at 75 C. In summary, it does *not* affect the wax. It just changes the grease. It's quite a clever solution. So, I think you can add another chip to the same wax no problem. Though it would be good to check.

[@michaelpeace1201]

Keep up the good flight

[@stuart3901]

You provide great content, D rider is looking for the views. Thanks for all you do for us!

[@johnkasza2315]

Hitler had a lot of followers also..no worries Adam,, love what you do for cycling!!

[@robertoduranos5196]

Hitler? gotta laugh at that one.

[@stevenhaver]

Depending on how the test data pans out, I think the largest target market might end up being pro teams. Being able to take 18 brand-new chains and make them wax chains on a rest day is pretty appealing. Perhaps that’s easier than having (and storing properly) a bunch of pre-cleaned and waxed chains. For most recreational riders, a couple of chains are going to last for a very long time so it’s more appealing to get a professionally prepared chain (or prepare it yourself), so I don’t see this having that much appeal to recreational riders. The technology sure sounds cool though and I’m glad there are companies like Silca who are always trying to innovate.

[@paullindley4901]

great work as always. I really dont think anyone that is seriously watching your videos is paying any attention to d****rid**. Im glad you responded, but really no need to lose any sleep over it. thanks for your continued efforts. I cant wait to see your review on the new silca strip chip and Im hopeful that you will also review their melting pot as well.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

sadly you would be surprised, and i wonder how many others are thinking X for everyone who takes the time to write in saying hey he has valid points on your rip off pricing etc etc - thats venereals disease's aim - lie to mislead as many as possible as ZFC is in his cross hairs. And he lives to lie to people and create as much negative impact and drama as possible. what a great guy for the world! So yeah gotta take up the good fight and show as many who he really is more clearly - plus other action!

[@keithwright4649]

Hi Adam. Let your work speak for itself. Arguing with these guys just brings the attention they crave. I'm thinking through potential methodology for testing chain cleaners and thinking that a variation on an old human faecal fat method might be useful. This could be that following use of the products, maybe 3/4 way through its life. Then strip it again with ether, acetone or similar. Then evaporate the solvent off, and weigh the remaining fat (grease). Not 100% sure that this is the question you are seeking to resolve, but worth a thought

[@n0ch91c3s]

I bought a digital thermometer with probe for barbecues for less than US$20. It has a settable alarm for when it hits a particular temperature.

[@Iammattmoore]

Thanks for helping me save money! With the price of components chains, chainring, cassettes on these new systems (I started with canning wax $5) I joined the tested hype train with a $40-$80 bag of wax (last almost forever) helps me save $600 a year. Former -Off dry* user.

[@Zerotonin666]

I'm looking to prep and wax my first brand new chain soon and I'm wondering why it has to be specifically 250ml and not say simply fully submerge the chain? 23:25

[@simongreen4573]

Brilliant video as always Adam. Thanks! Sorry you're having to endure the negativity coming from a certain individual. I mean, not understanding that you get an ACTUAL CHAIN and not just a wax service simply beggars believe!? This speaks volumes about the individual making these allogations

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

oh my lordy yes it does indeed. it is impossible he did not know that he was selecting that chain product when he um... selected that chain product..... So its pretty clear he was just doing another hit job to mislead those who wont / havent go the time to think oh way that zfc place is a rip off..

[@simongreen4573]

Surely KZbin have to step in and take this content down at this point. I've not read the legalities involved with this & I know you've mentioned before that it's not easy, but telling outright LIES about someone must be contravening at least one of KZbin's consumer rights policies. Particularly with the stark evidence you've shown about this. I'm not sure how it would work, but maybe see if you could start an online petition of signatures that folks could sign in support of getting this defamatory content removed. I for one would sigb it! This behaviour wouldn't be tolerated in other forms of media like TC, radio or newspaper... KZbin need to sort this out! Anyway, I'm rambling! Good luck with it & you have my full support all the way over from Nottingham, England 😁

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

@@simongreen4573 thanks simon and ha you know i love a good rambling! That seems to be about 99% of my brains operating system :) And yes will find out - whats weird is it is hard to even submit the form re video being defamation, you have to submit URL - which is obviously normally very easy - copy and paste the video link URL - but it wont accept it. So after having to listen to a vid and filling out form re what was defamatory, lying etc and where and why - could not submit form. Even my super I.T lady cant get it to go! So i dunno - i wonder if you tube have this deliberately - the department who has to look at sorting out defamatory videos will be nice and quiet if they system doesnt allow you to submit form! And of course, its not like you can call or email you tube for help. Any help and support stuff just takes to you back to here - you fill out this form. FFS. Sooo.... saw a lawyer friday he will be able to take up with you tube - it is difficult to get a channel taken down altogether (although you are correct - in a world with any sense or morals his channel would have been shut down a long time ago) - but we have a very strong case re getting those vids taken down and his channel de-monetised which if we can get that will for sure make him think twice about continuing to make up lies re me and zfc because if every time he does his channel is de-monetised for X amount of time, he will wear some pain for doing so, and should then still have to have video taken down. so that should be low incentive to keep doing this.

[@AlbaTech]

I can 100% confirm AbsoluteBlack's culture of customer blaming. I see they have a version 2.0 of their hot wax now, which seems odd as they insisted version 1.0 was already perfect. Even if their new wax tested awesome I wouldn't go back as a direct result of sampling their customer service.

[@romanluu]

A bit late to the party, but thanks for all the amazing work you're doing! Based on your videos and website I decided to jump on the chain waxing train, will try to do it myself as a cycling newbie for the first time this upcoming Monday. I decided to go with Rex Black Diamond wax (lived and studied in Finland, so I figured it was the appropriate choice) and will attempt to prep the chain with their own Rex Chain Cleaner; I wonder how that compares to the Silca chain stripper and UFO cleaner after watching this video. Also purchased some industrial spirits as a backup. Anyway, thanks again and cheers from Czechia!

[@vigneshsrao]

36:41 …. Guess u are wrong in saying only 1 chip can be used for one bag of wax! I think silca claims one batch of 500gms of wax can ultimately have all 6 chips (or 6 new chains cleaned) immersed and still be re-usable like a normal bag of wax!

[@larryprimmerjr8099]

That is what I read as well over at Silca.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

yes i wasnt clear sorry - it is one chip per chain, so i was really only considering that chain - i will clarify next weeks vid.

