Tandem Tom

Even though I work in a bike shop I still get surprised!
A few days a guy buys 2 11 speed chains for a bike we are servicing. He wants to take them home and wax them and then return them for use to finish the service. So yesterday he comes in to return the chains as he bought a Silca prewaxed chain @ $100!
I wax all my chains at home but apparently the Silca chain "special" wax.
Wow $100 chain.

Barry2 

I might go $100 on a lubed for life chain.
But a waxed chain lasts me 4-6 weeks and needs another dip.

Barry

cyccommute 

Silca does an excellent job of separating people from money.

NumbersGuy

I certainly wouldn’t pay it because I like to do things myself and have the time, but I understand that if you have enough money and value your time more than the dollar cost of about $50 on top of the chain itself, it’s a perfectly good option.

veganbikes

Silca does some neat products but the pre-worn waxed chains are a little bit much for me and I think CeramicSpeed or one of those others also does it. I get the marginal gains crap it is boring but helps people win but for the average person I think just buy a normal chain and wax yourself or ask your shop to do it and leave the ultra fancy stuff for the sponsored pros.

50PlusCycling

If dinner for 1 at Taco Bell can cost $20, why can’t a bicycle chain cost $100?

indyfabz

You can order almost the entire menu at Taco Bell for $20. Of course, you’ll need money for Pepto afterwards. 🤮

TiHabanero

"You can order almost the entire menu at Taco Bell for $20. Of course, you’ll need money for Pepto afterwards."
Hence the nickname "Taco Hell".

indyfabz

“Make a run for the bathroom.” should have been its slogan.

easyupbug 

My daughter's shop in Portland charged her $50 for a CN-HG901 and if they cleaned and wax at their hourly rate the Silca would be cost effective.

Pratt

Possibly not a $100 chain, but a $10 chain and $90 wax, like in Jaws.

LarrySellerz

So let’s say you get one of those pre-waxed chains, how long does it last before you need to use more lube? Is it similar to the chains lubed at the factory on a new bike?

when it does wear out, can you just put oil on it like a normal chain, or does the residual wax mess this up?

indyfabz

“Here’s to swimmin’ with bow-legged women.”

79pmooney

Money and people are a bad mix. Silca is doing the world a favor.

Rick_D

Just eight bucks over this.
https://www.sram.com/en/sram/models/cn-eagl-xx1-a2
Suppose it begins with "what chain?" since I'd be happy to kick in $8 and skip the degreasing, de-watering, heat and dunk process for that.

Still, "I can remember a day" when $8 bought a nice name-brand fresh chain.

MoAlpha

I wouldn't pay a lot more for it, but it would be nice if someone sold chains not coated with "Cosmoline" for those of us who use PTFE or other oleophobic lubricants.

cyccommute 

Um...what "oleophobic lubricants" are you trying to use? Polytetrafluoroethylene is phobic to everything. Something that is oleophobic or hydrophobic doesn't mix with oils or water, respectively. PTFE mixes with neither. You can suspend it for a bit in either oils or water but not for long. In bicycle lubrication applications, the PTFE is mixed with an oil or similar carrier (wax is a similar carrier) and there is nothing in the factory coating that is incompatible with either oil or wax.

The "Cosmoline" on the chain is a wax. It's a soft wax but a wax nevertheless. It is not incompatible with oil or the hard wax that is currently in vogue. It doesn't really need to be cleaned off the way that people seem to think it needs to be. It's certainly not "Cosmoline" which was a mixture of wax and oil. Even that mixture were still being used is not incompatible with any bicycle chain lubricant.

NumbersGuy

You seem technically knowledgeable so I'll take your word for it that there's nothing in their chemical makeup that prevents using hot wax without first stripping off whatever is on from the factory (you call it a soft wax, others call it a grease or oil). But there's more to it than just chemical compatibility.

The reason it's recommended to strip off the factory lube is that it collects all the dirt, dust, and road grime that creates the nasty black mess that waxing mostly eliminates. Now that I use wax, my cassette and jockey wheels stay clean and a simply microfiber wipe down of the chain cleans off the tiny bit of dirt/dust on the surface. I can touch these parts after a couple hundred miles without any gritty black mess on my hands. While mixing wax with factory lube might perform just fine from a lubrication standpoint, I would think the resulting mix would end up retaining some of the undesirable properties which cause factory chains to quickly develop that lovely black gritty mess that gets onto the rest of the drivetrain.