Milk, discussed in a Wikipedia entry, is the milk of dairy cows, processed. Fluid milk used in baking, by commercial bakers and home bakers, in Europe and America is mainly cows’ milk. Milk must be taken to a dairy plant to be processed within hours after being harvested in a dairy farm, and only lasts a few days, even with the benefit of refrigeration. Milk sold in retail outlets in North America has been pasteurized – as required by public heath law.
At one point in history, milk was obtained by human by milking cows by hand. Milk is still obtained from cows, but in modern times, the cows are cared for on dairy farms and milked with machines. Milk naturally separate into cream and milk. The high butterfat cream was, historically, churned manually to make butter. The leftover fluid, if the milk had not soured, was sweet traditional buttermilk. If the cream was churned from sour milk, the buttermilk was sour. Milk became sour due to bacteria in the milk, which started fermenting the milk.
A writer for Slate suggested in 2012:
“As long as people have made butter there’s been buttermilk,” says Anne Mendelson, a culinary historian and the author of Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages. Careful: Here, she’s talking about a byproduct of churning whole milk or cream—the thin, white liquid that [Laura Ingals] Wilder wrote about.
So how did that buttermilk, the original buttermilk, turn into the thick, sour, yogurty beverage I sampled … ? The confusion surrounding this drink dates back to the 18th century or before. Until the age of refrigeration, milk soured quickly in the kitchen, and most butter ended up being made from the slightly spoiled stuff. As a result, some historical sources use the word buttermilk … to describe the byproduct of butter-making; others use it to describe butter-making’s standard ingredient at the time—milk that had gone sour from sitting around too long. To make matters more confusing, the butter-byproduct kind of buttermilk could be either “sour,” if you started out with the off milk that was itself sometimes called buttermilk, or “sweet,” if you started out with fresh cream (like Laura’s mom did). So, prior to the 20th century, buttermilk could refer to at least three different categories of beverage: regular old milk that had gone sour; the sour byproduct of churning sour milk or cream into butter; and the “sweet” byproduct of churning fresh milk or cream into butter.
In industrial dairies, milk is refined by removing butterfat from whole milk with a centrifuge. The process is discussed in web pages other than Wikipedia. Some internet material on industrial dairy methods and science:
… the stuff known as cultured buttermilk at your local supermarket—i.e. milk that has been deliberately soured—is a 20th-century invention, and the product of a health-food diet craze dating back to the flapper era.
….
In Western Europe and America, the only people who bothered to drink buttermilk of any kind were the poor farmers and slaves who needed all the calories and nutrition they could get. Everyone else fed sour milk and butter-byproduct to their farm animals.
….
While farmers’ wives and other home cooks were using sour milk in their baked goods, America saw an influx of immigrants from parts of the world where sour milk was considered a refreshing everyday beverage. Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, who have a tendency toward lactose intolerance, may have been especially inclined to drink it, since the bacteria make it more digestible. The nonimmigrant American public was generally mistrustful of sour milk as a beverage until 1907, when [a] Russian biologist … concluded that the relative longevity enjoyed by people living in the Balkans was a direct result of their consumption of sour milk. Health-conscious Americans started going crazy for sour milk, thinking it would prevent aging. At his sanitarium in Battle Creek, Mich., holistic doctor and breakfast-cereal enthusiast John Harvey Kellogg began serving an ultra-tart, deliberately soured version with the catchy name “Bulgarian buttermilk.”
Naturally-occurring sour milk had in the mean time become increasingly rare, thanks to modern refrigeration. So commercial dairies, spotting an unfilled niche, began to culture it themselves, and sold the new product widely as buttermilk starting in the 1920s. This was much like the buttermilk we find in grocery stores today: Made from low-fat milk and lactic acid bacteria that grow best under moderate heat conditions. Dairies used low-fat milk because it was cheaper than whole milk, but still took on a thick, creamy body when cultured.
L.V. Anderson, in Slate, cited above
The milk solids remaining after milk is centrifuged include the cell membranes of the fat cells, casein (a protein) and lactose (a sugar). The casein reacts to acid to curdle milk.
Full butterfat milk – often marketed as Homogenized milk (all milk processed for retail has been homogenized) – is about 3.5 % butterfat. It depends on the cows, the fodder, and the dairy. Fluid milk processed for retail sale is sold as reduced butterfat milk by the percentage of butterfact -ie. 2%, 1%, or as skim milk, which as butterfat content at a fraction over 0%.
Buttermilk
Buttermilk, since the industrialization of dairies, has been a dairy product produced by processing fluid milk. Some fluid buttermilk is produced by fermenting partially skimmed milk. Dairies also produce acidified buttermilk – milk treated by mixing milk with an acid. A dairy may use fermentation or acidification or a combination of both. The production methods are not discussed on product labels or in an ordinary dairy’s promotional materials. Nor do bakers say how the buttermilk used to mix dough was made.
The home baker’s hack to make acidified buttermilk, comparable to store-bought dairy buttermilk is to add an acid, in the amounts noted here to one cup of milk:
1 Tablespoon lemon juice;
1 Tablespoon vinegar; or
1 teaspoon cream of tartar.
Available in Victoria BC.
Most retail grocers in Victoria sell pasteurized milk processed by the Island Farms dairy, which distributes a fermented and/or acidified buttermilk said to be about 1.5% butterfat. The weight of a “1 cup (250 ml.)”1A US cup is 236.59 ml. Most cookware manufacturers label 250 ml measuring cups as 1 cup. The people who write recipes mainly say “1 cup or 250 ml.” It usually does not make a difference. serving is not stated. Conventionally, a cup of buttermilk weighs 245 grams (compare a US cup of water at 237 g.).
Dry Milk
Dehydration
Dry milk (aka milk powder) is made by dehydrating milk – removing water. Dry milk can be made with whole milk, or reduced butterfat milk. It is reconstituted by adding water. Dry milk can be added to baking recipe or formula as a dry ingredient. Adding water (or milk) to dry ingredients and mixing the ingredients to make dough is a normal process in baking bread. Manufacturers can dehydrate whole milk, skim milk and buttermilk.
Buttermilk Powder
Buttermilk powder is dehydrated dairy cultured buttermilk, made from reduced butterfat milk. It is possible to substitute buttermilk powder and water or plain milk in a recipe (e.g. for pancakes, cakes or bread) for fluid buttermilk. One way is to mix the powder with water and use the reconstituted fluid as buttermilk. Another is to add the amount of powder that would make buttermilk with the water in the bread recipe.
Buttemilk powder can be purchased online from King Arthur Flour and other suppliers. The King Arthur Flour blog, discussing and promoting King Arthur Dried Buttermilk:
Use dried buttermilk as a substitute for the liquid buttermilk called for in your recipe. It’s simple as (buttermilk) pie: For every cup of liquid buttermilk, substitute 1/4 cup (30g) dried buttermilk plus 1 cup (227g) water (or milk). Don’t worry about reconstituting the powder by stirring it together with liquid: Simply mix dried buttermilk into your recipe at the same time you add the flour, and add the liquid when the recipe says to add the buttermilk.
….
Dried buttermilk yields results nearly identical to liquid, with just two small differences: Baked goods made with dried buttermilk are slightly lighter in color than those made with liquid cultured buttermilk, and their flavor is a bit richer — more creamy-buttery than tangy.
….
Another discovery: When replacing fresh buttermilk with dried, using milk in place of the water typically called for in this substitution gives baked goods even better texture and flavor, thanks to the additional milk solids, fats, and sugars.
As of 2024, retail grocers in Victoria BC have skim milk powder for sale. I have not seen whole milk powder or buttermilk powder on the grocery store shelves for years. I have been able to get buttermilk powder in a local outlet of the bulk foods chain Bulk Barn (which also sells full fat milk powder and skim milk powder). Bulk Barn uses a serving size of 100 g. of buttermilk powder for the Food Facts label. 100 mg. contains 517 mg. of sodium. Bulk Barn suggests 25 g. to make 1 cup of buttermilk. This can be scaled to 28 g. of powder in 1 ⅛ cups of water. These are normal liquid quantities in recipes for medium loaves, in bread machine terms.
Fluid dairy buttermilk, reconstituted buttermilk and buttermilk powder added as a bread ingredient before mixing all produce similiar loaves.
A “1 cup” serving of Island Farms buttermilk contains 270 mg of sodium. “1 cup” of buttermilk made with 25 g. of Bulk Barn Buttermilk powder (and 1 “cup”) of water contains just under 260 mg. of sodium.
Substitution for buttermilk powder
Some internet resources suggest that mixing cream of tartar with skim milk powder, produces a powder that can be substituted for buttermilk powder. I am skepical in the absence of a scientific explanation and test/experimental evidence:
Would adding cream of tartar (or one of the other acids) to a cup of reconstituted skim milk work – skim milk is very low in butterfat – make buttermilk that compares to dairy buttermilk; and
Doesn’t the cream of tartar, added as a powder to the dry dough ingredients (and not to the fluid milk) act like vinegar or other acids that relax dough – affecting the gluten and producing soft crumb.
I will modify and add to this post. (It is an endless post.)
Devices and Technological
Garmin Edge 130 elevations
My Garmin Edge 130 cycling computer which I used until 2024 was an “entry level” GPS device, no longer on the market, with a barometric altimeter. . The software was written several years ago , and has many glitches. Riders complained in forums. Garmin closed discussion on some complaints and issues.
One criticism: the rechargeable battery is soldered in, small and weak, and does not perform well if the ambient temperature is below 10℃.
Another is that the device is as small as a watch face or simple cycling computer in the fashion of many speed and distance computer.
The Garmin Edge 130 has data fields that allow a rider to display elevation, distance ascended, distance descended and grade. The manual says the “grade” data field displays:
“The calculation of rise (elevation) over run (distance). For example, if for every 3 m (10 ft.) you climb you travel 60 m (200 ft.), the grade is 5%”.
The barometer appears to read the surface elevation from point to point. The elevation field displays disparate readings for the same location on different rides depending on wind and the location of cells of high pressure. The calculations of total elevation gained or total descents vary for the same ride on different days. The software returned data sampled a few seconds and many meters earlier in the ride.
Garmin seems to correlate location data with elevation data from some maps. The head unit seems to supply a starting elevation for rides starting at known points. Information on how Garmin gets this data and programs the head units is proprietary.
Trying to read the device display is a distraction. Using Garmin programs and apps – for instance reviewing a ride track in Garmin Connect to get an elevation for a particular point on a trip is slow. Garmin Connect uses map data from Garmin’s “OpenStreetMaps” and displays a track on a map. It seems possible to place a cursor on a location and get the elevation. It was not a useful exercise.
Garmin Edge Explorer 2
The Edge Explorer 2 cycling computer has a altimeter; Garmin suggests it is barometric. It displays data fields for elevation, distance ascended, distance descended and grade. The manufacturer’s manual states:
Your device was already calibrated at the factory, and the device uses automatic calibration at your GPS starting point by default. You can manually calibrate the barometric altimeter if you know the correct elevation.
The reading of current elevation and grade do not lag. The calculations of total elevation gained or total descents are more consistent from ride to ride.
Google Earth Pro
The Google Earth Pro app, in Windows, on a desktop computer, can show location and elevation if you use the “Ruler” tool to draw a “path”. Google Earth will calculate and display “slope”, a % of distance along a path (“grade” in the language of Garmin). Finding a precise levation in Google Earth depends on:
the way the application was built to match maps and aerial photos to satellite and drone data for the devices and systems used to record the elevation of specific locations on the surface of the eath as map coordinates;
the accuracy of the maps and data the application searches; and
how screen magnification and the plotting of a path affect the way the program identifies map coordinates and retrieves the recorded elevation.
I draw a section in Google Earth with the ruler tool, very occasionally.
Smart Phone Apps (Android)
Several Android smartphone apps can locate the phone as a place on a map and provide an elevation. They vary in accuracy depending on factors involving the use of the smartphone sensors and the network connection including the cell phone network.
Any given elevation or altitude app may need device permissions to use a device’s location services. Some use cellular data. Some share data with third parties and decline to delete data. Many apps do not provide ride tracks to riders.
I occasionally stopped during a ride to use the Android App My Elevation (by RDH software) and logged readings in a notes-taking App.
Places
The table that follows list the approximate elevation of waypoints that I pass in riding from home. In the table that follows:
Areas are municipal divisions in Greater Victoria, and areas within large municipal areas (e.g. Victoria West in the City of Victoria).
Elevation data in the table is the elevation in meters, above mean sea level according to the My Elevation app on my smartphone. It sometimes varies from Google Earth Pro.
Area
Trail, Street, Route
Crossing or Point
Elevation
Esquimalt
Home, Local, indoors (basement)
18
Esquimalt
Home, Local street level
21
Esquimalt View Royal
Admirals Rd.
Craigflower
12
Esquimalt View Royal
E&N
View Royal Boundary (S end of Hallowell)
17
Esquimalt
E&N
CFB, Graving Dock entrance, Admirals Road at Colville
27
Esquimalt
E&B
Crossing Hutchison
23
Esquimalt
Rockheights Ave.
Highrock Ave. (high point in W. Esq. is 64 m.) Notes in narrative above.
37
Esquimalt
Esq. Rd.