[@alans1816]

I have rinsed out grease from a new chain using 5 min rinses with isopropyl alcohol (100%) at 60C in an ultrasonic cleaner. It is a much better solvent at that temperature, seems to work well, and avoids solvents I don't want to use indoors. Three isopropanol ultrasonic rinses and one at 70C in straight paraffin wax, followed by wax with additives at 70C seems to work well, though I haven't done the sort of testing you have. One thing I wonder with the Silca strip chips is whether a single quick pre rinse with some solvent might stretch the chip to be suitable for multiple chains.

[@dawn_rider]

Re StripChip , my understanding is that the 125C for 10 minutes is for removal of the factory lube, then back to 75C or 85C for subsequent waxes. For a temperature controlled slow cooker dedicated to chains , Silca should have put a magnetic stirrer in the pot with a mesh tray on top for the chain. We would never do anything like this in the lab without a magnetic stirrer. You would get a nice even mixture as well as temperature and no shaking the pot and splashing the contents. It would need a bit more circuitry for the stirrer but it is a niche product. Silca's vid is kzbin.info/www/bejne/mXbRdWxritx4adk

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

yes i had looked at that awhile ago for myself, but hard to find one for melting wax. Generally speaking a good swishing is good enough for most training / racing. we have two pot system like a boss (with mesh in pot 1) demonstrated in waxed life like a boss vid. Commercially no pot like that would come out from any players in the market as a) too expensive for the majority b) it would signal that things are not optimal if one doesnt do that.

[@CatManDoSocial]

Another excellent video, Adam. So sorry that you continue to deal with that horrible person. I was singing your praises on your GCN video and he, masquerading as some woman, tried to throw you under the bus. I subsequently told him to prove what he said but he never responded, of course. Lame. I continue to appreciate your integrity with this and everything else. I absolutely support you in this fight. I said this about the Chip Strip on the Escape Collective article but will say it again here. I will wait to see from your testing if the "chipped" wax performs as well as the regular wax before I eve think about using it. I love my Silca Hot Melt wax and I do not want to degrade its effectiveness even the slightest bit. It makes my chain and components last so long that having to use my solvents every few years does not bother me. I also wouldn't mind purchasing a prepped chain from you to avoid it altogether. I am curious about the environmental effects of all of these methods though. Do these newer methods better for the environment in the long run. I imagine, if disposed of correctly, they probably are all about the same, but I don't know.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Thanks so much Cat, and yes he does post under his partners name a lot. Goodness knows whats going on with her to be with such a person but i fear what some will sink to to raise their own social media profile. I feel there will be a long period of regretsville for her post her time with venereal D just like all the others. And yes it will be very interesting. Great to see from their latest vid yesterday that it has absolutely gone gangbusters already. I really was not sure if this was going to be for a small niche or have wide appeal - but it seems its the latter! Being silca i have hopes that it will do all it claims and as it claims - but as we saw with X, suprises can come up. The break in for X was for sure not in the brochure, and it was not something i was comfortable to stock and recommend, even with the super impressive treatment longevity. And its performance in wet block 4 was also a bit of a surprise initially (but then kind of inline with Rex 4+1 - which was interesting re high concentration graphite / nanine and wet weather). So one never knows until its put through its paces and there will be a bit to test with strip chip (and still some more clarifications sent off even post his last vid :)). But chatting with josh its been a lot of work and investment to get to where it is and they are very confident, so that is a good sign. Hopefully strip chip for testing not too far away now, im holding a machine waiting!

[@CatManDoSocial]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Excellent! Thanks, Adam!

[@steveedwards5280]

I've used Putoline hot wax 8n the past but think i over heated it on the camping stove. I'd be very interested to see how Putoline compates to the other immersive waxes

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Yes alas so, so many waxes out there now! will see what we get too this year

[@marginal_gains]

Does the chain stripper testing protocol designed to catch the quicker chain wax breakdown? Josh from Silca in the strip chip You Tube product launch said the problem with factory grease was that it degrades the chain wax so it would be shorter before the next waxing without stripping factory grease. The problem with factory grease was not necessarily an adhesion issue with the chain wax. Changing the protocol to use minimal chain wax so there will be a higher factory grease to chain wax ratio may show the degraded factory grease/chain wax phenomenon better

[@martinhanley23]

Never argue with an idiot…….if it keeps going take legal action but give him no airtime he wants a he said she said battle through KZbin which boosts his views. You are doing great with your business

[@TheUglyFrogKing]

I think the $43 for the strip chip was the Australian price. The strip chip is $24 American. Your screen showed vat tax included. Keep up the good work!!!

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

thanks yes i will confirm and update next vid as that will change the prep cost calcs a lot.

[@CaptainLou19]

Stop feeding the troll, just ignore his existence.

[@LaurentiusTriarius]

Dude has a hard time thinking straight and won't answer any logic but he has almost 250k subs, I don't think they're all muppets but it shows bullshit can go a long way, it must end 😂

[@pauljogever3282]

Love your work and honesty about the products. Would you deem it helpful to use Silca hot melt wax in its bag in a hot water bath in an Ultrasonic Cleaner? Thinking it may penetrate the insides of a chain better. Or am I overthinking it.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Thanks Paul! - in general no - all evidence points towards this will not do what one hopes it will do. The bag is more of convenience thing for some vs ultimate in practicality for those who can simply buy a cheap slow cooker or crock pot. A pot is easy to do a good swishing, get great distribution of frictin modifier through the wax for an even and consistent coating. In the bag, swishing is harder. in ultrasonic - even if you put wax directly in ultrasonic - cavitation (ultrasonic) power in wax is very low unless a very powerful ultrasonic and preferably at lower frequencies due to lower viscosity of wax vs most ultrasonic solutions. in the bag surrounded by water - now you have two different viscosities - ultrasonic power in the wax will be extremely low. it is much more likely modifiers would be settled to bottom of the wax for poor distribution. Chain is not waterproof, so you dont need ultrasonic to aid penetration when submerged in a liquid and swished. If using ultrasonic for waxing because one just really wants to - then the wax should be thoroughly swished first to evenly distribute modifier, then run for about 5 to 10 mins so that it does not have too much time to settle, then i would swish chain again before removing.

