I'm on my 3rd chain of the season on my gravel bike, which I am surprised at.  I use this bike mainly for riding the dirt roads in and around my farm & ranch in Kimball, Nebraska.  Granted, a chain on dirt roads is going to see more wear, but as my friends are well aware, I have one of the cleanest drivetrains you are going to find.  I clean my chain at least once per week and am vigilant to making sure it has adequate drip lube.

Apparently this has not been enough.  My first big surprise was after installing a new chain on Jan 15 and having to replace it on March 1 with less than 750 miles on it.  It saw mostly trainer time, but I still made sure to put drip wax on it every other ride.  And I cleaned it after every gravel ride, again, reapplying chain lube after I dried it.  This made me ever more vigilant to cleaning and lubing my chain.  So much so that, twice, I pulled over in gravel races to re-lube my chain after each 30 mile segment.  My chain lube, which was adequate for the pavement, just wasn't up to this challenge.  I knew at this point I had to find either a new drip lube, or, a new process of chain maintenance.

After very little time spent web-searching, the Silca Secret Blend Chain Wax hit my radar.  Their company sells a handful of top-quality products, mostly known for floor pumps, tools, and bike accessories.  I rebuilt a 35 year old floor pump 2 years ago and they had all the parts I needed to get it back up to running....and to this day, it is my absolute favorite floor pump.  So, the company comes with some storied chops.  When I saw they were selling a chain wax, I was instantly interested.  It wasn't long before I was watching their Youtube channel on how to wax a chain with their product.

The Silca YouTube channel offers very informative and great step-by-step instructions on the use of their products.  Even if you aren't buying their stuff, I promise you will learn something from their experts.  In this case, I was interested in their Secret Blend chain wax application.  After watching a couple of times, I gathered the materials and products they suggested (thank you Amazon and three Gatorade bottles) and applied their chain wax.  It took me 30 minutes from start to finish and while I had one chain in the process of waxing, I started a second chain in the cleaning process.  Within 45 minutes, I had 2 chains cleaned and wax.  30 minutes later, I had both chains on their bikes.

I cleaned and waxed chains on my gravel, road and drop-bar 26" mountain bike.  I'm going to spend some time putting some miles on them, then update my experience with them. 

Week #2:  I have to admit, I'm impressed.  The waxed chain on my gravel bike has been running with little to no noise after nearly 200 miles.  I have put on the drip lube in 150 mile intervals as suggested for a chain used in gravel or dirt conditions.  Compared to my previous method of chain lube, I would have applied drip lube at least 6 to 7 times more often.  I've only ridden my road bike once since waxing its chain so I don't really have much info or experience with it, yet.  Same goes for my drop-bar 26" mountain bike.

Weeks #3-6:  I'm still very impressed with this product.  Its in use on my mountain bike, cx/gravel and road bike.  I've not heard any dry-chain or grinding sounds on either drive train and the chains themselves are quite clean.  They are all rolling smooth, quiet and shift impeccably.