Civic offices, library W of Fraser Avenue
30
Esquimalt
E&N
Lampson Street
19
Victoria Vic West
Goose
1 Km Sign end of Harbour, beginning of trail along the harbour
7
Victoria
Beacon Hill Ring Drive
Childrens’ Farm
25
Oak Bay Uplands
Upper Terrace
Cordova Bay Rd E end of Cedar Hill X
53
View Royal
Goose
Ridge West of West Tunnel, Helmcken; near Victoria General
30
View Royal
Goose
Atkins Avenue Transit park n ride lot Trail rest stop
Overpass of MacKenzie Avenue, east end along Douglas Street
21
Saanich
Lochside
Near 3 Km. post Rest stop, Don Mann
37
Saanich
Lochside
Royal Oak Drive at Lochside School
41
Saanich
Lochside
Near 9 Km. post Cordova Bay Road
36
Central Saanich
Hunt Valley: Welch
At Martindale
39
Central Saanich
Lochside
At 14 Km post i.e. Ocean View
26
Crossing Esquimalt N to S
A route on side streets is preferable to sharing the road with the heavy traffic on Admirals Road on the climb from Woodway to Esquimalt Road (average slope 4% over a distance of 350 m., with a 150 m section with slopes of 10% to 15.5%).
One option is to ride south along Hutchison from the E&N trail up to Rockheights and follow Rockheight past the intersection of Highrock Avenue. The elevation of the junction of Rockheights Avenue at Highrock Avenue is in the table above, I can draw a path in Google Earth from the E&N trail, along Hutchison and Rockheights to the intersection of Rockheights. The path is 514 meters long, from the low point of 17 m. above mean sea level on the E&N trail to a high point of 43 m., with a drop to 37 m. at the measurement point. The gain to the high point is 27 m. The average slope is 6.5 % . The slope goes to over 10% where Hutchison crosses Lockley. The slope goes from 10% to 15% for 150 meters. The slope gets shallower at Rockheights, but the climbing continues. The smaller chain ring on 2x drive trail system is useful.
Another is to turn south on Intervale, then west for a block on Lockley, then south up Intervale (it continues after the offset) and Highrock to Rockheights
Rockheights is gentle or level, and runs into Old Esquimalt which descends to Park Terrace, Grenville and Esquimalt Road.
Avoiding the climbs to travel from my Local CRD3 in NW Esquimalt to the library on Esquimalt Road in SW Esquimalt means riding north on the E&N trail and east of Lampson to a street that crosses Esquimalt Rd and gives access to the EW streets in the West Bay area.
I moved to NW Esquimalt to the house I refer to as location CRD3 in late June, 2023. I have noted distances from home on the routes I ride often. There are many ways of adding to a ride; I am concentrating on simple routes.
This post will be updated without a change in date. (It is an endless post.)
Local
Most rides involve riding west on Craigflower to Admirals Road, and south on Admirals Road to Hallowell. I get off Admirals Road at Hallowell. There is no bike lane, and Admirals Road going S narrows to one lane, climbing. The trail is safer and has a milder grade.
Distances in Km., recorded on a Garmin GPS cycling computer; elevation in meters above mean sea level:
Road & Direction
Waypoint
Distance
Elevation
Home
0
21
Craigflower W
Admirals Rd
.6
12
Admirals Rd.
Hallowell
1.16
20
Hallowell, E&N W
Tracks (S end Hallowell
17
E&N W
N side of Island Highway, junction with Galloping Goose
4.3
The main choice is whether to take the E&N:
S along Admirals Road to Colville and E to Lampson Street, Esquimalt Road and the Bridge), or
W across View Royal towards the Western shore municipalities.
Lochside Rides
The choice at Hallowell affects the ride to the Switch Bridge and along Lochside.
E&N
GG
Lochside
Place
Distance
S
W
Km 1 sign; W end of Harbour Rd
7.2
S
W
Switch Bridge, N end, Goose 4 Km sign (start of Lochside)
10.2
W
E
Switch Bridge, N end, Goose 4 Km sign (start of Lochside)
10.5
S
W
N
Don Mann buildings; rest stop First gravel, 3 Km post
13.02
W
E
N
Don Mann buildings; rest stop First gravel, 3 Km post
13.3
S
W
N
Royal Oak (Lochside School)
16.
W
E
N
Royal Oak (Lochside School)
16.2
S
W
N
Claremont
W
E
N
Claremont
18.2
S
W
N
9 Km post Cordova Bay Road
19.2
W
E
N
9 Km post Cordova Bay Road
19.4
W
E
N
14 Km post at Ocean View (after Hunt, Welch, Martindale)
26.5
The initial choice makes a small change in the distance of a ride to the Switch Bridge and north on the Lochside trail.
More routes
Choices
I have more choices:
at the Bridge.
cross the Bridge across west end of the Victoria Inner harbour and use bike lanes along Wharf or Pandora, or
cross the multi purpose bridge over Esquimalt Road and merge onto the Galloping Goose trail along Harbour Road, and the cross the Gorge on the Selkirk Trestle.
at the Switch Bridge:
W on Galloping Goose (“GG”) or
N on the Lochside Regional Trail (“LRT”).
Table
Distances are Garmin GPS, in Km.:
E&N
GG
LRT
Route
Waypoint
Distance
S
Cross tracks: Admirals Rd at Colville CFB, Graving Dock
2.7
S
Lampson Street
4.05
S
Esquimalt Road
5.5
S
Bridge
S
Pandora, Denman
Richmond at Coronation (Royal Jubilee)
10.5
W
W
E&N, Goose
Wale Road
7.03
W
W
Goose, Colwood streets, Kelly, Jenkins, Hull,
Hull trail E of Starlight Stadium
W
W
Goose, Colwood streets, Kelly, Jenkins
Starlight Stadium
12.5
W
W
Glen Lake Rd, Happy Valley Rd., Marwood, Luxton
Goose post 20 Km SI Rangers
16.4
The first choice makes about a 200 meter change in the distance of a ride to the Switch Bridge, and north on the Lochside trail.
I moved to Victoria West in 2020, part of the City of Victoria on the Esquimalt side of the Gorge, west of urban Victoria.
As of November 2020, I was north (or west) of the Bay Street Bridge, north of the Johnson Street Bridge, near the Selkirk Trestle. I was few hundred m. west of the 1 km Galloping Goose post, where the bike lane along Harbour Road ended and the trail became a cycling trail with an adjascent walking trail, I was a few hundred m. east of the 2 km post at the west end of the Trestle. I could get onto the Goose by riding along Catherine Street north across Skinner/Craigflower, and down the eastern part of Raynor Avenue onto Regatta, a road across the housing developments on along the Gorge. This local route let me get onto the Goose at the Trestle. I could take the Goose north, or south to Esquimalt Road, and the Bridge. I also had access to the Bridge by taking Catherine Street south, crossing Wilson and Esquimalt Road and riding on Kimta and the 2023 extension of the E&N tail on a bike lane along Kimta to the Bridge.
I could take the Goose along the Gorge to the Swingbridge and either the Goose or the Lochside. I was a little closer some of the waypoints on routes that I took regularly. From CRD 1, in James Bay, I had to travel about 2.5 km to reach the Bridge and another 1 Km to reach the Selkirk Trestle. My trips up the Goose to the Switch Bridge and north on the Lochside were a bit shorter that trips from James Bay:
Point
Catherine North & Trestle
Catherine South & Bridge
Royal Oak at Lochside (Lochside School)
8.9
11.3
Claremont Road at Lochside
11.0
Cordova Bay Road at Lochside (Mattick’s Farm)
12.2
14.6
Island View Road at Lochside (Michell’s Farm)
17.4
19.8
I could get onto the E&N Trail at Wilson. I could also reach the E&N trail by taking side streets out of my immediate area, crossing Hereward and taking Devonshire to the E&N trail.
I began many rides by taking either the Goose or the E&N to the point that the Island Highway intersects with Highway One; it was about 9.5 Km along the Goose, and about 8 Km along the E&N.
I could get into the West Bay area of Esquimalt, south of Esquimalt Road by taking Wilson to Dominion, crossing Esquimalt Road and taking Wollaston or Dunsmuir west o reach Lampson. Going south on Lampson would take me to Lyall, which would takes west me past the back (south side) of the Archie Browning (a curling arena that served as a vaccination center in 2021) and Esquimalt recreational buildings, to Fraser Street close to the Esquimalt branch of the library. The ride to the library and back was 6.2 Km. by that route. Or a trip to the library can be part of a ride across the Bridge or a ride past the base on Admirals Road and out the E&N. I can also get onto the south end of Admirals Road, which gives me a way to reach the naval base and to connect to the E&N at the base.
In my view, CyclingTips was the leading source of information on maintaining and repairing bicyles in 2020, 2021 and 2022. CyclingTips started as an online magazine (web publication in 2008; commercial web publication in 2013). It was published successfully as a web publication, with associated podcasts and other internet content. The Nerd Alert podcast was informative.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Pocket Outdoor Media, the corporate owner of Beta, a site focusing on mountain bike and endurance cycling acquired Outside Inc.’s brands in February 2021. 1Outside Integrated Media, OutsideTV, Gaia GPS, athleteReg, Yoga Journal, SKI, BACKPACKER, VeloNews, Climbing, Rock & Ice, Gym Climber, Trail Runner, Women’s Running, Triathlete, Better Nutrition, Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, Clean Eating, Fly Fishing Film Tour, IDEA Health and Fitness Association, Muscle & Performance, NASTAR, National Park Trips, NatuRx, Oxygen, PodiumRunner, Roll Massif, SNEWS, The Voice, Vegetarian Times, VeloPress, VeloSwap, Paleo Mag, Beta, FinisherPix, and Warren Miller Entertainment. The entity renamed itself Outside and acquired Peloton Magazine, a publication about competive road racing. In July 2021, Outside acquired CyclingTips and the mountain biking brands Pinkbike and Trailforks. Outside bundled its publications into the Outside+ subscription service.
The Suits’ Purge
CyclingTips founder Wade Wallace left CyclingTips and Outside in August 2022.
Publishing, like other retail businesses in the 21st century, is dominated by marketing, appearance, and financial engineering. Outside had some bicycle maintanance content, and technical material by Lennard Zinn (a column and some articles in VeloNews). Outside appears to have had doubts about the tone and direction of the CyclingTips material. Outside appears to have thought that stories about:
lifestyle,
travel,
the challenges of outdoor activities,
new products, including new electronic ways of bragging about how readers have achieved success,
the rebirth of Lance Armstrong as a new media celebrity, and
bike racing gossip news
would attract readers, which would drive ad sales and generate revenue, while coverage of maintenance, repair and criticism of bike industry trends would not.
It has developed a lifestyle cable TV channel which appears to attempt to fill a “lifestyle” niche.
In November 2022 Pocket Outdoor/Outside laid off the CyclingTips staff who had been addressing cycling tech issues, including the writers who had recorded the content for the Nerd Alert Podcasts. The Nerd Alert podcast disappeared. Cycling tech sites noticed – Zero Friction Cycling reacted November 18, 2022.
Escape Collective
Many of the writers, editors, producers, podcasters and web designer associated with CyclingTips content reappeared, in stages, in March, April and May 2023 as the team of a new venture. In April 2023, Escape Collective launched as an online magazine on a subscription service basis, with a paywall that gives readers some free web articles a month. Subscribers have access to a Discord server and a newsletter and some perks.
Podcasts in the Escape Collective network were not subject to the paywall for a few months but some podcasts have introduced a subscribers only version, releasing “public” teasers. The Geek Warning podcast produces the content that Nerd Alert had produced.
Bread has some sodium without salt, but the main source of sodium is salt. Humans can taste salt but cannot know how, by taste, much salt is in their food, or how much sodium they are consuming. The reasons that too much salt makes food taste bad but a small amount improves flavour have not been explained by anatomical research on the human sensory organs. (“salt … enhances the taste of other foods … making them more palatable and relatively sweeter”, Salt enhances flavour by suppressing bitterness, Nature, Vol. 387, Issue 6633, pp. 563 (1997)).
Salt contains 39.3% sodium by mass. 1 tsp. of table salt weighs 5.7 grams, and contains 2,240 mg. of sodium.
Sodium is a micro-nutrient. It is necessary to metabolism, in small amounts. The minimum physiological requirement for sodium is between 115 and 500 milligrams per day depending on sweating due to physical activity, and whether the person is adapted to the climate” according to the papers cited in the Wikipedia article Sodium in Biology.
1,200 to 1,500 milligrams per day intake for sodium is adequate. On average, people in the USA consume 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day, an amount that promotes hypertension. The American government has advised that the average adult person should not consume more that 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. The American Heart Association recommends the USDA recommendation should be 1,500 mg. per day. The World Health Organization sets the level of 1,500 mg. per day.
Bread baked with salt or a high sodium chemical leavening agent cannot be purchased in a grocery store or even a small bakery. Commercial bakers may have departed from the industrial standard of adding salt to dough in the amount of 1.8 to 2 % of the flour, by weight, but will not explain the process to wholesale buyers or retail consumers. The amount of sodium in a “serving” may be on a Nutrition Facts label if the bread is packaged for retail sale.
The BC chain Thrifty’s (a branch of the Canadian national chain Sobeys) had a sodium free whole wheat loaf before 2019, but it disappeared from the stores.
Sodium Sources – Bread Ingredients
Minor
Wheat flour, yeast, vital wheat gluten and cider vinegar contain small amounts of sodium, according to samples in the USDA FoodData Central database:
Wheat flour has 3 mg. sodium per 100 grams – 3 cups of flour in a typical medium loaf weighs over 400 g. and has 10-12 mg. sodium;
Instant Yeast has 75 mg. sodium per 100 grams – 3 grams of instant yeast has 2 mg. sodium;
Vital Wheat gluten has 8 mg. in 1 Tbsp. (8 grams);
Cider Vinegar has .77 mg. sodium per tablespoon.
Milk, buttermilk, cheese, eggs and other ingredients used in baking bread have sodium. The yeast used to leaven bread (or the coatings used to preserve yeast) has sodium.
Food consumed with bread contributes sodium – e.g. butter, margerine, mayonnaise, mustard, prepared meat, pickles, mustard, spreads, jams etc. Nutrition Facts labels, required to be accurate to nearest gram, will claim 0 sodium. USDA FoodData Central tables may show as little as 1 mg. in 100 gram units.