[@josephkozachek848]

Hi Adam. A fresh waxed chain will have the wax fill the voids around any worn pins or rollers. This suggests that it will affect chain wear measurement. Should we be checking for chain wear after a boiling water immersion?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

just check before re wax. by then the wax layer is extremely thin, and any false low measure vs if you checked stripped is same / similar to all lubricants. If fact false low wear measures can easily occur with wet lubes as well that have become contaminated as there is a black mess with crap in it filling the gaps, or build up with wax drips (ie people dont check when treatment is due to re lube but maybe after re lube or after just a one medium ride post re lube). with waxing it is very consistent re what the layer will be by the time it is due for re wax, so you just check then.

[@nienkerk1]

This is awesome 👏 Thanks Adam!

[@paulschulman8131]

My concern is the Oleogel. There are several kinds but all were tested on organic oils not greases. But the only Oleogel where you really need to heat it to that high a heat to work is a compound Ethylcellulose. Which is a commonly sourced from paper and paper waste. The other alternative Oleogel includes natural waxes (carnauba, sunflower, beeswax). And for these to perform oleogelation is in their operating temp is their melting point of around 70*C Ethylcellulose, on the other hand, you must bring it up to its glassing point of 135*C-140*C and at this point there is a risk of toxic fumes with this method. But all this rides on the idea that natural oils which these Oleogels have been tested on are identical or similar to synthetic oils and greases.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

well, thats all way out of my knowledge area, i will send that cut and paste to josh and see if he has time to reply :)

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

righto - from Josh at silca; "Couple of basic flawed assumptions here, starting with 'all were tested on organic oils not greases' which makes me think somebody read an internet paper on this and believes science is stuck in time? Like, what do you think we've been doing for the last 2+ years, just reading the old papers?? They also seem to not understand what grease is... Yes, this tech has been studied for over a dozen years and yes, it's been highly focused on food oils (which all have lower temps as pointed out..), but if you go into the lab with the idea that grease is just an oil plus a thickener plus additives..then you can set up a process for your thinking.. OK, step 1, figure out what the grease is composed of and how to 'crack' it (what temp does that happen?;-).. step 2, get access to those oils in the grease, step 3 oleogelate those oils, step 4 how do we further harden or refine the oleogel..step 5, what are the additives and are they helpful/harmful to our wax.. and you know, like 37 steps later you're done!! Somebody just isn't thinking that any one of the 37 steps might need a uniquely high temp. I have multiple PhD candidates that I'm thesis advising currently, all will be publishing in the next 1-3 years on this so eventually most or maybe most all will come out"

[@ridefast0]

Adam - your ZFC channel seems much better tethered to reality than your detractor's channel. My cheap little back/sack/crack wax pot won't go up to 125C and my food-grade waxed chains run smoothly and last for ages even on my eBike so I will stick with an occasional solvent strip for deep-cleaning, the bottles last for years. Can't imagine going back to oil.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

ha thankyou, if it was thought i was in a similar place reality wise to venereal D, i would just look to donate the severely broken brain to science to see if they can figure out a cure for others :)

[@dawn_rider]

If anyone is worried about degrading their wax with strip chips and are using the 2 pot system, why not strip the grease in pot 1 ( cleaning pot ) ? Also , overheating the wax in pot 1 is likely less of an issue unless it degrades the strip chips as well as the wax ?

[@saracen888]

Love your work 💪🏼

[@Neil_down_south]

Could you weigh chains before/after to see how much factory grease has been removed? You'd obviously need lab standard scales, so cost may be prohibitive.

[@ariffau]

We are weighing grease weight on chain now? What the

[@Neil_down_south]

@@ariffau as a way to measure removal rate, not because the weight itself matters.

[@ariffau]

@@Neil_down_south ok. But how do we know all chains were greased equally at the first place? 😅

[@Neil_down_south]

@@ariffau It would only useful if comparing multiple chains & cleaning products, but would be negated if wild differences in grease amount within one make/model.

[@jorgelucascouto]

I think it would be easier to inspect the metal surface in a microscope.

[@better.better]

when you test the strip chips, definitely test multiple uses of the same bath and multiple chains at the same time, because you just KNOW somebody's going to. also test reusing the bath for a wax reset... chemically the reused wax should be the same at that point (with the factory grease now incorporated into the formula) also test the most efficient way to prep for a three chain rotation... if you can only use one chip per chain, it would be much more efficient to prep 3 chains in a single solvent bath rather than do three separate baths, right? Time-wise it would be the same as one chain, and supplies-wise, you're not throwing away three separate batches of wax. alternatively if you wanted to use three chips in one bath then you would also have to use three batches of wax in a larger pot, but again that means that batch is going to be for a one-time use, whereas with the solvent method you can reuse the wax afterwards

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

yep clarification from silca is one chip per chain, so if one is looking to do 6 chains in their one bag of hot melt, then 6 strip chips in. so that will be pretty impressive.

[@stiniusdahl9789]

Keep up with the Great work!!

[@zygmuntthecacaokakistocrat6589]

My method of appraisal of any "new" products in this area is along the lines of "guilty until proven innocent", doubly so, when you are dealing with the company that wants you to refer to them as Silca. Oil floating about in the wax is EXACTLY what you are trying to avoid, no matter what fairy dust big words you try to apply to it.

[@better.better]

depends if it's chemically incorporated somehow into the final wax, which is what I assume the goal is... like, chemically, if the chips are paraffin but with the petroleum component removed, then when the grease from the chain is added, it would bring it back to full paraffin again, similar to condensed soup when you add water. I'm just speculating on how it could be done of course, I'm no chemist.

[@colinl2908]

I think their marketing videos says it changes the grease to wax, so no oil floating in it?

[@zygmuntthecacaokakistocrat6589]

Magic! They don't know what the grease is made out of exactly, so how can that happen? @@colinl2908

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

they have explained all that in their launch. Healthy skepticism is always good, however for sure many tip way past that, on many things. I.e if your position is already this "doubly so, when you are dealing with the company that wants you to refer to them as Silca" - why wouldnt silca want you to refer to them as silca? Their company name is silca. what am i missing.

