Guitar Ted Lube-Off: SILCA "Super-Secret Lube"

No! It is NOT a hazy IPA!

Okay, it is high time that I kick off the next round of the "Guitar Ted Lube-Off". A totally unscientific comparison of lubricants to find the best dry lube for gravel road riding for me- Guitar Ted! If you draw any conclusions from these posts, well, that's on you! 

Now with that said, the first lubricant up is the Silca "Super-Secret" stuff I got in here to try out. (Keep in mind that these lubricants were purchased by me and not provided to me for this post. SILCA has no idea what I am doing here and maybe I don't either!) 

First things first- I needed to clean my chain. I chose the Wippermann chain I got a while back now for the testing which is on my Black Mountain Cycles MCD right now. The Connex link is super easy to remove so I could take the chain off and manually clean it in soapy, warm water. (I used Dawn dish detergent) This solution was in an old pasta sauce jar and I shook it up and drained it three times. I then rinsed and scrubbed the chain with a toothbrush. Then I followed that up with a clean rinse. I removed the chain and fully dried it out using a combination of forced air flow and centrifugal force. 

The result was that I found out that the Wippermann chain's gold plated, well.....whatever that was, has worn off to reveal a coppery colored metal and then steel underneath that. Woo! It's more worn than I thought! So, I'll likely run this test and then get a new chain soon afterward. In the meantime it shifts great and seems to not show a lot of wear in terms of the chain gauge. 

Now it was time to apply the "secret sauce" from SILCA. Based upon their instructions, they seemed to say "one drop per link", but do that twice, (??) and in the video, it was plain to see that they had the chain swimming in lube. So......what gives? I did exactly what the video said and my thoughts are that this is waaaay too much lube! I ended up basically polishing off a lot of excess stuff from the chain with a cloth. I mean, I couldn't see the color of the metal through the wax! And I know what that would have led to- a really big mess. So, in retrospect I am of the mind that the "Super-Secret" lube should be used sparingly. Like one drop per link and that's it. Not slathered in the stuff, like the video showed.  

That waxy lube attracted minimal dirt on the first test ride.

So, I got the chain lube on, let it dry for a couple of hours, and then I went for about a 45 minute test ride over dirt, crushed pea gravel, deteriorated gravel, and city streets. Afterward I noted some dirt particles and sand attracted to the chain, but it was very minimal. 

The "Touch Test" revealed basically nothing.

Long time readers know what the "Touch-Test" is, but for you who are unfamiliar, I drag my index finger across a few rollers on the chain, rotating them, to see how 'free' they turn and if I get any residue on my finger. The results from my initial ride on the "Super-Secret" lube showed a surprising result.

First off, the chain felt dry. As in slick, but dry. Then I looked at my finger. Basically there was nothing to speak of. Not anything of import. Wow....

Riding and shifting seemed quieter with the "Super-Secret" stuff on the chain. So that was a positive of the lube so far as well. Now on to longer rides on gravel where we will see how the "Super-Secret" lube deals with copious amounts of limestone dust. 

And......That will happen this weekend at the Gents Race where I will get in a metric century. Well, if I don't bonk, get too inebriated, (it's happened before) or if I don't get stopped by some other calamity unforeseen. Then I'll report back on this stuff and we'll see what I find.

The sheep oil lube will be going on the Raleigh Tamland Two soon. Stay tuned for that coming up as well. 

I bought the SILCA "Super-Secret" Lube and the EcoSheep Mountain lubricants for this round of the Lube-Off. I was not paid nor bribed for these posts and I try to give you my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.