Salt
Salt is an element of most bread leavened with yeast (including leaven made from a sourdough or other starter). Salt is often used in recipes made with chemical leavening agents which include sodium. Dough made with a chemical leavening agent are mixed but not kneaded.
Salt is the major source of sodium in bread. The accepted standard for yeasted bread, in industrial baking and for recipe writers in the late 19th century, the 20th century, and the early 21st century has been salt in the ratio of 1-2% of the flour by weight. The reasons for this ratio may have been explained somewhere. The ratio was established as industrial and home baking evolved, before scientific experiments on the role of sodium were performed, and scientific theories were published. The ratio was established when salt become an affordable commodity, at a time when the health effects of sodium were not known.
Bread recipes for home bakers can be assumed to be refer to table salt with standard crystal size and to refer to manufactured marked measuring spoons, leveled off.
Salt in a bread recipe for home bakers is frequently (almost always):
1½ tsp. – i.e. 8.6 g. in a 3 cup recipe for a 1½ lb. medium loaf. Few medium loaf recipes exceed 8.6 grams of salt per loaf;
2 tsp. in a 4 cup recipe for a 2 lb. large loaf.
This ratio became established when industrially produced bread became the standard by which people recognized palatable bread.
For volume measurement for small batches, ½ tsp. (2.85 grams) of table salt for 1 cup of wheat flour – whether bread flour, all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour is standard. Converting to weight, this matches the commercial practice.
The sodium in a loaf, or a slice, can estimated, assuming 1 loaf yields 18 slices. The daily sodium intake by eating 8 slices (4 sandwiches) a day, made with bread made with salt in the ratio of salt in amount stated in a medium loaf, without taking other sodium sources into account:
Salt tsp.
Salt grams
Sodium per medium loaf milligrams (mg.)
Sodium per slice, mg.
Sodium mg. 8 slices daily
½
2.9
1,120
62.2
498
¾
4.3
1,680
93.3
746
1
5.7
2,240
124.4
996
1¼
7.1
2,800
155.6
1,245
1½
8.6
3,360
186.7
1,493
1¾
10
3,920
217.8
1,742
2
11.4
4,480
248.8
1,992
Baking Soda & Baking Powder
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is used in baking as a chemical leaving agent. Baking soda has some other uses in cooking, and several other uses. It is also used as an ingredient in manufacturing baking powder. Some nonyeasted baking recipes use both baking powder and baking soda. 1 tsp. of baking soda has 1,246 mg. of sodium. A medium loaf of a typical soda bread will have at least 1 tsp. of baking soda.
Baking powder is a chemical leavening agent used in baking. It has less sodium than baking soda, but is still a significant source.
There are sodium-free substitutes for the chemical leavening agents, available for sale online through outlets such as Healthy Heart Market:
a baking soda substitute called Energ-G, manufactured by Energ-G Foods Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA. It is made with calcium carbonate. It is
a baking powder substitute called Featherweight manufactured by Hain Pure Foods, Boulder, Colorado, USA. It is made with calcium carbonate.
Avoiding sodium means eating less bread or eating bread made with less sodium. Low sodium yeast bread involves using less salt.
Calculating sodium in bread
The sodium in a loaf of bread can be determined by measurement and calculation. Weigh salt, baking soda, baking powder, milk, milk powder, eggs and other ingredients that contain sodium – even consider flour and yeast – and apply standard factors to get sodium content. I have been adding notes on the amount of sodium in baking ingredients to my baking ingredient table, appended at the end of this post. I refer to those notes and calculate the amount of sodium in the ingredients of a loaf of bread.
A loaf baked in a pan 9 inches long high can be sliced into 18 slices, each ½ inch thick. The amount of bread in a slice will depend on the area of the slice, which is dependent on its dimensions in the plane at a right angle to the length of the loaf. A large (2 lb.) loaf baked in a large pan (oven or long horizontal bread machine pan) will be 9 inches long, but differ in its other dimensions. A medium (1.5 lb.) loaf baked a large pan will weigh less, and have less salt, than a large loaf.
It is possible to estimate the amount of sodium in a slice of bread by dividing a loaf 9 inches long into 18 slices and counting slices. A person might eat 8 slices cut from a medium loaf 9 inches long per day, but less slices cut from a large loaf 9 inches long.
I have columns in spreadsheets for my regular bread recipes, with columns for the ingredients for medium loaves, for quantities, and for calculation (e.g. B%).
I have a column of cells for:
the Na mg. (sodium, in milligrams) in each ingredient in a medium loaf, and
calculation cells for
total Na mg. per medium loaf,
Na mg. per slice (loaf ∕18) and
daily consumption (slice x8).
Bread
Flour & water
Flour, water, salt and yeast are normal ingredients in bread, regardless of how it is mixed, kneaded and baked. Once yeast or salt has been mixed with water, a baker cannot go back. When dough is worked in bakery, the baker can add water or flour during kneading to get the dough wetter or drier and affect texture. A baker has some control of time and and the conditions where the dough is held as it ferments and rises.
Yeast
Breads (except some flatbreads and crackers) require flour, water and a leavening agent – usually bakers yeast. Yeast affects rising time, loaf shape and size, crumb structure (regular with small spaces or large irregular spaces), flavor, loaf spring, and the amount of time it takes to prepare and bake a loaf. Yeast can be controlled by measurement and choice of yeast, and by taking time. Dough rises faster with more yeast. The additional yeast costs more and affects the taste of the bread. The right amount of yeast is vital knowledge for any baker.
During the 20th century, wet yeast cakes were manufactured, but superceded by dry yeasts. First, there were active dry yeasts. Then active dry yeast became more active, and the coating changed. Late in the 20th century dry yeast was improved and evolved into instant yeast and other very similar products with new names – Rapid-Rise, Quick Rise, Bread Machine. It is all dried, coated, bakers’ yeast. Active Dry yeast measurement for recipes that call for active dry yeast have to be converted for instant yeast if a user wants to substitute an instant yeast.
Salt
Zero Salt
Leaving salt out can reduce some of the expense, time and effort of making bread. Flavour can be ignored if the bread simply provides bulk and starch. This can depend. The absence of salt it less noticed in the context of a highly flavoured meal.
Salt is not required in roti or equivalent unyeasted flatbreads in South Asia, many other flatbreads.
Salt has been observed to affect dough and bread for centuries. Bakers, millers and other industrial actors involved in bread making developed recipes and processes, and developed industrial science. In the 19th and 20th centuries industrial baking scientists and academic food scientists pursued questions that concerned them. Some of their research has been published publicly, and become known. Bakers used salt to improve their products when salt mines began to produce inexpensive salt for the markets in Europe.
Salt is an ingredient in most recipes for leavened bread. Italian Pane Toscano (Tuscan Bread). Pane Toscano is a rare exception. It is known by a nickname that translates to “tasteless bread”.
Food Writing
Food writing for bakers and for the general public has tended to focus on cooking methods, recipes and taste. This informationcan be vague about scientific detail.
Some academic science affected baking and food processing – the modern science of microbiology was started by Louis Pasteur’s 19th century work. The science explaining the chemistry and biochemistry of baking did exist until the 19th and 20th centuries, and has changed.
The cooking/baking writer Beth Hensperger wrote, explaining the role of salt in bread baking for home bakers and bread machine users at the end of the 20th century:
Salt is a flavor enhancer and plays a role in controlling the activity of yeast. … salt is optional in bread but a lack is very noticeable in the finished flavor. Too much salt, on the other hand, leaves a bitter taste and can inhibit yeast activity. Too little salt leaves a flat taste and can cause the dough to feel slightly slack in the kneading. …
Beth Hensperger, The Bread Bible, 1999
… the little bit [of salt] that most recipes call for acts as a stabiliser so that the yeast does not overferment. It helps to condition and toughen the protein strands so that they do not break easily during the rising process and the dough expands smoothly.
….
Without the right amount of salt, the dough will rise too fast. This especially true in the environment of the bread machine, which is warm and very hospitable to the yeast.
Beth Hensperger, The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook, 2000
Daniel DiMuzio, discussing artisanal baking, said:
Salt … strengthens the gluten bonds, … extending the amount of time necessary to develop gluten in dough. It also functions as an antioxidant, effectively reducing reducing the loss of caroten pigments and … flavor components during mixing.
Daniel T. DiMuzio, Bread Baking (2010), p. 51
Bakers, baking teachers and cookbooks warn that reducing salt changes bread, and downplay the health effects:
Salt is added to bread dough at approximately 1.8 to 2% of the weight of flour. Sticking to this percentage ensures there is enough salt present in the dough to do its very important job. Once you start to decrease that amount, the quality of your bread starts to decline as well.
Generally, we advise bakers to not leave out salt entirely when making bread. Not only will your dough be slack and difficult to work with (the worst!), but the baked loaf will turn out bland and flavorless. The good news is, the amount of salt in the average slice of bread is actually very small, so it’s generally worth it to stick to the measurement called for in a recipe. …
….
Salt has four important functions in bread, all the way from kneading to eating. Most crucially, it:
Some bakers’ folk knowledge is contradictory. Does salt kill mold and opportunistic micro-organisms and make bread last longer? Does salt keep bread moist? Does salt promote the conditions under which mold and opportunisitic micro-organisms will infest and spoil bread?
Science
Dough
Emily Buhler addressed science and the hands-on experience of kneading dough in her practical and concise book in Bread Baking (2006, revised 2021). She explained what happens to wheat flour and water when they are mixed, with yeast (and salt) kneaded and baked.
Wheat flour, milled from ripe seed kernels, is mainly starch, containing complex sugar molecules and protein molecules. When flour is mixed with water, yeast and salt, the water molecules do not bond with the flour. Water, a polar solvent, surrounds and suspends rather than dissolving protein molecules. Bread dough is a colloid of proteins in water (this kind of colloid is a “sol”). Electrical attraction between positive charged atoms in the proteins and negatively charged oxygen atoms in water molecules holds the water molecules in a polar orientation.
Fermentation
Bakers have known for centuries that salt inhibits the rising of the dough (the fermention of the glucose by the yeast and the release of gas by the yeast). In the last couple of centuries, when industrial yeast was cultivated and processed into wet yeast cakes, the effect of salt was seen in a problem in handling wet yeast cakes; when a wet yeast cake is exposed to salt for enough time, the salt (salt is hygroscopic) can suck water molecules from the wet yeast. The yeast cake breaks down and many cells die; the diminished cake is too small to mix and ferment the dough effectively. The traditional view (in the 19th and 20th century sense of tradition) was that:
Dry (active or instant) yeast cells are invisibly tiny living single-celled fungi, dormant after being grown in a factory, processed and dried, A visible “grain” of dry yeast is a clump of dormant cells, mixed with nutrient and coating. The water in dough dissolves the clumps of instant yeast (also active dry yeast. The practice of putting active dry yeast in warm water before adding it to dough is still followed and recommended by many for home baking and bread machines).
The yeast releases enzymes that break down complex sugars in the starch to glucose, a simple sugar, which the yeast consume. The proteins bond to each other in water and form gluten. In anerobic fermentation the yeast produces alcohol and CO₂ (carbon dioxide), a gas. The gas is trapped in gluten,which makes the dough inflate and rise.
salt kills yeast, and
should be kept separate from yeast.
Salt kills yeast when there is an error in storage of ingredients of the timing of the mixing process. When dough is mixed, the salt is distributed and diluted in water.
Emily Buhler in Bread Baking (2006, revised 2021) addressed:
Yeast and Bacteria in sub-chapter 2.2 of the Bread Chemistry Basics chapter;
Fermentation in sub-chapter 2.3 of the Bread Chemistry Basics chapter;
Taste and Colour in sub-chapter 2.4 of the Bread Chemistry Basics chapter; and
What Happens to Bread in the Oven in sub-chapter 7.2 of the Proofing and Baking chapter.
The strains of bakers’ yeast grown by the corporate employees of the companies that make processed dry yeast – active or instant – break down enough of the starch in the flour to a simple sugar that yeast consumes. When yeast consumes simple sugar, it produces CO₂ gas that is trapped in the gluten, causing the dough to rise. The yeast, in anaerobic fermentation, also produces alcohol – the flavour effects of the alcohol produced by industrial bakers’ yeast are minor. Some other microorganisms break down alchohol and produce flavours but this often doesn’t happen within the time dough is kneaded and baked.
Salt inhibits yeast, wet or dry, according to several studies. Emily Buhler addressed Salt and fermentation in sub-chapter 2.9 of the bread science chapter of Bread Baking (2006, revised 2021). Salt dissolved in water releases ions (charged atoms) that affect the movement of water molecules through yeast cellular walls so that the net osmosis is that the cells shrink, crenating the yeast cell walls.
Gluten
When salt is left out, the bread will develop gluten “naturally” from the biochemical actions of the proteins in the flour in water (autolyze). Without salt, the gluten does not stretch as much.
Emily Buhler addressed Salt and Gluten in sub-chapter 2.10 of the bread science chapter of Bread Baking (2006, revised 2021) . She cites:
early 20th century work correlating salt to measured and observed characteristics of gluten,
mid 20th century work on the polarity (electrical charges) of amino acids,
work in the ’60s on proteins in solution, and
a 1977 paper on the effect of salt in proteins in solution.
Emily Buhler did not discuss vinegar, as such, in Bread Baking (2006, revised 2021).
A neutral, as opposed to a low pH (high acidity), or high pH (high basicity) solution affects “conformation” – unfolds or unpacks a twisted string of the molecules – of the gluten proteins. Pure water, pH 7, is neutral. Sea water, pH 7.5, is mildly basic. Salt in solution changes the conformation – a charged solution (with salt ions) shields charged sites on the protein and “tightens” the gluten. The salt affects the way the proteins respond to the mechanics of mixing and kneading.