[@emilvaradi9393]

Just wonder, would it make sense to mix Silca's X with Hot melt, let's say 50%-50%? In order to get a less stiff chain than with the X?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

not sure how that would work, it is a different base for x, and a different friction modifier. you may get something bang in the middle of the two and be onto something, but then maybe not. i have that on my list to try but oh man, my list :)

[@bradnyenhuis3896]

Oops, preface missing from comment below. This is regarding Silca's new Strip Chip

[@RAP4EVERMRC96]

Hey, thanks for the information about solvents. How do I properly reuse the solvents? I don't understand how I can clean 3 chains with the same 200ml if the solvent has turned dirty. Would appreciate a comment. Can mineral spirits be reused aswell?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

X solvent can absorb X amount of grease before it is saturated such that it wont very affectively dissolve off more. Typically if you are cleaning say a shimano chain, first and second solvent baths would be put into a container for disposal, final bath can be kept for first bath next chain etc as will have not had much to dissolve by then, and have good capacity for a good first bath next chain. Some with alcohol baths for final rounds - the second alcohol bath is fine to be bath 1 next chain.

[@MrJaycobsen]

Silca says you can use 6 strip chips per bag of 500g wax. "The ideal reaction temperature for StripChip is 120-130C and as long as you're in that range, you will get the reaction to convert the oil, AND won't be doing any damage. We are saying no more than 6 chain strippings per 500gm bag of wax. We've seen no degradation in performance at that level, but there has to be some tipping point where having the percentage of StripChip and oleogelated oil will have an effect. In total you should expect 70-80 waxings per bag of wax+StripChip"

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

ah most excellent yes i forgot in my rush to delve into multiple chains, thanks for clarifying re the number of strips that can be added to a single bag of hot melt.

[@MarcelWiersma92]

In what proportion should you use the wax with 1 strip chip? The full 500ml bag and then chip by chip or less (say 80ml) and then add chip + additional wax when prepping a new chain?

[@MrJaycobsen]

@@MarcelWiersma92 I would put the whole bag in the cooker, easier to get coverage of chains and better for waxing multiple chains.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

@@MarcelWiersma92 this still wasnt clear in silca's update vid. At one point it seemed like 300ml, at another point it seemed like it could be less. I would go with 300ml at the moment to be uber safe, and do one at a time (ie one strip chip, one chain - and if have more chains to do, repeat per chain).

[@MarcelWiersma92]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Thank you for the quick reply! Much appreciated. That makes sense. I have 2 new chains and a new bag of wax so I will go with 250ml + a chip and then repeat the process later again. Ah bit strange tho, that the exact temperature for the chemical process is very clear but the proportions aren't :P

[@robertwhyte3435]

According to Josh you have to be pretty accurate when it comes to temp because the chip works at 125C but the wax is degraded at, I think, 150C. You can do two strips per chip and when you've done 6 the ratio of stripper to wax gets out of range. So, twenty four dollars US gets you twelve stripped new chains and kills off your $40 worth of wax or something like that. In the meantime, you're obviously able to retreat chains in the meantime you're not wasting the whole pot. It'll be interesting to see how this works out in practice but it seems to me the Silca pot is expensive - no shock there - but if it works even close to the claims I think it's a win for someone who maintains their own gear. What would you think of taking a chain out of the final wax and dipping it in ice water to set the wax. I have a friend who does this and swears by it.

[@86309]

absolutly no need to dip hot chain in cool water, if you are losing the wax from running off the chain when you pull it out of the bath, your wax temp is too high. after you get it up to temp, and have sufficient agitation and wax subversive time, turn off the pot, let the wax cool with the chain in it, and just pull the chian out the the wax when the wax is JUST STARTING to form a **slight skin on top. not too much or too thick though, or you will get clumps.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

No i dont recommend that. All that does really is waste a lot of wax, make a big mess, and waste time. Pressures inside chain from pedalling load are very very high (can easily be thousands of psi). So after 10 to 15 mins of riding you will have the same amount of wax coating parts inside chain as if you removed from pot at 100dg c and hung to set at 40dg on a summers day. Just the latter you didnt have to keep checking wax temp to remove at the right temp to then make a huge mess of excess wax to be pressed out and wasted.

[@robertwhyte3435]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Thanks, I think the pot from Silca will make things a lot less complicated.

[@kieranbarry8193]

i dont get why the chain manufacturers cant sell chains without the factory grease! Surely there would be a market for that? Alternatives could be either a vacuum-packed bare chain perhaps? Or just use a water soluble material that can be easily washed off?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Money. Tis always money. The productions lines are high volume, and long time dialed. They go through a hot oil / grease bath at the end, cut, and re packaged. This is very cheap for them, they get the oil / grease in volume and for very little $$, and it doesnt go off. To change would actually be pretty costly. What wax? how break in? or wax emulsion - at much higher expense, which will have carrier evaporation from air exposure etc. They are happy at the moment to let aftermarket take care of pre prepping chains vs stepping into that market - it would likely cost them more than they would make. This a good case to be made for places that are pre prepping chains at volume to be able to get runs of chains not going through FG bath, as that saves wasting time and resources to just remove what was just put on. There is some movement on this. There wont be vacuum sealing for general sale as a) it would cost more and b) its then another SKU across all chain models which has costs around production numbers, ordering from importers and retailers - how much of this new sku do they stock, what will be sales of vacuum sealed vs FG and so on.

[@CatManDoSocial]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Adam, would vacuum sealing actually solve the issue? I've often wondered about that. Thanks!

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

@@CatManDoSocial i would say yes it should - but just that would cost more to do as its a different process that will be comparatively a lot more time consuming than the existing process, would need more expensive plastic to ensure remains sealed - and again a lot of people / bike stores / oem are just not going to want this. they will want simply factory lubed chain. Many chains the customer is being sold muc-off or finish line or similar to chuck on top of FG - what would they want with a chain sans lubricant that now they have to lube on install. And pay more for the pleasure of doing that etc. I would like to see more expansion on those who are doing this at volume being able to get runs sans FG so we are not needing to spend time and solvent to remove and dispose of something just put on that we now have to take off - but thats moving slowly.....

[@CatManDoSocial]

@@zerofrictioncycling992Thanks!

[@dalemadz7737]

Not sure but the price you got is AUD because on silica’s website it’s $24 USD

[@Thomas-fy9yc]

Has anyone looked into the red axs chain poorer performance yet over the force axs? Is it because of a needed break in period?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Hey Thomas - at the moment it is a bit of an enigma. It hasnt been seen with any other chain brands other than sram. The same situation is with sram eagle x01 and eagle xx1 where the x01 is about 0.5w faster than xx1, basically same as force around 0.5w faster than red. Force uses solid pins vs hollow, it could be as simple as the solid pins are little different re surface treatment, tolerance fit, or just overall slightly different construction of the force run chains vs production of red. In a part working so, so hard - where you have literally around 300,000 pieces of individual sliding surface movements per minute - tiny numbers re difference multiple out to a bigger number.

