I�ve used this twice since purchasing. It foams up and turns red once applied. It rinses off fairly quickly and both times it eliminated a squeak from my front brakes. I am tired of removing my pads to scrub or sand and this enables me to quickly take care of the city grime while washing my entire bike.
It does smell quite bad, just in case that matters to you. I mostly use Muc-Off products which smell great, so this was jarring to me. But like I said, it seems like it works well and I would say the price is justified since you only need a few sprays per cleaning.
I bought this pump for the larger gauge and assumed that it would be good quality. The pump is lightweight, compact, and pumps well. As a road bike rider, the larger, non-linear gauge is of limited value (except for the larger size) as the more detailed pressure reading stops after 30 psi. Regarding the head, I hate it. My other pump has a head where the lock lever is mounted to the side and works great. The way the Silca head is designed I find that I am always pinching my fingers when I snap the lever to release. Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't get use to it. Finally I broke down and bought the Silca Hiro V.2 side lever head. This combination works great, but the pump/Hiro head is way too much $$. I could only recommend buying the pump/Hiro head on sale which I did.
I've been waxing my chains for 5+ years now, previously using a crockpot and another vendor's wax. I purchased the Silca Chain Wax system to have a faster, more compact solution without risk of overheating my wax. As crockpots typically don't have a precise temperature control you need to monitor the temperature with a thermometer to avoid overheating the wax which is a hassle and time consuming. The Silca system is indeed much more compact than my crockpot, and I like the the wire chain hanging tool which allows you to easily suspend the chain over the heating bowl and let excess wax drip back into the bowl. However, there a couple of important things you should know prior to purchasing the system. The documentation and associated product videos from Silca and other reviewers give you the impression that the temperature displayed on the unit is the current temperature of the wax. Thus you can simply look at the temperature display and know when to pull the chain. However, this is not correct. The temperature display shows your desired set point temperature and NOT the actual temperature of the wax. So you have to do some experimentation to know how long it will take for the wax to melt and come up to temperature. I found the time for the wax to melt/come up to temperature is approximately 75 minutes, so not quick and not faster than using a crockpot. Note that I lay the chain on top of the solid wax and put on the cover so I know the chain itself is up to temperature when I pull it from the wax. On the plus side, the temperature control of the unit appears to be very accurate as I measured it with a scientific thermometer. When I set it to 75 Centigrade, that was the measured, stable temperature (after waiting an hour and 15 minutes). While I like the wire chain hanger, it's a bit flimsy and I fear it will break over time.
Regarding the wax itself, it seems just fine. I'm not sure I notice much of a difference from the other wax I had been using, but it certainly runs smooth. As I was already using waxed chains, I did not use the Silca "Strip Chip" to remove the factory lubricant. I simply cleaned my chains with boiling water to remove the old wax as I didn't think it would be a good idea to mix two different brands of wax. I will say if the Silca Strip Chip works as advertised, that would be a game changer as the initial process of stripping the factory lubricant off new chains is big effort using nasty chemicals (mineral spirits, acetone, etc.).
Finally, having waxed chains for years now I'm a total convert. Folks will tell you that you gain a few watts of efficiency over traditional lubricants and that's great. However, my ultimate test in chain lubricants is that if I can't fix a dropped chain with my bare hands and then
Works very well, I'm actually shocked how well it works. I've also used just the replenisher as the primary sealant and it also works, but it was a small poke, nothing serious.
The first step version has carbon braids in it, you can't inject it. So you have to break the bead of the tire, pour it in, get the bead back on, etc. It's invariably a mess with a road bike tire. It looks nice and easy on a video when someone uses a MTB tire, it's not that way for a road tire. It's SUPER sticky too, so rub it hard with a towel or wash it right away.
The replenisher you CAN inject, but it will gum up the valve. I put a drop of chain lube (oil based) in the valve after then of course pump the tire right up, and it seems to help with that.
I really wish it wasn't so messy to install. I ideally want them to sell just the fiber strands, so we can pour them into the tire, seat it, then inject sealant. I really hate disturbing the tape of a rim, that's my main issue. The mess I can handle outside, but still, I want it cleaner.
But, even with all of this, it works. I've gotten cuts in my GP5000's and while it spews all over your bike, it will seal anything normal road debris ish. I don't cheat my road bike onto gravel and then complain about it, just road bike stuff.
Worth it, works better than normal stuff with glitter or black pepper sprinkled in for sure.