Vinegar, with pH as low as 2.5, is acidic.
Crust Colour
The heat of the oven affects the production of gas by the yeast, and the escape of gas. In the first 10 minutes, the expansion of the heated gas, before the gas escapes, makes the loaf springs. Then the heat diffuses in the gas inside the loaf and bakes the interior of the loaf – the crumb. The yeast dies when the bread is baked, which does not harm the flavour of bread. Most of the starch in the flour becomes the crumb of the loaf.
The heat of the oven or bread machine dries the crust into the chewier or crisper crust. The colour is created by Maillard reactions which typically proceed rapidly from around 140 to 165 °C (280 to 330 °F). Many recipes call for a temperature high enough to ensure that a Maillard reaction occurs. At the crust, sugars and amino acids also react in the heat of the oven to form flavour molecules. The crust is not airtight. It lets C0₂ escape as the loaf bakes, and eventually lets water vapour escape from a baked loaf.
Reducing Salt
Baking
General
Dough needs to be leavened lift to rise. A zero-salt bread needs as much yeast as a loaf with the normal amount of salt. For instance: Beth Hensperger’s bread machine recipes for Tuscan Peasant Bread (or Pane Toscana) mix and knead a sponge. It seems to be a workable method of baking a rustic no-salt loaf. Her yeast measurement for this loaf is lower than her many conventionally salted bread machine loaves. This should be checked and and tested, depending on the machine used.
AHA & other
Some cookbooks and web sites offer bread recipes for persons with hypertension or health concerns. Some are by survivors or family. Some are sponsored by health care reformers. Some of these recipes are truly zero salt. Some have a pinch or as much as ½ teaspoon ( 2.8 grams) of salt.
The American Heart Association’s Low Salt Cookbook (4th ed.) has a zero salt recipe for a Whole Wheat bread, mixed and baked in a bread machine. It is a multigrain loaf (for a medium loaf, 1½ cups whole wheat flour, 1½ cups bread flour), milk and yeast. For a medium loaf, it prescribes 2½ tsp. (7 grams) active dry yeast. (It may take less yeast. Bread machines and programs very.) The crumb of this loaf is a bit irregular, and the absence of salt affects the taste
Tuscan Bread
Salt is not required in Italian Pane Toscano (Tuscan Bread), a lean bread made with flour, water, and yeast. It is mainly a white flour recipe (bread flour, high protein All-purpose, or All-purpose). There a recipes in different sizes with various methods and loaf sizes. Example: King Arthur Tuscan Bread. Beth Hensperger included a recipe for this bread in her baking cookbooks:
Tuscan Peasant Bread, The Bread Bible (1999) both
mixed with a mixer or by hand, and oven baked, and
a bread machine version;
Pane Toscana, The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook (2000).
Beth Hensperger’s recipes have this bread made with a sponge to delay fermentation. She makes it more rustic by using some whole wheat flour, and enriches it slightly with a pinch of sugar.
Vinegar
Vinegar, like salt, inhibits microorganisms – such as yeast! It makes a solution acidic, which affects the “conformation” of the proteins that form the gluten. Vinegar is a mildly acetic aqueous solution of acetic acid. Adding vinegar to pure water dilutes the acid and produce a slightly acidic fluid. I don’t understand what happens when a small amount of mild acid is added to water containing salt. Salt dissolves in water. Salt water is a high pH fluid. It is “basic’.
Vinegar is produced by fermentation of fluids:
produced by crushing the fruits of grape vines, apple trees and other fruiting plants, or by soaking barley malt and other products of the grain of grasses;
wines and ciders that have been produced by fermentation of plants; and
fluids produced with alchohol distilled from fermented plants.
Slow methods are used in traditional vinegars; fermentation proceeds over a few months to a year. Slow fermentation allows for the accumulation of a nontoxic slime composed of acetic acid bacteria and their cellulose biofilm, known as mother of vinegar. Fast methods add mother of vinegar as a bacterial culture to the source liquid before adding air to oxygenate and promote the fastest fermentation. In fast production processes, vinegar may be produced in 1-3 days.
Fruit vinegars are made from fruit wines, usually without any additional flavoring. Apple cider vinegar is made from cider or apple must.
Wine vinegar is made from red or white wine, and is the most commonly used vinegar in Southern and Central Europe
Distilled vinegar (spirit vinegar in the UK, white vinegar in Canada) is produced by fermentation of distilled alcohol. The fermentate is diluted to produce a colorless solution of 5 to 8% acetic acid in water, with a pH of about 2.6. This is known as distilled spirit, “virgin” vinegar, or white vinegar, and is used in cooking, baking, meat preservation, and pickling, as well as for medicinal, laboratory, and cleaning purposes.
A cup (US volume unit) of vinegar weighs 240 grams. (A cup of pure water weighs 237 grams.) Vinegar is 5% acid and over 90% water. Cider vinegar and distilled (white) vinegar have little sodium according to USDA.
Type
Weight 1 Tbsp.
Water, 1 Tbsp.
Sodium mg.
Distilled
14.9 g.
14.1 g.
.298
Cider
14.9 g.
14 g.
.745
Web sites about baking have comments on vinegar, as of late 2022:
“Vinegar breaks down the proteins in bread dough, causing the gluten to tenderize. .. new – and … stronger – gluten networks form. This results in … a … rise in a shorter amount of time.
“Vinegar cuts down on flour oxidation, resulting in … moist crumb and a lightweight texture. …
“Vinegar is an organic acid … by adding vinegar to your dough, you can create impressive flavors in a shorter amount of time.
Vinegar reduces the pH level in your bread dough. … this fends off mold formation…”
“… it can make the dough more elastic, which can help it rise better and create a more consistent texture. It can also help to retard the growth of yeast, meaning that the bread will take a bit longer to rise but will be less likely to collapse after it’s been baked. Finally, the vinegar can help to create a slightly crisper crust.”
There is no history of hydrating dough with vinegar (using vinegar instead of water or other fluids). Some web material, published to pages, or posted to forums, attributes some effects, actions and results to the addition of a small amount of vinegar to the other ingredients of bread.
Someone started using vinegar to make the water acidic, and leaving out salt. I have not found material on the web to explain when this started or whether it was tested at scale in industrial bakeries.
The bread machine maker Zojirushi started to sell a bread machine with a “no-salt” program in 2018. Zojirushi uses cider vinegar in a recipe for a white sandwich bread for use in a “No Salt” program on its current Virtuoso Plus (a large loaf (2 lb. pan) model and its BB-SSC10 (small, 1 lb.) model.
A tablespoon (14.7 ml.) of cider vinegar has the same effect as 2 tsp. of salt in white sandwich bread on gluten, crumb and crust, in my Zojirushi Virtuoso BB-PAC20. 2¼ tsp. (11.1 ml.) of cider vinegar has the same effect as 1½ tsp. salt.
A tablespoon of vinegar adds only 1 Tbsp of water to a dough, and only adds tiny amount of acetic acid and biochemically significant elements, but it affects gluten and fermentation. It is powerful.
It is possible to measure with enough accuracy with measuring spoons. It is possible to measure vinegar by weight. Scales may go to the nearest gram; some go to the nearest .1 gram. Conversions:
Vinegar, Volume
1 cup
1 Tbsp.
2¼ tsp.
1 tsp.
Vinegar, Weight
239 g.
14.9 g.
11.2 g.
5 g.
Cider vinegar does not impart a bitter taste to bread. Vinegar lacks the flavour impact of salt.
Adjustments
Salt
A leading blog for home bakers observes:
… If you’re still looking to reduce the salt in your bread, however, it’s possible to do so successfully (to an extent).
Generally, you can reduce the salt by half without having any very noticeable changes to texture and browning.
If your bread tastes a bit bland, you can use herbs or spices to increase the flavor. Fresh chopped rosemary or caraway seeds are both very traditional ways to add flavor, but the options are really endless! Try experimenting with blends like Herbes De Provence or even Pizza Seasoning to jazz things up.
King Arthur Flour, Blog, Tips & Techniques, July 2020, Why is salt important in yeast bread?
A 50% reduction of salt works when the recipe, following the conventions of home baking, specifies 2 tsp. of salt for a large loaf or 1½ tsp. for a medium loaf. A medium loaf, baked with 1½ tsp. of salt, has at least 3,360 mg. of sodium. Reducing the salt by 50% reduces the sodium in a loaf to about 1,680 mg. of sodium. This is tolerable in terms of the gluten and the taste of the bread. If the recipe said 8.6 g. (1½ tsp.), I will reduce salt by 50% by weight. I aim to reduce salt to 4.3 grams.(¾ tsp.) for a medium loaf, or less. 4.3 grams.(¾ tsp.) gets good gluten development to bake a medium loaf in a Zojirushi bread machine. It should be enough salt for a medium loaf under any other baking method if the dough is mixed and kneaded
It is necessary to consider how much sodium is being avoided when salt is taken out of a recipe. Where a recipe uses 1 tsp. (5.7 g.) of salt for 3 cups of flour, I can reduce use 75% of the recipe amount of salt to get the same amount of sodium per loaf/slice/serving as by reducing 1½ tsp. of salt by 50%. If a recipe required less salt than 1½ tsp. for a medium loaf, I may reduce salt by a low amount. I have tried reduction from 1 tsp. (5.7 g.) to ¾ tsp. (4.3 g.) or ⅝ tsp. (3.6 g.). Many medium loaves made with ⅝ tsp. (3.6 g.) salt and a suitable adjusted amount of instant yeast knead and bake well in a Zojirushi Virtuoso using the Basic Bake and Bake whole wheat programs, and in the Home made program for European bread
Yeast
Salt slows fermentation in dough. Salt also makes gluten strands longer and assists a dough to rise. The reduction in gas production is outweighed by more extensible gluten. Reductions of yeast affect the production of the gas which stretches the dough. Yeast is required to leaven any yeasted bread. Yeast can be reduced in from the levels stated in recipes when salt is reduced. The right amount of yeast varies according to the recipe and other factors:
The machine;
The program;
The salt and other sodium in the dough.
Dough needs to be hydrated and leavened to rise and flow.
Bread Machines
Machines
While many bread machine recipes seem to be for “any” bread machine, there are no generic recipes. Machines have significant differences in
pan size,
pan shape, mixing action,
programs, and
features.
Features, such as heating the baking chamber and pan while a mixed dough is rising (i.e. fermenting), are not found in all machines, and affect the amount of yeast a user should use.
Bread machines run in fixed time intervals set in the programs written by the manufacturer’s engineers. A closed device is not subject to interventions when the program is running. Techniques used in conventional baking are not easily used with bread machines. Bread machines are convenience appliances. They make palatable bread. A machine user can make some kinds of changes in attempting to make a recipe again: setting the device to use a different program, or adjust the recipe.
Beth Hensperger’s book The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook said:
… In the presence of salt the dough rises at a slower rate and the salt strengthens the gluten. Loaves with no salt collapse easily.
If you are on a salt-restricted diet and wish to reduce the salt in a recipe, be sure to reduce the yeast proportionately, or use the recipe amount of lite salt. Without the right amount of salt, the dough will rise too fast. This is especially true in the environment of the bread machine …
Beth Hensperger, The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook, 2000, p. 15, p. 290
The suggestion of using “lite” is unclear. She may be referring to the branded product by that names made by Morton, a blend of table salt and potassium chloride. There are salt substitutes made with calcium chloride or potassium chloride sold as “NoSalt” or “Salt-Free” that can be added to some foods. These can to leave soups or stews tasting ok to human senses. There is no basis for saying that salt substitutes affect the activity of yeast or gluten formation in bread dough, or the taste of baked bread. I have not located published test results or evidence.
The suggestion of reducing salt and yeast proportionately (by weight) is a rule of thumb that works, to a point. This rule seems to be reflected by some product offerings. Morton’s lite salt product has 290 mg of sodium per ¼ teaspoon serving while its regular table salt has 590 mg of sodium per ¼ teaspoon serving
Beth Hensperger introduced the topic of “What Can Go Wrong, and How to Fix It” at pp. 38-40 of The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook. Many things can go wrong; the answers are not obvious.
Salt & Yeast
Salt
Salt can be reduced in bread machine recipes for 1½ lb. loaves that specify 1½ tsp. of salt to 4.3 g. (¾ tsp.), 3.6 g. (⅝ tsp.) or as little as 2.8 g. (½ tsp). This reduction has an effect on gluten which affects the texture of the crumb. It affects taste. The change is less noticeable in multigrain loaves, and loaves flavoured in some way. Salt in recipes with 3 cups of flour (for 1½ lb. loaves) can be reduced with little or no effect on gluten and the final baked crumb and crust.
Yeast
Yeast choice and measurement are important in bread machines. The yeast specified in any given generic recipe may be too much for some bread machines. A dough or loaf that balloons is messy, and can endanger the machine, the kitchen and the cook. Bread machine recipes are also determined by whether they can produce acceptable bread in a time frame that consumers/machine buyers will tolerate. If a recipe requires active dry yeast and a user wants to substitute an instant yeast, the yeast measurement should be converted for instant yeast.
If a recipe for a medium loaf says 8.6 g. (1½ tsp.) salt, and if the proportionate reduction rule was an exact rule, I would expect to reduce yeast by 50% by weight, but it isn’t that simple. Yeast can be reduced with low salt loaves. The rule of proportional reduction leads to bad results if the amount of yeast is not calculated correctly and measured correctly. That leaves a problem – how much more should yeast be reduced if salt it reduced.
Yeast measurement has to be adjusted for a machine’s mix/knead and rise phases. These vary. Some machines have a proofing box function – the pan is heated during rise phases. The length of the rise phases varies between machines and programs.