[@Davido0013]

Hi, i have question about chain degreasing. I was usinig mineral turps (white spirit) first and then and isoprophyl alcohol after that to remove film. But recently isophopyl alco is nowhere to be found in my country. Do u have any advice what i could use instead? What I can find is acetone / kerosene/ 646 or what else could be ok? I also use synergetic silca lube so maybe i dont even need that plastic film remover? Maybe white spirit only is enough for that lube?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Hi david! yes methylated spirits / denatured alcohol is also great - dont use kerosene or 646 they will likely leave a film behind thats worse than not using. For synergetic your are probably ok not to worry as much vs wax - if i was me i still would just because those last couple of baths in alcohol ensure perfect prep, but yes for a wet lube it should be too much of a concern if that is proving difficult

[@Davido0013]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 thx for reply!

[@matkvaid]

How do You deal with smell from cleaning with mineral turps in ultrasonic? I think very good ventilation is necessary? I did that in a garage, and it was bad. Also, for first step i just put engine degreaser and kept maybe 30mins in ultrasonic (mine is very small, cheap for jewelry), but even after that chain looked clean. Is something like brake cleaner worse than mineral turpentine?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

It should be either well ventilated indeed or done outside. I would not do in a shed or garage that was not well ventilated. I have an extraction fan running very close to mine, and an air quality monitor to keep an eye on tvoc levels. and if i make a spill, i have a MASSIVE extraction fan right there i can turn on that clears immediately. I am not sure re engine degreasers - brake cleaners are often similar to acetone so can be a great final bath to ensure no film - probably also very good for initial baths, just typically more expensive, toxic, and fuming. Mineral turpentine is powerful against a lot of oil and grease, is pretty clean, is very low environmental toxicity, is easily disposed and recycled through councils hazardous liquid waste disposal programs, is generally a lot cheaper etc etc etc. There are endless options, i can really only recommend what has been proven over a very long time starting with friction facts etc as a cheap, easy proven way to prep a chain.

[@matkvaid]

Thank You! :) i hope it will work well with initial cleaning with degreaser in ultrasonic, and theni mineral + acetone in a jar :)

[@wazzup105]

Why is UFO DT clean sold in spray bottles? (I mean soaking/shaking is way better to remove grease (and wax).. right?)

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

correct off bike is always best practice, but many out there will not be confident to remove chain, so it is powerful enough to clean on bike by spraying liberally on, allow to work, rinse with hot water, dry and then use chosen good wax drip like ufo etc

[@easterguts]

You can also use it on the cassette and chainrings.

[@user-m5m5k]

Any chance to get a test of Muc Off Bio Drivetrain Cleaner for chain prepping?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

at this stage no, but possibly in future for sure - i need to sort the test method first (getting there) - then make sure it works for stripper and UFO, and then can add other products - the new method should be better, quicker and easier in all ways (swab + grease / oil detection agent) - so once get cracking will be able to work my way easily through most main brand degreaser products i hopes

[@user-m5m5k]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 cool, your work is awesome

[@isaiahreimer6475]

Will these Strip chips work with MSW ?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

waiting for official word - i need to get an official answer from mspeedwax but they are very accurate folks - which is great - so need to test fully themselves, they dont just throw out a ya or na on things willy nilly. My mantuition says yes it should be fine, but the 10 mins at 125dg c is notably higher than mspeedwax recommended temp - so i really want their official yes before advising so myself. stay tuned.

[@boulderguy2047]

Silca actually claims that one bag of hotmelt wax can support up to 6 factory chains with 6 drip chips. After that the wax is supposedly still good enough for rewaxing. Atleast that is what they are repling to comments on their website regardin this question

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

yep check next vid where i do cover some clarified info on that in the low friction news - so yes you can - sort of. Ie if you use a strip chip to degrease a chain, run that chain for 10,000km and then get a new chain and repeat - you will be down a couple hundred ml of wax. Repeat that - and you wont have any wax left for a chain or strip chip on chain 3 - so for that cyclist - you are not putting 6 or 3 strip chips through. Another cyclist might have 3 bikes and running two chains on rotation every bike and so going to put all 6 through at the start - in which case yes - yeehaaa

[@gavinhdouglas]

Best not to argue with stupid people, they bring you down to their level, then beat you with experience 😂 Keep up the excellent work 👍

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

ha yeah there is that, at least im not actually arguing with im, just gotta fight the good fight - people like him have just too long had their way with lies and deception to take down others - will do what we can!

[@markifi]

i trust silca to have done their homework, but i bet other companies will come out with products which claim to have the same effect but won't, and that will lead to a lot of unhappy customers with actual oil in their wax.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

that is very possible others will try to jump on the bandwagon and have all the claims but not the work...

[@bradnyenhuis3896]

My issues aren't with the cost of a $$ pot, it's the how. The word "magic" is being thrown around a little too much for me. OK, it brings the melting point up which will thin out the new chain oil which will obviously make it easier to remove. Pretty straightforward. Then what? Where does this oil go other than in your wax which kind of kills the whole point of oil-free, wax lubing. Is there some, dare I say, magic that actually eliminates the oil? If so, how? Also, we've heard that heating immersive wax above 100*C is bad for the wax. Now it's not-so-bad? I appreciate your unvarnished truths. Waiting to hear them on this product.

[@paulschulman8131]

To my understanding the Oleogel is supposed to work at this high heat to combine with the grease and turn it into a wax structure. However, this is all speculative as the only testing done with oleogels are with edible oils. Unsure how it'll work with synthetic oils. Also using natural waxes should do the same thing as this Oleogel (carnuba, sunflower, beeswax) and you only need to heat it to the wax's melting point not near it's glassing point like this Oleogel: Ethylcellulose

[@paulschulman8131]

I am by no means an expert. You can find scientific papers on oleogelation in the public record via google search. This isn't that new. The methods have been known and studied for the past 20+ years.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

the oleogel process is basically to convert the grease to wax, thats the "magic". And the wax will be ok for that temp for that time

[@infocuslearning]

To test Silca Stripper, can’t you just put the cleaned chain in a glass bottle of hot water and see what comes off?

