I'd been dabbling a bit with waxing my chain for a while; I loved the benefits of a clean and quite drivetrain and thought of better durability (the extra watts were an added bonus too), but it was hard to see past the faff and need for a well-organised system.
Then I researched a tech article on chain waxing and was completely sold on the benefits. I even went as far as stripping and waxing the chain on my 6 year old son's bike (filthy chainring stamps on his legs are a thing of the past). But I still haven't quite mastered the well-organised system. My Freecycle family-sized hotpot and array of old spokes and wire coat hangers don't really match the compact efficiency of a bespoke system.
Elsewhere on Cycling Weekly my colleague Anne-Marie has been raving about Silca's Wax System that she's been using for the last 18 months.
The Silca system is essentially a neat and dinky melting pot, with drip stand and coupler for the chain. You put in the wax, add a Strip Chip to lessen the need for several messy cleaning steps, thread and dip your chain then neatly leave to drip dry. All in something that sits on your counter top and takes up the space of a plate.
As neat and tidy as it is, it's hard to justify a $/£100 cost when my FOC system did the job, just more messily and with more steps than I'd like. I haven't let my dream die though, instead I've just kept an eye out for a discount which could justify a purchase.
And here it is, Silca's Black Friday deal giving up to 30% off in the UK and 20% stateside. I bought mine a couple of days ago and some places are selling out, so you might want to be quick with yours.
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