Recipes should have enough yeast to leaven the dough and rise in a specific machine without ballooning or overflowing a bread pan. For some machines or programs more than 1 tsp. of instant yeast for a 1½ lb. loaf is too much, regardless of salt and regardless of other ingredients that may inhibit fermentation. For any machine, set to a “Quick-Rise” program, more yeast is required that for a Regular or Basic Program. Too much yeast for a machine and a program will result in the dough or loaf ballooning or collapsing. Those problems can be fixed by adjusting yeast in a recipe leaving flour, water, salt and other ingredients unchanged.
The relevant features affecting hydration, gluten formation, yeast activity, fermentation, and rise are:
the protein in wheat flour,
the protein in other flour, such as rye flour,
the amount of high protein wheat flour and any vital wheat gluten,
the length of the mix/knead phase,
the mix/knead action,
the length of the Rise phases, and
warmed pan proofing box action in the Rise phases.
Vinegar
Zojirushi’s recipe for No-Salt bread (large loaf and small loaf), is nearly identical to Zojirushi’s Basic White Bread (large loaf or small loaf). It has no salt, and has some cider vinegar – ½ to 1 tablespoon, depending on the recipe size. Zojirushi’s recipe for No-Salt bread works in a basic or regular baking program – the program used for enriched sandwich bread, made with bread flour, sugar, milk or milk powder and butter. In 2021, Marsha Perry, writing as the Bread Machine Diva said that the large (2 lb.) loaf version turned out well in a Zojirushi Virtuoso BB-PAC20 machine using the Basic Program (the BB-PAC20 does not have a No Salt program). The photos at the Bread Machine Diva site suggest the crumb is slightly different when the recipe is baked in two different Zojirushi machines.
I tried the recipe, scaled for a medium loaf; the medium loaf works in a Zojirushi Virtuoso BB-PAC20. This recipe should work in any Zojirushi model with a large pan – Supreme, Virtuoso, etc. The recipe will work in other machines in a regular or basic baking program, but may require a little less or more yeast than a Zojirushi machine. The recipe is sensitive to measurement of the ingredients, including the vinegar.
Zojirushi Bread Machines
General
In working out a recipe that will not balloon or collapse pay attention to : the type of flour, the amount of salt, the bread machine course (program) and the amount of yeast.
It is often necessary to try out some variations, changing some quantities by small measured amounts to see if a change makes the bread better by some parameter.
Many recipes for medium loaves baked in bread machines may require 1½ tsp. of salt for 3 cups of wheat flour, but recipes vary. Some of Zojirushi’s recipes for medium loaves baked in the BB-PAC20, in its machine manual and on the web accept that ratio. Generic recipes for similar breads may use 2 tsp. (6.2 grams) of instant yeast for a medium loaf. Other Zojirushi recipes use less salt – noted in the table below. The yeast in recipes in the manual for the salt stated in the recipe. (The web links lead to large loaves. I am using the medium loaf recipe in the printed manual.) I am converting yeast from Active Dry, used by Zojirushi in it recipes for the BB-PAC20 to instant yeast:
*The “home made” course, given in the recipe in the Zojirushi BB-PAC20 Virtuoso manual, is identical to the European course (i.e. program) of the Zojirushi BB-CDC20 Viruoso Plus. It has 2 rise phases, like a Quick course but the rises are long – 35 minutes and 50 minutes. The Crusty French recipe involves programming a “Home-made” program in a BB-PAC-20 Virtuoso or a BB-CEC20 Home Bakery.
Zojirushi also publishes recipes for 2 lb. “large” loaves with 1½ tsp of salt. These scale to 1⅛ tsp. (6.4 g.) salt for 1.5 lb. loaves.
In working out a recipe that will not balloon or collapse pay attention to:
the type of flour,
the amount of salt,
the bread machine course (program) and
the amount of yeast.
It is often necessary to try out some variations, changing some quantities by small measured amounts to see if a change makes the bread better by some parameter.
Yeast
Initial General Rule
The Zojirushi BB-PAC20 requires less yeast for a recipe that uses a regular yeasted baking program, (i.e. the Regular Basic course or the Regular Wheat course) than is used in a recipe from Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook, or most generic bread machine recipes. These courses have a Rise period (programmed as 3 consecutive periods) in a heated pan. A Zojirushi BB-PAC20 needs about 65% of the instant yeast in a generic recipe used in these courses. This is a target for the amount of yeast to raise a fully salted loaf. I make this initial adjustment for all recipes in those categories except recipes from Zojirushi for my Zojirushi BB-PAC20.
Zero Salt and/or Vinegar
For the Zojirushi Virtuoso BB-PAC20:
3.8 grams of instant yeast, used to make a sponge for Tuscan Bread, will raise a zero salt dough for a 1.5 lb. medium loaf;
4.0 grams of instant yeast will raise a no-salt dough for a 1.5 lb. medium loaf, in the American Heart Association whole wheat recipe.
The Zojirushi “No Salt” bread, made with vinegar, sugar and milk powder is a soft sweet sandwich bread. The crumb is fluffy. It is similiar to other sandwich breads – a bit softer.
The yeast requirement for this sandwich loaf, made with vinegar instead of salt, is about 3.1 grams of instant yeast (1 tsp.)
The recipe is sensitive to measurement of the ingredients, including the vinegar.
I will try to bake other recipes with vinegar instead of salt. I will check this method with other enriched sandwich breads, experimenting with changing the enrichments – sugar, milk powder etc. It will take time.
Lean Breads – 50% Salt
A Zojirushi BB-PAC20 will bake a crusty French style white loaf – a lean bread – a “home made” (custom) program for that style of bread. A medium loaf requires 3 cups of bread flour.
Ingredient
Factory
My test 1
Salt
5.7 g. (1 tsp)
4.3 g. (¾ tsp)
Instant Yeast
3.1 g (4.2 g. (1½ tsp) active dry)
2.2 g.
I have used the Zojirushi BB-PAC20 to bake medium loaves of Beth Hensperger’s (of the BLBMC) recipe for Chuck Williams Country French Bread, a lean bread. The BLBMC recipe (full salt) uses 8.6 g. I make it with 3.6 g. of salt in the Regular Bake program. Yeast depends on what course/program I use:
Regular Basic course, with 2.0 g. of instant yeast;
Home made course for crusty lean bread. This bread, in the shorter Home made program, needs about 3.1 g. or 3.2 g. of instant yeast for a loaf with 50% salt (4.3 g.). It develops a dimple (which might be called a crater) with 3.6 g. of instant yeast, but not with 3.2 g. of instant yeast.
50% Salt – Regular Basic and Regular Wheat
I will reduce yeast below the Zojirushi target when I make a salt reduction for a generic recipe. It may be 50% of the yeast that remains after the initial adjustment (not the yeast in the recipe), but it depends on the amount of salt.
Where a recipe recipes only ½ tsp. of salt for a medium loaf (e.g. the AHA low salt recipe for a medium size light rye loaf) I use the recipe amount of salt and 2.7 or 2.8 g. of instant yeast.
When salt has been reduced to 4.3 grams (¾ tsp.) for a medium loaf, 2.1 to 2.4 grams of instant yeast will leaven the dough to get good rise and flow without collapse or “crater” in the Regular Basic and Basic Wheat programs. Using less yeast can produce collapse or “crater”, or issues of size and shape. Using more yeast may produce a loaf that ruptures.
A Zojirushi BB-PAC20 (or another modern Zojirushi model with a 2 lb. pan) can make an acceptable medium loaf of bread with 4.3 g. of salt and 30-35% of the instant yeast in a generic recipe with bread flour and with bread flour and whole wheat flour.
100% whole wheat flour bread is close, but not exactly the same.
Putting rye flour in the mix changes the yeast requirements.
Other Adjustments
Some generic (e.g. BLBMC) bread machine recipes have problems that show up with a Zojirushi machine. It may be as little as a few tablespoons of water. These problems can be fixed by comparing a problem recipe with successful recipes.
Baking Ingredients
I find it convenient to have baking ingredients in a spreadsheet saved on a device in my possession – a desktop in a room near the kitchen. I have access when the device is on, without relying on Internet connections and the cloud.
The book Spoon-Fed by British physician and writer Tim Spector discusses the diets of people in developed countries. Spoon-Fed puts a great deal of information into a short book. It discusses a number of “myths” about food and nutrition. A myth is a story that many people have learned to believe, but not a scientifically proved factual story. The myths are the foundation of public health rules, dietary recommendations and beliefs about food. The myths are the foundation of public health rules, dietary recommendations and beliefs about food. Spoon-Fed treats eating and digestion as complex biological processes that cannot be explained by instinct, culture, culinary tradition, common sense or known science. It fails to reconcile some inconsistencies.
There is a chapter pointing out that there is no component in the education of medical doctors addressing nutrition, implying that medical doctors, unless they work on the problems, are not experts on nutrition, food and diets. There is a chapter which reviews some of the arguments of The Diet Myth, points out that digestion, and weight gain are individual, and cautions against believing that there are rules that apply to all people and all foods. In The Diet Myth, Dr. Spector explained why weight loss through calorie restriction and exercise is difficult by the data of weight loss in twin studies, and to the science of calories, based on the 1944-1945 Minnesota Starvation Experiment. Like The Diet Myth, Spoon-Fed suggests that food science has not absorbed the presence of an active microbiome in the human digestive tract.
Some chapters talk about how food is collected, processed, and sold.
The chapter on the myths of fish addresses the marketing of fish raised in fish farms, the standards for farmed fish, the marketing of wild fish harvested recklessly, and outright fraud in the way fish is misdescribed in some restaurants.
There are chapters on the myths of avoiding animal fat, reducing calory consumption or exercising to reduce weight, avoiding gluten, avoiding nuts, sports drinks, fruit flavoured drinks, and the quality, safety and convenience of bottled water. Some involve the factors affecting purchasing and processing food, including sports drinks, flavoured water, bottled water, candy, snacks and fast food.
Spoon-fed notes that the food industry, dominated by financial interests, and focussed on reducing foods into packaged commodities, fabricated with processed ingredients, and processed to taste good, package well, and sell. The food industry has convinced people try to make up for “missing” ingredients by taking supplements and seeking following diet fads, to combat obesity by restricting calories and by exercise. This has made the food industry financially successful in selling flavoured junk. Dr. Spector suggests that individuals might eat more vegetables, recommend diversity of diet, endorses Michael Pollan’s advice in his books In Defence of Food (2008) and The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006), and suggests avoiding consuming highly processed foods. He also endorses the public health advocacy of Marion Nestle and others on measures against sugary, artificially sweetened and carbonated beverages and disposable containers.
Other chapters discuss the rise and fall of beliefs about fat, calories, weight loss theories, supplements and diets. These are generally informative. Some chapters invite readers to consider changing what they eat, and are more controversial.
Spoon-Fed favours eating fermented foods because they contain nutrients produced by microorganisms and may contain beneficial and viable microorgamisms (unless the microorganisms have been killed off in the processing). Spoon-Fed favours food with some microflora or microfauna, although Dr. Spector is largely dismissive of the probiotic yogurt and the marketing claims made by the manufacturers of other highly processed food products. He is in favour of consuming fermented foods, including saurkraut and kimchi on the basis that fermentation can introduce health probiotic microorganisms. His views on probiotics may be more controversial than he implies. Fermented food with microorganisms is prepared in salted water (brine) as opposed to pickled in acidic vinegar. It is therefore salty.
Dr. Spector states that public health measures involving salt have not prevented the wide use of salt in food processing. The food industries have increased the consumption of salt, while concealing the amount of salt in processed food. He refers to studies suggesting that studies have failed to demonstrate adverse effects of high sodium levels in food on health. He explains that industrialized countries favour treating people with high blood pressure with medication to reducing salt use. He disagrees with the low sodium approach of the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, without a discussion of the issue.
Spoon-Fed carefully precise in supporting restrictions on alcohol consumption, while defending moderate alcohol consumption.
While it is dismissive of diet fads, it tends to be speculative about the benefits of some foods. It dismisses some public health information based on poor sampling and other statistical errors, and appears to encourage disrespect for all public health recommendations.
This is part 4 of 8 posts organized as a single article, individually published as posts on this blog. In March 2024 I began to reorganize and revise the long article. The sections are numbered for reference here and in the table of contents for each post.
bicycle “drip lube” lubricants, with notes on pricing;
in sections:
people and projects,
testing chains and lubricants for efficiency and wear, and
innovations in lubricants.
This part mentions products that will be discussed in Part 7:
paraffin wax applied by immersion of a chain in melted paraffin wax, and
wax based chain coating fluid products applied to a chain wet, that dry to wax-like states.
Some sections of this part refer to subjects and persons discussed in Part 2 in this series, on Roller Chain, and Part 6 on durability.
7. Lubricating Fluids
Motor Oil
Motor oil, the lubricating oil refined/processed and sold for use in 4 stroke internal combustion engines, was sold in quart containers for most of the 20th century. For decades the containers were cardboard cylinders with metal end caps. Automotive service centers (garages) issued workers spouts that could both puncture a metal end cap, and pour oil into the filler tube of an automobile engine. By the end of 1990s
motor oil was sold in plastic bottles by the quart or gallon;
most motor oil is formulated with “detergent” additives to chemically affect the productions of combustion left in the cylinders of internal combustion engines.
Some motor oils made for automobiles have been tested for efficiency (power lost to friction; see below) as bicycle chain lubricants, and have done reasonably well. Motor oil has tradeoffs:
Viscous friction – it takes slightly more energy to move a chain lubricated with a viscous oil than a “thinner” oil
Additives – modern additives have changed the lubrication properties of motor oil. There are
Adhesion – dirt sticks to motor oil, and oil sticks to clothing and skin when the rider contacts the chain or the chain flings lube. Motor oil can only be removed from a chain with detergents or mineral spirits. Cleaning an oily chain can involve removing the chain from the bike frame.