[@hbars]

no.. because all of the wax would come off as well. The strip chip goes in WITH the wax and turns the factory grease into a wax-like substance that will be indistinguishable from the actual wax

[@infocuslearning]

@@hbars You didn't read my comment very carefully. I said "To test Silca Stripper" not Silca Strip Chip

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Im not confident hot water would clearly wash out any factory grease left on chain in a clear manner. will be investigating best way to assess.

[@infocuslearning]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 True, but if any grease floats out, you’ll know it’s definitely not free of grease.

[@dawn_rider]

Probably the ideal way is to use a precision balance with a resolution of 0.001g and hot mineral turps from the ZFC distillation process to remove the residue and then dry off in the air fryer. Obviously you need before and after chain mass readings to calculate the residue mass and the chain would have to be dried before doing any of this. If the initial chain mass is too much for the precision balance you would have to save the solvent / solute and evaporate the solvent off ( not in an air fryer ! ) . In that case you need the masses of the empty evaporation container and the container + residue and calculate the difference. I used to use aluminium milk bottle tops as the container but our scales would read to 0.0001g. If no balance is available , just eyeball the residue !

[@RT-tn4ry]

The only way to see if the strip chip works is to take the chain and ride it for 14,000 km and see if you are at .5% wear.

[@markifi]

where does the 14,000 number come from?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

not really - there are a huge amount of variables in real world cycling. Your 14,000km might be anothers 8000km might be anothers 25,000km. I have ordered some oil detection powder from USA so hopefully this will give a tangible visual assessment.

[@urouroniwa]

I will only say this once: If you have legal issues with defamation, then contact a lawyer and go that way. Prolonging the "debate" is literally their end game. You are being trolled. Just from the language, you can see that they are intentionally saying exactly the same thing that you have said about some of the lube manufacturers. You say that you have no choice. You literally have a choice. You say that they have 250k subscribers. Do they? Do you want to buy the voice a youtube channel with 250k subscribers? It's not that hard to do and not that expensive. We can imagine the motivation for this. If you are potentially losing 10s of millions of dollars in sales on the good word of a small organisation, it's a no-brainer to hire someone to ruin that reputation. They are *looking* for a tit-for-tat back and forth argument. Your opponent is not the youtuber. That person is almost certainly being hired because they have no reputation to lose. You can not win this game. You can only win by not playing. If you want to explain how you make money, what your cost structures are, why you price things at certain levels, then fine. Do that. You have a good reputation because of your data and your analysis. People who buy stuff from you do it because they want to support your analysis work. They don't care what you charge. Don't get sucked in.

[@LaurentiusTriarius]

He's a terrible troll , he's gained popularity pandering to veganism supremacist then when he got less traction he started bashing products and people he doesn't like. You can't argue with that type of person at that point legal actions are really annoying but that's a good call in that case...

[@86309]

good comments, I sure would like to debate the D Rider technically...he is a clueless narcissist .

[@colinl2908]

I hadn't thought of it that way, where you could actually be targeted by a foul mouthed influencer, possibly being paid to 'influence' (shock/horror). You won't change his, or his subscribers mind, so I agree that its best not to become involved. Focus on the tests and data, as they prove your integrity.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Yes there is all that, and i have considered all that - but there are also a number of other reasons why such things are also worth fighting. There are pro's and cons to both approaches, and i dont expect all will agree with my current chosen path, whilst others will support - different people have different views, and i have my own, and i must be guided by what i feel is the right thing to try re fighting back.

[@colinl2908]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 All good Adam. You do you 👍I will support you.

[@tosheshdaulta8899]

I'd like to buy a Silca chocolate bar

[@PtWhiteBelt]

Preliminary reviews haven't been stellar. TBF, they're made by people who compare the strip chip to UFO Clean + top wax or Turps+Alcohol+top wax.

[@jimbo9030]

With the amount of lawyers that ride surely someone here can help you out Pro Bono....or in Lew of payment with race prep DA chains 😉

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

i luckily have some grand lawyer cycling friends but they are all in commercial not defam, but had a good recommendation so seeing him, sadly he is not a cyclist :)

[@rattila13]

I was excited about the strip chip until I found out that once you put six new chains through the pot, the wax needs to be replaced. I'd rather keep the chain degreasing and waxing separate.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

i think the plan is that for most it will be one chain, one strip chip into your wax, and that will more or less see you through for a long time with that chain on that wax, then its repeat on next chain and fresh wax. i was meant to cover multiple chains but forgot! but getting more information now that one can maybe just keep adding chips per chain. if one can do 6 chains from one bag of wax, that will be impressive. will clarify..

[@rattila13]

I own a shop and was considering using it to wax chains on demand whenever I don't have chains prepped already, but it's not a good option for that considering how quicky it would blow through a pot of wax. It's more cost effective to use ufo clean or stripper and keep reusing a pot of wax reserved for brand new, stripped chains. @@zerofrictioncycling992

[@steveedwards5280]

Thanks for continuing the good work. I really appreciate all the free advice you put out there. 8nterested un the cimment about Silca stripper jot removing the old wax. Is this something youve trsted? The reason i ask is a response from Silca in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYTNi6Odq7yJsKMfeature=shared Saying that it does remove old wax. I wonder if thetes some confusion with their drivetrain cleaner from the spa set which is supposed to not remove wax. I'm interested to inow as im finding it rrally difficult to get all of the Smoove out if a few chains thst i eant to switch to immersive waxing. Its a great advert for Smoove as a week in white spirit hasn't shifted it. I know this as im currently boiling a chain on the stove and can see a fine yellow wax depositing on the sides of the pan. I'm either going to have to settle on almost perfectly clean, or buy a 2l ultrasonic cleaner PS, just noticed on this Silca video, they say the stripper can't remove wax. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHqqnmWNl954h5Yfeature=shared

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Yes on the geek warning podcast or was it a marginal gains on the release of the product, josh did specifically cover that they deliberately made it so that it would not dissolve wax. I took note of that the time as that is a key difference between stripper and UFO DT clean. It does seem there is some possible conflicting information around that so i will have to try to clarify.

[@davidgibson6716]

I'm beginning to think Silca are starting to peddle 'snake-oil' solutions which have to be used with other specialist Silca expensive tech! The previously stated issue of low temperature control which is safe has not taken a turn, maybe not in the interests of health and safety. Silca products are clearly very good but this one seems to have been produced and marketed to lock customers into their brand, before there is real-life evidence this works, for the mere mortal.

[@gweflj]

I agree. I’m also very skeptical that it works as claimed.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

No i dont think that making it super easy for someone to take their factory grease chain and then be waxing is snake oil, this could be exactly what some/ many are looking for. I think i was incorrect re the needing to re wax at 125 every time after adding strip chip its just back to 75 so really it is just one time one has to faff with temp. I will correct that next vid

[@vitalbikechains]

The chip…isn’t easier to just prep with a stripper product? Im concerned chip users will eventually end up with an expensive pot of goop. And then of course be anti-immersive.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

It should be as easy as they say - pop a chip in, 10 mins at 125 and yeehaa. I highly doubt after all their work they would go to market with it turning to goop :) We shall see of course but lets say i am pretty certain they have tested this rather thoroughly!

[@DaneKromer]

D is the last person I’d turn too for any advice. I knew this years ago when I watched one of his videos. He’s not actually about helping people. It’s a shame that so many people want to watch his brand of nonsense!

[@rafaeldegiacomoaraujo8778]

Don't give him any airtime. Ignore him. He's toxic.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

yeah sadly i have tried that, so i am going to work to a) correct the lies and b) in doing so more who have been mislead will see him for what he is, and c) will be looking at a bigger fix to the problem...

[@stephenkohler3472]

Yeah, that's clearly slander. Good luck in your legal battles with the guy. He really reminds me of he guys that made the movie 'Loose change'. Very similar style.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

ah i havent shown any of the worst yet and i have only started on one vid. how does such a guy have followers...

[@stephenkohler3472]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 I have no idea why some people are so attracted to crass bullshit artists like that. I imagine they're a little bit sad, lost, and lonely in their daily lives and content like that gives them some kind of outlet for their feelings? Not really sure.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

@@stephenkohler3472 I worry that a lot of people who are just not super happy overall just like to rage against the machine, any machine. So people who have made a pariah of themselves like our man here - well he gets to put himself up as the one calling out what mainstream media wont, speaks truth power etc etc - and a lot of people are just ready to drink that cool-aid. And then once people start to think something, they defend any attacks to that and just dig in further. It is why with political parties that the party one goes for is doing all the right stuff and whatever the other does is all the worst stuff, and anything they say is a lie, anything their party says is gospel truth. Just all thinking is gone, its all emotion. I obviously wont ever reach those who are already too infected with this particular venereal disease, but for others who still have thinking left (and i since i have to do this work anyway for the deeper action i may as well show and share!) - i hope it will help.

[@stephenkohler3472]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 It feels way too common but I'm hoping it's just because that one road rager or troll is so stressful that we just don't notice the vast majority of people who are fairly happy and peaceful... Or in this case, interested in the best information available. Hard to tell brotha, but I sure do appreciate everyone in the bike community that keeps it such a beautiful and welcoming experience.

[@FarstAs-gu9ie]

Just watched dr's last video and once again he is asking for a live debate...would you consider ?

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

my goodness no - what would the point of such a thing? He is not asking for a debate to discuss anything of merit - he has made up a lot of nasty things for his own malicious reasons - and then wants to debate what he has made up? How about you invite me to your work place, i can make up that you abuse children, like to have sex with goats etc - and then ask for you to debate me about it? Its nuts. Would be like debating an evil rabid squirrel. he is just calling out for the level one thinking of when denied he can claim oh he is too X whatever to debate me. Be better than to fall for such a dumb ploy, he relies on his dumbest followers to go along with such things

[@FarstAs-gu9ie]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 a simple yes or no would do.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

@@FarstAs-gu9ie you say that, but then if i just said no with no explanation, you would fill in the blank re reason why not yourself - and you would not fill it in correctly. So a) be fair - if you ask a question and i take the time to answer you fully - isnt that generally a good thing and b) if you cant understand that nor see through venereal D - i cant help you. this will not be the place for you. If you have in fact had these things click into place - yeehaa you are not a mindless moron on Venereal D's infecting coolaid.

[@stevenaaus]

Yeah, DA's a clown, but amusing, and his championing old bikes is a huge, great cause no-one else really picks up on. Possibly his trolling will give you more customers than otherwise? I'd never heard of you before, and your business looks solid. G'luck

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Sure. but - i think it is very important to have a moral line beyond which you wouldnt support someone just because you find them amusing, or passionately believe in old bikes (there are other channels and people in the world doing that). Ie where is your line? if he was proven paedophile would you still support him? or if he is someone who maliciously lies about others as easy as breathing, trying to destroy / take down other businesses & people for his own nasty reasons? That kinda guy is fine for you? what he is trying to do to me / zfc is barely on the scale of what he has done to others. You dont have to look to far to see what he is and what he has been doing for too long. But oh... thats cool cos he likes old bikes..... Again i come back to why bad people are able to keep doing bad things...... They are enabled to do so.

[@rexjohns-qq3ow]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 same here never heard of you until i saw a durianrider vid about you. ive been randomally been watching his stuff for many years back to his vegan festival days. strange bloke and lots of accusations about things he has done but the accusers version of events are just as dodgy as his, all he sais she said. Better than days of our lives. ill still watch his vids as they can be entertaining and for what its worth ill possibly try your service one day. lots saying here ignore...have you tried it ?

[@mtbboy1993]

This vid is very noisy, lots of white noise, maybe a fan, if so you have the wrong mic for this. If it's not background noise, it's the computer, so need a audio interface. The cheapest I know of is Rode Ai-1. Dynamic microphones are less sensitive, which is great for eliminating background noise. Condenser pic up surroundings better, but thus pic up fan noise, cars driving by. To me it sounds more like it's back ground noise. Closer the mic is louder your voice is, thus other noises are lower, but you don't want it covering your face so that's where turning up the gain is needed. The audio is great apart from the white noise.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

thanks for feedback - on a previous suggestion i had nvidia broadcast installed and that seemed to work great for a couple vids, but no hasnt been an option (whilst it has remained so for the camera) - i might have to uninstall and re install next vid, and will try make sure i have the mic closer! :)

[@mtbboy1993]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 You might not have it enabled or running. So check that. I've not needed it yet. But amazing tool. Keep in mind if you hav mic too far away you might need a device to boost the audio, unless your interface has enough boost. On my Ai-1 I have the gain maxed. And need to be around 10 to 20 cm away depending on how loud I'm able to talk. If I would have had the pic as far as you it would be too quiet, might be fine if editing in post, but direct recording to a website or a live stream and it might be too quiet. Buy think I got the best bang for the buck setup to have working mic and audio. I've not tried a Cloud Lifter or other products to boost the audio. But needed something, this was such good deal I had to grab it.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

@@mtbboy1993 thanks yep if i can get to vid this fri will see if get this better. I also need a way of being able to get better sound from vids i play on you tube. is there software that records the audio from the YT vid direct to pc so i can then just drop that audio file? some channels play clips from YT on their vid covering and they sound amazing. Mine.... do not....