Additives in motor oil can be avoided by purchasing additive-free oils if available; some bike lube manufacturers use high quality motor oil as a base stock for bike lube. For instance Silca Velo uses a synthetic motor oil, without “detergent”. Other disadvantages of purchasing from the automotive section of the market:
having to buy a whole quart (or litre, if that is the standard container), and store it for years,
disposing of waste material in an environmentally sound and legal way.
A quart (946 ml.) of high quality Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil cost about $15 (Canadian) at Canadian Tire and other retail outlets in British Columbia in February 2022. Half a cup, valued at about 50 cents per ounce, would be worth $2. Canadian Tire sells other automotive motor oils in 5 liter (one gallon) sizes. It sells its house brand MotoMaster (distilled by Shell) non detergent engine oil in a 1 quart size for about $6. It sells MotoMaster motorcycle 4 stroke engine oil at $11 per quart. Conversions:
Lubricant manufacturers and bike shops began to sell bicycle chain lubrication fluids, often labeled “wet” or “dry”, in small applicator bottles in the 1970s and 80s. Other lubrication products are sold in applicator bottles.
The online magazine Road Bike Rider made a list of manufacturers or brands of drip lubes in 2019, updated in 2021. It includes:
Dupont, a brand mow held by the successor of Dupont DeMours and Dow, both chemical manufacturers,
the automotive lubricant brand Dumonde Tech,
the solvent and household lubricant brand WD-40 (which owns the venerable brand and intellectual propery (“IP”) of 3-in-One), and
several bike drip chain lubes sold in bicycle shops and online including:
Ceramic Speed,
Finish Line,
MSpeedwax (Molten Speed Wax),
Muc-Off,
Park Tool,
Pro-Gold,
Pedros,
Rock and Roll,
Squirt, and
Tri-Flow.
The list does not include manufacturers new to bike lubricant market since 2019, including Silca Velo, Tru-Tension, Rex. None of the drip lubes in the list above did well in Friction Facts efficiency testing or Zero Friction testing for chain durability.
The article, like most printed and online magazine articles, does not discuss the ingredients, the manufacturing processes or the way the lubricants are supposed to work – are they oils, or delivery vehicles for polymers believed to reduce friction in the moving parts of the chain? No manufacturers or vendors disclose it, and few journalists, mechanics and riders know.
Prices
None of the independent bike shops in Victoria post lube prices online (as of early 2022). Chain stores in Victoria BC with web sites include:
Trek store;
Mountain Equipment Coop (a Canadian retail chain selling “outdoor” products);
Canadian Tire (a Canadian retail chain selling “outdoor” products);
Walmart (retail chain selling “outdoor” products) has a confusing and overheated online market.
Prices in 2022 ($ Canadian except $US in US stores noted) for a 118 or 120 ml. (4 oz.) bottle of common bike lubes. I have not updated prices after inflation in the period 2022-24:
Trek Store
MEC
Cdn. Tire
ProGold Prolink
14.95
ProGold Extreme
18.95
Muc-Off Wet or Dry
14.95
Muc-Off C3 Ceramic Wet or Dry
23.95
Squirt Long Lasting Dry
19.95
Squirt Low Temperature
23.95
Bontrager (Trek store house brand)
11.99 9.50 (US)
Park Tool CL-1
13.99
White Lightning Clean Ride Dry
8.99 (US)
White Lightning Wet Ride
8.99 (US)
White Lightning Epic Ride
9.99 (US)
Finish Line, Wet or Dry
9.99 (US)
WD-40 Bike Chain Lubricant Wet or Dry
12.99 (US)
9.99
Silca Velo’s oil based wet lubes: Synergetic and Synerg-e (e-bike lube) are available from Silca by mail order. The price of Synergetic, as of April 2022, was $33.95 ($US) for a 59 ml. (2 oz.) drip bottle. Shipping is free on orders over $99 ($US). Synergetic is available in some bike shops in Victoria – e.g. Fort Street – I have not checked prices.
Drip lubes are more expensive than motor oil. Drip lube prices do not seems to be based on the cost of base stocks. The cost of making, filling and handling dozens of bottles for each quart of product may be a factor. Prices are set by manufacturers and vendors based on supply and demand, and the perceived marginal utility of the product. Cycling lube is often a small product line for chemical processing enterprises or conglomerate enterprises, although a profitable revenue stream.
Efficiencies and Wear
Among the drip lubes tested for chain wear by Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”), there were bad results for
several Muc-Off products,
White Lightning products,
some Finish Line products and
several other wet and dry drip lubes.
Finish Line Dry with Teflon, a favourite with online reviewers, was assessed by ZFC in 2023 as “not terrible”.
ZFC found that Silca Velo’s Synergetic, a wet oil-based lube, was reasonably good when applied while the chain was run under low contamination conditions, and under moderate contamination for a reasonable time.
Manufacturing and Marketing
The cycling lubricant field is influenced by the engineering and manufacturing practices of the automotive lubricant industry. Drip lubes are made with base fluids, carrier fluids and additives. Manufacturers acquire fluids distilled from petroleum – solvents or oils (respectively, mineral spirits or mineral oils), mix them with additives, package the product in small plastic drip/squeeze bottles or aerosol or spray vessels, sell to bike shops and department stores, and market. The bottles do not have:
detailed ingredient lists,
use instructions, or
warnings about the product’s durability.
“Dry” drip lubes made of volatile carrier fluids are popular. One selling point of dry drip lubes is avoiding entanglement of clothing in or contact with the dirty, oily chain, and avoiding the fling or spray of oil droplets from the chain without using devices (e.g. pant clips) to restrain clothing, metal or plastic chain covers or chain guards.
Pedro’s Ice Wax, marketed as an “advanced natural dry lube” was a drip lubricant. Pedro’s describes its history as a lubricant maker:
In 1989, roommates Bruce Fina and Andrew Herrick founded the Pedro’s brand around a revolutionary chain lube called Syn Lube developed by Bruce’s tribologist brother. Friends of Bruce and Andrew were living and racing mountain bikes in the Pacific Northwest and couldn’t find a lube that would last an entire race in the muddy conditions. The other Teflon-based chain lubes couldn’t handle the mud. Formulated with extreme pressure additives, corrosion inhibitors, and tackifiers to provide incredible wear protection, lubrication, and staying power in extreme wet and muddy conditions, Syn Lube quickly became the lube of choice. Once mountain bikers tried Syn Lube and experienced its performance, word spread, demand skyrocketed, and the Pedro’s brand was officially off to the races!
The wax is/was probably paraffin. The original formulation of Pedro’s Ice Wax, as tested by Friction Facts in 2013 (below) was relatively inefficient. Pedro’s introduced Ice Wax 2.0 and “Slack Lube” later. There are several other drip lubes with wax. It is useful to distinguish drip lubes marketed as wax from wax emulsions. Wax emulsions are fluids, and applied with drippers but differ from most drip lubes.
Bicycle lube manufacturers often claim that drip lubes clean while lubricating. These claims are never supported by evidence or test results. Few manufacturers even venture to explain how a lubricant can contain or coexist with detergents and solvents. Riders can hear an unlubed chain, a dry chain, or a corroded chain and may notice dirt sticking to a chain or caking on the chainwheels, cassette cogs or derailleur pulleys. Riders may apply large amount of lube to “flush” out dirt. Lube can work on a chain that has dried out after being exposed to large volumes or flows of water (water can break down oils. The chain flings off water but lacks lubricant and behaves poorly after drying). Fresh lube may help to dissolve surface corrosion on a lightly oxidized chain. Flushing out dirt contamination “in” the chain with lube is a theoretical possibility but has not been demonstrated.
Lube manufacturers claim that their products are superior. A few make explicit efficiency claims based on proprietary/confidential test reports. Such behavior by established brands tends to conceal or discredit claims that these are inferior lubricants.
Consumers know, as matter of principle, we can not rely on and should not trust marketing claims. The law in most of the industrialized world – and particularly in the UK and USA makes it hard for consumers to hold manufacturers liable for misleading claims of quality. The leading legal principle is caveat emptor (buyer beware). Courts traditionally brush marketing claims off as puffery. While most consumers think they can detect bullshit, most are overconfident about their capability. Consumers rely on misleading indicators of quality – e.g. brand, packaging, price? Often consumers buy because they need something, and will accept whatever they can find.
Teflon – Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) – has been a drip lube additive. Rock ‘n Roll and other drip lubes with Teflon did well in Friction Facts efficiency tests (below). Finish Line USA markets itself as a firm specializing in cycling, and markets its Finish Line dry lube for coating chain parts with Teflon. Teflon is a Dupont brand and trademark, and the common name for PTFE. Finish Line USA is the manufacturer of the Dupont brand of bike lube. Finish Line USA states in its marketing that it was founded by an engineer who had worked for Mobil, the automotive lubricant distiller/manufacturer. PTFE is a fluorocarbon. Some lubricant manufacturers, in the 21st century, disparage competitors for using fluorocarbons, which are greenhouse gases.
Some additives promoted by manufacturers have not been proved to decease wear:
“ceramic” additives;
carbon tubes or particles or nano additives;
micro-sized tungsten spheres.
The marketing-driven model that microscopic particles act like bearings is theoretically flawed. Indeed the empirical evidence suggests that such particles, like dust and grit, contaminate the oil and contribute to chain wear.
8. People and Projects
Introduction
This section touches on scientific and industrial testing of materials. Mainly, it discusses sources that have been mentioned in this series, and this post. The inventions are cleaning and lubrication products. While useful products have come to market, maintenance and cleaning of drive trains is not well known.
The inventions, plans and goals had economic factors. I mention the economic factors to understanding how manufactured items operate, and which ones were sold and distributed. Some of the people challenged the consensus narratives of the lubrication industries and bicycle component manufacturing and sales industries by
testing bicycle chains and lubricants;
publishing the results of testing in journals, magazines, web pages and social media, and
developing, producing and marketing durable chains and lubricants that provable reduced chain wear.
The persons discussed had a combination of curiosity and economic interests or hopes. Many of the projects and publications discuss new products that mechanics and rider might use. My interest was how they increased knowledge and awareness of chain maintenance and effected changes in the bicycle markets.
Testing Materials
Standards for materials and testing materials and testing devices to measure the properties of materials were developed by individuals and by industrial entities, often by commercial entities.
The Rockwell scales of hardness, typically used in engineering and metallurgy, were named for its inventors, the Rockwell brothers who worked for a company that made ball bearings.
1.1 This test method covers laboratory procedures for determining the resistance of materials to sliding wear. The test utilizes a block-on-ring friction and wear testing machine to rank pairs of materials according to their sliding wear characteristics under various conditions. 1.2 An important attribute of this test is that it is very flexible. Any material that can be fabricated into, or applied to, blocks and rings can be tested. Thus, the potential materials combinations are endless. However, the interlaboratory testing has been limited to metals. In addition, the test can be run with various lubricants, liquids, or gaseous atmospheres, as desired, to simulate service conditions. Rotational speed and load can also be varied to better correspond to service requirements. 1.3 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as standard. The values given in parentheses are for information only. Wear test results are reported as the volume loss in cubic millimetres for both the block and ring. Materials of higher wear resistance will have lower volume loss. 1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety, health, and environmental practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. 1.5 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.
The ASTM G77 standard is used in machines like the ones use by Josh Poertner of Silca Velo, discussed below. In those videos a metal sample “pin” or block (not a pin from a chain) is held against the ring of the device.
BTI Site and Writers
The Bicycle Technical Information pages written and published by Sheldon Brown were noted in Part 1 in this series. The pages on that site were written by Sheldon Brown and other authors including John S. Allen. I cited papers by the late Jobst Brandt on lubrication and cleaning. Brandt is the author of a published and well regarded book on bicycle wheels, and was involved in many ventures including the Avocet cycling computer, one of the first cycling computers.
Journalists, Cycling Publications
VeloNews was a printed magazine about cycling, and at of 2024 is an online publication. It covered technical issues seriously at one time. In 2018 it was folded into the Outside magazine brand which treats cycling as a consumer lifestyle choice.
CyclingTips was an online cycling publication that was folded into the Outside magazine brand in 2022 and effectively closed by the new owners of the company.
Notable writers:
Caley Fretz, once a technical writer and editor at VeloNews became an editor in chief at CyclingTips, and later at Escape Collective;
James Huang, once a technical writer, was an editor at CyclingTips, and later at Escape Collective until May 2024;
Dave Rome, once a technical writer, became an editor at CyclingTips, and later at Escape Collective;
Brad Copeland, a mechanic who has worked for mountain bike racing teams (Specialized, Scott-SRAM) and worked with broadcast media joined Escape Collective in June 2024
Jason Smith, Friction Facts, Ceramic Speed
Jason Smith, an engineer in Boulder, Colorado, USA ran Friction Facts (“FF”) from 2012 to 2015. I have not read material that explains the business model for FF. FF followed up on the idea of testing the efficiency of bicycle chains lubricated with various products, that emerged from academic engineering theory. Jason Smith became an expert of testing methods and drive train friction. He disposed of FF 2016. A search engine may direct a reader to a site in a domain called Friction Facts. That domain, as of 2022, contained puff reviews of cycling products. It may have been acquired by a cybersquatter.
Jason Smith became an associated with the lubrication and cycling accessory firm Ceramic Speed, which manufactures and sells bearings, drive train products, the UFO brand of bicycle lubricants and several automotive products.
While Jason Smith was running FF, some of the test results were published. The main FF test results can be accessed on a Ceramic Speed web page. Ceramic Speed continued to test lubricants, and components for chain efficiency, but does not publish them. It has shared some results, and some results have become available.
Ceramic Speed launched a wax emulsion fluid chain lubricant product, UFO Drip, in 2017. It was and is made with emulsified paraffin or similar compounds that are applied to chains on the bike, like drip lubes, and left to dry before the chain is properly lubricated and ready for riding.
John Thompson & Molten Speed Wax
John Thompson is a businessman in St. Paul, Minnesota USA. He established Molten Speed Wax to manufacture a commercial paraffin wax blend that could be applied to a bike chain, off the bike, immersed in molten wax. Molten Speed Wax’s story:
The hot wax technique has likely been around since “Mile-A-Minute Murphy’s” era [about 1899?], so why did we wait until 2013 to try it?
Our family’s history racing bicycles dates back to the early 70’s when waxing was somewhat common; we certainly were aware of the technique. To add insult to injury, we’ve sold cross-country ski wax in our winter business for over a decade. We know wax like the back of our hands, including all the eclectic additives and myriad application techniques. You’d think we could put two and two together.It took a clever engineer named Jason Smith to put us on the right path. Jason figured out that a waxed chain rivals the efficiency of a perpetual motion machine. He added a little PTFE (the non-stick coating on your frying pan) and molybdenum disulfide / MoS₂ (dry lube that’s hard to pronounce) to paraffin and published the info for everyone to see. Before we knew it we were “cooking chains” in our basement and experimenting with our own additives and techniques. Now our wax is made in large batches with high tech industrial machines the size of small cars.
Everyone has a Eureka moment in life. For us, it was realizing that we could virtually end chainring tattoos on cyclists’ calves. Seriously, we saw an opportunity to help DIY folks by premixing the ingredients into an easy to use, packaged product. Waxing for top performance is simple if you don’t have to source and mix your own PTFE and MoS₂. We also created in-depth, step-by-step directions with helpful tips so it’s nearly impossible to mess up. If you can make instant pudding, waxing a chain is child’s play.
Molten Speed Wax (web site), About page (quote taken 2023-10-08)
The history of paraffin as a bicycle chain lubricant musthave been recorded in newspapers, magazines, journals, fanzines, letters and correspondence and other sources but little such material is available in a internet/web search program.
Adam Kerin, Zero Friction Cycling
Adam Kerin was and is a cyclist interested in road riding, cyclo-cross, and mountain bikes racing. At one point in his life he was a law enforcement officer.
He started Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”), a firm in the bicycle maintenance business in Adelaide, Australia, in 2017/18. It specializes in maintaining and selling bike chains and lubricants. He developed test devices and methods to run different chains with different lubricants for thousands of kilometers with electric motors in his test machines. In 2021, ZFC launched a YouTube channel which is a tool and platform for Adam Kerin to report on his research and explain his ideas. Adam Kerin was and is an advocate of paraffin lubrication. He also presents his finding in reports and other documents published on the ZFC web pages. His style is discursive.
Adam Kerin was interviewed by the Australian mechanic and cycling tech writer Dave Rome for CyclingTips in March 2018. The new owners of CyclingTips repackaged ontent within other Outside magazine branded cycling content. The interview has disappeared.
ZFC tests chains and lubricants. Adam Kerin makes an argument about for the economic advantages of using quality chain and lubricants, and investing time and effort in chain cleaning and maintenance. He has compared the marketing of most drip lubes, wet and dry, to the marketing of “snake oil” in 19th century patent medicines, but has not claimed the marketing is illegal or fraudulent. 1American law banned false medical claims about drugs in 1906. There is no effective consumer protection law against vague claims about automotive, household or bicycle lubricants.
Episode 11 of the Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”) YouTube series complains that some lube manufacturers market lubes with claims mainly based in efficiency testing done by those manufacturers or private labs. In some instances manufacturers imply that their product performs better, or that competing products performed poorly in the manufacturers’ tests. ZFC YouTube Episode 12 criticizes most cycling journalists for reporting on lubes based on short observations of whether a bike chain appears to run quietly and shift smoothly.
ZFC has identified the manufacturer of the Muc-Off products – which have not fared well in ZFC tests – as using its own efficiency tests to disparage competitors. ZFC’s post or page Muc-Off Files Part 1 (notes of its discussions with Muc-Off in March 2022) and ZFC YouTube channel Episode 16 and Muc-Off files Part 2 (Cycling Most Dishonest Marketing?), ZFC YouTube channel Episode 20 explains Adam Kerin’s doubts about Muc-Off’s efficiency claims.
His videos mention his collection of bike tools, and his interest in maintaining his own bikes, including cleaning and repacking the bearings on his bikes! He has views on maintenance, cleaning and lubrication.
Josh Poertner, Silca Velo
Josh Poertner is an American engineer and cycling consultant. He was employed by the component manufacturer Zipp (it made wheels; it was acquired by SRAM and is now a SRAM subsidiary). His role was in part to supporting Zipp products in use by professional cycling teams. He set up a Aeromind LLC (Limited Liability Company) in Indiana which acquired the Italian Silca brand in 2013 after he left Zipp. Silca was known for pumps, tools and components. Silca Velo became a manufacturing, wholesale and retail business in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Silca has improved the pumps and tools under Josh Poertner’s leadership and started new product lines. For instance it fabricates titanium parts – shoe cleats, bottle cages, a computer mounts.
Much of the material published by Silca is informative about cycling and technology. Silca sponsors the Marginal Gains Podcast, and publishes the Silca Velo YouTube channel. Jason Smith, James Huang and Adam Kerin have been guests on the Marginal Gains Podcast. Marginal Gains has done several episodes on chain lubrication (and The Pipeline Problem in June 2021 on the supply chain/logistics backlogs in cycling parts and supplies).
As a guest or host of a technical or industry podcast, including Marginal Gains, Josh Poertner can be well informed, engaged, focused on issues, and often avoids promoting Silca’s products. In that mode, he is nerdy, well-informed about science, engineering and manufacturing, keen, sincere and helpful In that persona, he has also published many useful videos about bicycle chains on the Silca Velo YouTube channel, including:
April 2024: Stop Wasting Your CHAIN LUBE! Know the BEST Way to Apply It, correcting an earlier video about the use of Silca’s Super Secret (wax compatible chain protection fluid lube), and showing how fluid moves into a bushingless chain in a segment about 8 minutes long, starting about 7 minutes after the beginning.
Silca started to sell lubricants, including Silca NFS (the Silca branded and labelled version of the Nix Frix Shun drip lube, which was well regarded by ZFC in 2017-2018). Silca released several lubricants and cleaning products 2020-2024.
In broadcast audio and video Josh Poertner has said that the drip lubricant category is full of snake oil claims – by other manufacturers. I agree.
Josh Poertner told an anecdote about how a professional cycling team decided that red Zipp hubs were faster in the Marginal Gains podcast The Placebo Effect and Marginal Gains (Dec. 16, 2019). The placebo effect can also explain a way that a con man or a saleman sells a deal. His commercial comments can make him look and sound like a character like those played by the late Robert Preston in The Music Man and The Last Starfighter, or Ray Stohler (played by Paul Dooley), the father of the cycling-struck teen in the 1979 movie Breaking Away, a used car dealer.
Josh Poertner promotes Silca products, and makes a case for the value of those products. Silca sells high tech products or improved modern versions of cycling tools and accessories – usually high-priced stuff. Silca emphasizes that some products facilitate “marginal” gains in performance. Silva claims that its products are superior to other products. Silca justifies its prices based on its brand name, and selling the products to demanding cyclists.
When he talks about Silca chain lubrication products he finds it hard not to promote Silca. Silca behaves like other brands in talking about Silca products that it has tested without disclosing how the tests were done.
Lennard Zinn
Lennard Zinn is a mechanic and journalist who has been writing on cycling tech and repair for decades, for print and online publications including VeloNews. He has written books (old fashioned printed books) on maintenance and repair.
Lennard Zinn published an article “We went to Germany to test the most popular bicycle chains” in VeloNews in January 2020 about a visit to the Wippermann/Connex chain factory in Hagen, Germany, a chain breakage test and the company’s continuous chain-durability tests. The tests ran chains until chains were elongated 13.6 mm, which is 1% of the average chain length (calculated as 108 links on a road bike with 50/34 chainrings and an 11-29 cassette, at 12.7mm per link = 1371.6 mm. Removing the master link, 107 links x 12.7 = 1358.9 mm).
9. Efficiency Tests (Friction Facts)
Most chain and lubricant testing was private. Chain lubricant testing was rarely mentioned in academic or professional literature before Professor Spicer’s (Johns Hopkins University) paper in 2001, discussed in the Bike Chains, Part 3, (section 5 of the endless article).
Friction Facts (“FF”), began to test lubricants for efficiency in or before 2012. Friction Facts used test machines, to measure friction losses in a chain moving under load, by the methods of Professor Spicer’s team, with a lower range of error.
An overview of FF testing:
the chains were new, cleaned with warm mineral spirits in an ultrasonic cleaner for 5 minutes, and dried,
lubed by dripping fluid (i.e. drip) lubes,
tested on a machine that
puts out 250 watts at the chain wheel for a test interval of 5 minutes,
measures the power at the chain wheel
measures the power at the cog on the drive hub;
The loss of power, due to friction in the chain parts, is reported as watts.
For more, at the Ceramic Speed site, follow the link “Why Ceramic Speed” to Test Data Reports/Chain Lube Efficiency Reports.
FF’s testing did not confirm the idea that lubrication did not contribute to chain efficiency. Efficiency testing did not generate information on which lubricants extended the durability of chains. FF did not test, directly or indirectly, the “factory grease” that chain manufacturers apply to bike chains.
The FF chain testing protocol was addressed a post published by Ceramic Speed called Chain Efficiency Testing. Also, Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”, below) summarized the Friction Facts methods:
Full Tension Test … has a chain ring, a cog, a weight pulling back cog to tension chain equivalent to 250w “load”. There is a drive motor and a braking motor. A $6k usd torque sensor is mounted on shaft driving chain ring and braking the cog.
This test method is extremely precise if you have the right equipment (ie the quality of the motors, the power supplies, the torque sensors – the calibration protocol that has all components up to temp and stable, and all tests are conducted at same ambient temp and humidity).
… the measure is taken between two extremely precise torque sensors mounted on the shaft driving the chain ring and the cog. The difference between what goes in and what comes out – that’s your loss from the chain. If you are using the same calibrated control chain, then you have the loss figure for your lubricant efficiency.
… Friction Facts found that many lubricants exhibited a sudden and very high jump in loss if kept running for long periods on an FTT machine as both the top and bottom span of chain are under tension (due to tension being by way of a weight pulling cog to introduce tension).
As such for longer test runs (ie to see how lubricant performs over hundreds of kms. Possibly with contamination introduced etc at certain points) the chain – after a short (few mins) efficiency test on FTT machine would be moved to Full Load Test Machine (basically just set up as a bicycle drivetrain to allow slackening time through bottom span of drive train for lubricant to re align and reset). Long run intervals done on Full load test, then moved back to FTT for periodic outright efficiency measure.
Several FF tests were reported by Caley Fretz in VeloNews in March 2013 and February 2014. The VeloNews articles have pictures of the test machines and many details. VeloNews reported that FF:
compared lubricants on viscosity by letting some lube run along an inclined metal surface;
commented on “longevity” which meant how quickly lubricant wore off or dried up. FF said that some lubricants wore off fast. The methodology of measurement is not clear.
The VeloNews articles appear to be the only accessible reports of the efficiency tests. The articles and test results can be tracked down:
VeloNews – in print; Web copy of the relevant issues were paywalled after VeloNews was acquired by Outside;
by Ceramic Speed with Ceramic Speed’s proprietary test results on its UFO Drip v1 by Ceramic Speed. Ceramic Speed published the VeloNews/FF bar graphs of the 2014 FF results interpolating Ceramic Speed’s wax emulsion UFO Drip Chain lubes as the most efficient lubricant.
Lubricant manufacturers make claims about efficiency to market their products . Some have interpolated their products into copies of the 2013/14 FF/VeloNews bar graphs.
The best lubricants in the FF/VeloNews articles are those that show the lowest “watts expended”. A lube that tests as losing 4.5 of 250 watts is 98% efficient. According to some reports, some chains with some lubes lose may lose as little as 3 watts – i.e. are 99% efficient. These reports are anomalous, or reflect some improvements since 2014. FF tested, among others:
Article
Type
Substance/Brand
Watts lost
VeloNews 2013
immersive wax
Paraffin (ordinary retail) synthetic wax.
≅ 4.8
VeloNews 2013
motor oil
3-in-One
≅ 6.3
VeloNews 2013
“household” lubricant
3-in-One General Purpose
≅ 6.6
VeloNews 2013
bicycle chain dry lube with Teflon
Rock ‘n Roll Gold
≅5
VeloNews 2013
bicycle chain dry lube with Teflon
Finish Line Teflon dry
≅ 5.8
VeloNews 2013
bicycle chain dry lube
Pedro’s Ice Lube
≥6
VeloNews 2013
bicycle chain wet lube
ProGold ProLink
≅ 7.2
VeloNews 2014
immersive wax
Molten Speed Wax
≅ 4.6
VeloNews 2014
wax liquid
Squirt slack wax a byproduct of processing oil into paraffin
Ceramic Speed released some of its later efficiency test results to CyclingTips as above and in 2019:
Ceramic Speed was willing to share some of its recent and typically-secret data about which chains perform best with the UFO V2 race treatment process. The process for applying the secret-formula wax-based submersion lubricant (after a multi-stage cleaning process) is the same across all chain models, and so it provides a clear and precise indication of the most efficient chains.