[@mtbboy1993]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 what do you use? Most use Open Broadcasting Software to record. OBS for short. You can adjust and set up different recording profiles like recording a window, whole screen, audio, no audio, record a spesific part of the screen, have webcam on the screen while showing something. It will be saved on the drive, you can also live stream trough OBS and save the file. There are quality settings. It's free. I've never tried to stream with it. I don't know if you can save the audio seperately. OBS has been around for a long time and has bested all paid screen recorders. But I see streamlabs built upon it. But not tried it. Some use different software for streaming but I don't remember. But OBS is great.

[@lawnman2388]

Don't waste your time on that guy, you're playing right into his hands! The more attention he gets, the more he'll crave. You run an honest business. Not everyone will care about, understand or want a professionally waxed chain.

[@mtbboy1993]

5:20 The man who finds problems where there are none. He looks for problems and fights with people. What a weirdo.

[@feedbackzaloop]

It's still a weird business model when you buy a 30 dollar chain, do the treatment and sell it for 80, while the treatment alone is priced at 24. You must value customers' time and effort savings a lot! I personally would do the opposite and take advantage of economy of scale, offering pretreated chains first (also most probably bought at oem prices) and having customers' chains treated at a higher rate. I guess just like everyone else does?

[@SnaxNoCo]

Some people are more than happy to pay others to do their dirty work--and ZFC's prices are reasonable for those prefer that route. For those who would rather buy chemicals and make a mess, ZFC provides all of the information to make it work well. Options are good!

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

The cost to prep chains does vary by chain model. Some chains there is decent margin on the chain, so the prep cost is low (ie for ybn sla it is $15.00 only above chain as is with factory grease). Other chains there is almost no margin on the chain, so really any margin on the sale is from the pre prep - and so the pre prep price needs to be higher. The average pre prep cost across the chains we sell is $25, approx +/- $10 depending on chain model. And some chains like the lg 500 can only be purchased with prep option as we are not pushys, we cant run at $3 profit on chain, ZFC is a specialist store with people processing every order. People can and do for sure purchase chains from sales and send in multiple chains to be prepped at $24.90 for an overall very cheap cost for a professionally prepped chain. The options are all there. But obviously the point is to highlight that venereal disease spreading infection across the internet was lying to you re ZFC waxing prices.

[@feedbackzaloop]

@@zerofrictioncycling992 I see, thank you for the details! Was really thrown off by how seemingly big margin is on Lg500 compared to DA9100. And well, the person in question carries the name of a particularly smelly fruit for a reason: to be consumed with caution😉

[@LaurentiusTriarius]

Your services are obviously not overpriced, to the point where I'm wondering if you charge enough. This is some nasty venerial BS ...

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

Ha yes im tempted to share last years financial report on a vid. Where possible we charge RRP, as under RRP the margin is not viable, we are a specialist store and so we just dont have the systems like say pushys to be able to make profit out of $3 margin on a $50 product etc. And some services like the ultrasonic clean and wax of chains - we are able to charge a very small surcharge for the prep as we can balance making circa $10 profit on the US C&W, and then hopefully around 30% margin on w/sale to retail pricing on the chain. But even selling chains, lubricants at RRP - so hopefully we get on most products a w/sale to retail margin in the 30 to 40% mark. That doesnt mean you make 30% profit. Ie if a chain is selling for $100, and we have 35% margin on that, well out the $35 gross profit - that has to pay for freight (i spend thousands per month), wages, insurance, accounting, I.T costs to run, update, host website etc etc, and of course gst + income taxes. Last year gross revenue for zfc was $360,000. Net profit was before tax was $60,000 or 16.7% profit margin after one is covering the costs of actually running the business from the revenue. Post income tax i was left with about 40k. So it is a solid amount of hard work, for basically a secondary pocket money income. But.... on the plus side - the numbers are on the plus side. It is VERY difficult to run an independent test facility at profit, many others have tried and failed. So we get to chip away at something really worthwhile without it being something unviable as its costing money. Just being $$ positive means we can look to keep going for a bit longer. Not quite the situation Venereal D is trying to paint with his lies and deliberate misleads on charging $80 to wax a chain and flipping DA chains for $200 etc. what a guy for the world.

[@Schwabz33]

This guy seems to have a lot of jealousy for you, Adam

[@clintmichigan9112]

Stick to your guns

[@Gazza-cc8kx]

16 minutes for durianrider. Has your business income dropped since the interaction, if not ignore him. He relies on a reaction and he is getting it. For how many subs he has he only gets a few views, far less than you.

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

no like i explained in the 16 mins - it is important to fight such things for number of reasons

[@rridder00]

The 125 degrees strict requirement contradicts the premise that this product would make waxing chains a foolproof process.

[@alexlithgowsmith]

Anywhere in the 120-130 range according to Josh.

[@tommyrq180]

There are sensors out there called “thermometers” that measure temperature. They aren’t rocket science… 😅

[@zerofrictioncycling992]

a clarification for next week is that this temp is only needed the time you are degreasing the chain, after that it s normal re wax temp so no need to faff with thermometer.

[@LukeGJPotter]

Bro, DR's video has 5k views in 6 months, from "250k subs". He's irrelevant, and you should stop mentioning him.

[@SkylarsRnD]

I've got a question I haven't seen asked yet. I do half my rides outside and half on a turbo trainer. I love my waxed chain but am worried it's getting damaged on the turbo... Should I add some Silca Synergetic or Synerg-e lube to my chain before putting my bike on the turbo?