CeramicSpeed also released some test results to ZFC,
10. Chain Wear testing (ZFC)
ZFC Method
ZFC began testing chains and lubricants for “longevity” or “durability” by testing for elongation wear in 2016. ZFC tested chains and lubricants with an industrial electric motor attached to a stationary bike trainer to measure the wear on chains run under standard conditions:
on reference chains that have been cleaned and treated with tested lubricants, or
on tested chains lubricated with a reference lubricant product.
ZFC produces data on tested lubricants in spreadsheets, reports and comparative charts. ZFC projects the cost of replacing chains into “cost to run” calculations for some chains and a couple dozen lubricants. ZFC has published a few dozen narrative reports about lubricant results as of June 2024. ZFC’s work on the effect of lubricants on longevity (wear) was featured in CyclingTips articles. The links here do not take you to the articles. The new owners of CyclingTips redirect sites to the Velo online magazine, which is on the brands held by the publishers of Outside Magazine. The articles:
The ZFC measurement methods for tests of chain and lubricant are explained in the CyclingTips article How to Check for Chain Wear and the ZFC Test Brief statement. ZFC measures chain elongation with a KMC digital caliper chain checker device that measures to .01 mm. Adam Kerin starts with a new, clean (factory grease removed with solvents), lubed chain and adds lube at intervals. The tests are run on reference test chains. These test run the chains in fixed intervals adding up to 5 x 1000 km test blocks, unless the chain fails before reaching the last blocks. The failure point is .5 mm elongation wear over an 8 link span, which is close to the standard .5% chain replacement recommended by chain and drive train component manufacturers and bike shops. The test machines and the way dirt and water are applied to chain are demonstrated in Episode 9 of the ZFC YouTube series:
Using an industrially motorised Tacx neo smart trainer to control interval load and distance, plus specific intervals that include either no added contamination, dry contamination, and wet contamination – lubricants can be properly assessed over thousands of km’s of controlled testing. Not only can we determine a lubricant’s overall performance – but we can get a break down as to how a lubricant handles different types of conditions, as well as how it stacks up vs the manufacturers claims.
Flat vs Hill Simulations – The chains will be run on a calibrated smart trainer (Tacx Flux) at alternating intervals to simulate flat riding and hill km’s. If just run on flat all the time the km’s clockup too quickly. Most riders ride up hills to some degree so having intervals where the chain is still subjected to 250w load but km’s clocking up slowly delivers an overall average speed for the test of around 29kmh (depending on what block test finishes). It also allows me to rotate through more cogs on cassette and between small and big chain rings for longer wear rates on test components. Flat sim intervals will be on cogs 4, 5 and 6 on large chain ring and be 400km long, Hill sim will be on cogs 1,2 and 3 on small chain ring and be 200 km long. The interval lengths are halved during contamination blocks to 200/100 km.
ZFC measures chain elongation after each test block:
Purpose
1
Lube
lubricant penetration into spaces where metal bears on metal
2
Dirt
performance after chain has been contaminated
3
does lube abate dirt contamination effects
4
Water
effect of water on chain already contaminated by dirt
5
does lube abate contamination effects
ZFC adds lube at fixed intervals. Lube intervals:
Re lube intervals will be every 400 km on Flat simulation intervals, and 200 km on hill simulation intervals UNLESS this rate of re-lubrication would be detrimental according to manufacturer instructions with regards to if re lubing too frequently risks gathering too high a level of contamination. If an adjustment to re lube intervals vs base levels is made this will be noted accordingly in test.
During contamination blocks, the rate of re lubrication is doubled – every 200 km of flat simulation and 100 km hill simulation – as it would be normal behaviour that riders re lubricate more often if riding in harsh conditions, as well as giving lubricants more of chance to “clean as they lube” etc. Again this will be adjusted if manufacturer instructions are clear that this rate would be detrimental and noted accordingly.
ZFC also test lubricants for single application longevity by testing lubricants on reference chains without periodic relubrication.
Adam’s Analysis
Adam Kerin discussed:
what features of a chain resist wear, and
which lubricants resist wear.
and identified:
lubricants that perform well in reducing chain wear, and
some durable chains.
ZFC regards paraffin wax, applied immersively, to be the best lubricant for protecting bike chains from wear. ZFC also regards some liquids, “chain coating” fluids (mainly paraffin emulsions or fluid paraffin precursor petroleum distillate, to be effective. Adam Kerin supports paraffin lubrication as an efficient use of time and money to apply a lubricant that that blocks dirt and water, keeping the chain clean and avoiding the effects of using oil on modern chains.
In Episode 2 of the Zero Friction Cycling YouTube series (published June 2021) Adam Kerin categorized lubricants:
“Dry” drip lubes. These use “carrier” fluids which dissipate or evaporate leaving some kind of material on the chain. Most of these lubes test poorly in wear testing;
Oily “wet” lubes. All of them lose effectiveness because they trap dirt. All of them work for a while under wet conditions but lose effectiveness as they wash out in wet conditions. A few modern products are effective for a long time under adverse conditions;
Immersion (hot) waxes. These are applied when wax is heated to liquid and penetrates the load bearing spaces where it accumulates; the wax cools to the waxy semi-solid state. The wax fills the space, which protects against contamination. The wax is the lubricant. These lubricants work for hundreds of hours but need to be redone or refreshed. Applying these takes some tools (including a slow cooker or Instant Pot), knowledge and time.
ZFC has consistently reported immersive waxes – paraffin with additives – to be the best lubricants in protecting against chain wear. Video Episode 4, Wax Part 1 provides a narrative explanation. Adam Kerin suggests that plain paraffin, in blocks or in the form of manufactured products (melting down candles) is inferior due the low manufacturing standards. He recommended modern immersively applied paraffin wax products – MSW and Silca Secret Chain Blend (and a few others). However he tested some generic paraffin in 2023-24(there are many variants on paraffin, an product of refining and chemical engineering) Paraffin is discussed in Bike Chains Part 7 in this series.
ZFC also recorded good results with some modern fluid products which he describes as wax emulsions or chain coatings. Mr. Kerin initially differentiated between “traditional” “dry” drip wax lubes and some chain coating such as Squirt & Smoove. ZFC tests showed Squirt & Smoove work well, for a time. He had reservations about Squirt and Smoove – they may not penetrate depending on conditions, and can make it hard to clean or reset a contaminated chain. ZFC tested the wax based paraffin emulsion fluids Silca Super Secret Chain Coating and Ceramic Speed UFO (new formula)(March 2021).
In an interview with Dave Rome and James Huang of CyclingTips in the CyclingTips NerdAlert podcast released March 16, 2022 “Finding the best chain lube for your needs” Adam Kerin discussed his experience with modern liquid wax products including products by Ceramic Speed UFO, Silca and Rex Black Diamond, and updated his assessment of drip lubes. He suggested that traditional dry drip lubes had large amounts of carrier and too little lubricant material to coat the chain parts properly, while modern wax-compatible chain coating products coat the chain better. Some of the chain coating liquids dry into a solid wax or paste.
ZFC largely regarded most “traditional” drip lubes, wet or dry, including the wax drips, and most oily lubes, as inferior.
Factory Grease; Cleaning; Waxing
ZFC tested chains treated with Shimano “factory grease‘ by testing Shimano chains without removing the factory grease (see lubricant spreadsheet). ZFC favours removing factory grease before the chain has been contaminated with dirt and water before putting any lubricant on a chain. ZFC says it is worth cleaning a new chain to remove factory grease. His usual routine involves a chain that is not on a bike, and includes rinsing a chain by immersing it in “mineral terps” (mineral spirits) to dissolve the grease, and agitating (shaking). (In Canada, mineral spirits are sold as such, and also available in a more refined and less odorous formulation sold as paint thinner under the Varsol brand). Adam Kerin also does a further rinse in methylated spirits (denatured alcohol) to remove the residue of the mineral spirits. The rationale and method are discussed in Episode 6 “Chain Preparation FAQ” of the ZFC YouTube series from 2 minutes 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
It the spreadsheets, which are complex:
ZFC calculates the of cost to run a lube, $ per 10,000 Km on assumptions about replacing chains and groupsets. ZFC refers to Shimano 11 speed road chains and components – Ultegra and Dura-Ace, as well as GRX. There are sheets for different conditions. I think the currency in the material from the ZFC site is $ Australian and the prices are in Australia;
The wear refers the replacement standard of .5 mm. across 8 links. Wear in Blocks 2 and 5 is cumulative;
Chain life is a calculation assuming the correct use and periodic reuse of the lubricant;
Some “Immersive” lubricants – e.g. MSW were wax pellets; in 2022 MSW changed to selling cakes of wax; – the wax is melted and the chain is immersed in hot melted wax.
ZFC reviewed several “traditional” drip lubes in 2023, including Finish Line Dry (with Teflon), Finish Line Ceramic, PrestaCycle One, Wolf Tooth WT1. In 2023-24 ZFC reviewed a light generic (sewing) machine oil.
ZFC has published videos commenting on manufacturer/retail product claims and the quality of advice from the staff at bicycle shops.
Chain Durability
ZFC has measured chain wear on new chains to test the chains for durability. As of February 2022, 31 chains had been tested. These tests are similar to the lubricant durability tests. ZFC runs the test machine(s) on chains lubricated with White Lightning Epic Ride, a low viscosity dry-drip lube. The tests are explained:
ZFC graphed the results in bar graphs showing the Km before the wear reaches the accepted replacement point of .5%. The actual total wear, over the length of the chain will vary. An ANSI 40 pitch chain has links 1/2 inch (12.7 mm.) long. A chain will normally be more that 100 links long. A road chain may have 108 links or several more; a gravel or mountain bike chain could be longer. It depends on the length of the chain stays and the diameters of the largest chain rings and cogs. A chain of 108 links is 1371.6 mm long. The replacement elongation of .5% of that chain is a fraction more than 6.8 mm. Most drop-in chain checkers measure a span of 8 to 14 links. ZFC measures a span of 8 (half) links, with a precise KMC micrometer chain checker, at two points along the chain. ZFC defines or calculates the .5% replacement point based on wear on an 8 link span as .5 mm. ZFC reports elongation in a graph “km’s to 0.5% wear – Digital Chain Wear Checker (0.5mm across 8 links)”. The Km to .5% wear graph identified a few chains that last 3,000 Km. with the test lube. The average of the 11 speed chains was just over 2,000 Km. The KMC X11 SL (the semi-premium Super Light model) was above average at about 2,500 Km. [My factory chain had been an X11, but not the Super Light model]. The KMC X11 E-bike chain reached the replacement point at about 1,700 Km. [My new chain in spring 2021 was a SRAM 1170, which tested at about 2,700 Km to .5%.
In the test brief ZFC discusses chain material, surface hardening and surface coating. On the chain testing page ZFC says:
Budget chains … will be made of lower grade steel, and will likely have no surface hardening or low friction treatments or coatings applied (or limited parts receive treatment – i.e inner plates are treated but not pins or rollers.) Premium chains you can expect will be made of higher grade of steel, manufactured to tighter tolerances, and may have numerous treatments such as chromium carbide hardened pins and/or rollers, nickel plating or titanium nitride plating on inner/ outer plates, and again a variety of low friction coatings applied to some or all working parts of the chain.
It is expected that premium chains will be lower friction due to a number of factors (design, manufacturing, low friction coatings), and if have had surface hardening treatments, should be longer lasting.
Adam Kerin makes observations of chains during ZFC’s businesses of preparing chains, and testing – e.g. whether lube is expelled from the chain, and the sounds the chain makes as the test blocks proceed. Some observations are based on measurements. He consults with engineers in the cycling lubricant and the chain manufacturing businesses and mechanics and riders. He employs a model or idea of what happens in a moving chain. He says chain wear is not linear and does not proceed at a uniform pace – a chain has tipping points. He is concerned with whether a lubricant penetrates the spaces where lubricant is need, how well it is distributed, and with when and how contamination becomes distributed. The observations are in the narrative reports and web material, or in occasional cumulative “key learnings” papers (May 2019 paper; and updated v. 2.3a paper). His 2022 summary starts with these points:
Do not use wet lubricants if you ride off road.
Remove factory grease before installing or using a chain.
Immersive waxing is the lowest wear option
If you ride in wet weather, you must reset contamination in chain.
We now have some amazingly long lasting lubricants.
Do not underestimate the drivetrain cost to run difference between lubricants.
Adam Kerin recorded a YouTube Video Episode 18 Key Learnings from Lubricant Testing published on the ZFC channel May 8, 2022. It is nearly an hour long. He also consolidated his updates in update 2.3a, including notes on e-bike requirements.
Chain strength
ZFC uses a load cell device by LoadCell Supplies to test chains for tensile strength. As of February 2022 ZFC has published results on 16 chains. The machine broke down and the tests were paused.
For a few years, MSW was manufacturer of the principal paraffin bike chain lubrication product. Competitors innovated in engineering, manufacturing and marketing lubricants and chain cleaning products 2017-2023, inspiring innovation by MSW:
Ceramic Speed launched its UFO fluid chain lubricant product in 2017;
Silca Velo released a hot wax, a wax chain coating, and Synergetic, an oil based (wet) drip lubricant in 2020 and 2021;
Ceramic Speed released an new version of UFO Drip in 2021;
In 2021-22, Molten Speed Wax began to market and sell a new formula;
In 2023 Silca released a new version of its hot wax;
Rex released Black Diamond chain lubricant fluid and race powder in 2022;
Other manufacturers launched other immersive wax products and appliances;
Silca Velo and Ceramic Speed released chain cleaning fluid chemicals
Silca
Immersive Wax, and Chain Coating Fluid
Silca Velo’s immersive wax product, Silca Secret Chain Blend, became a top lubricant in ZFC lubricant wear tests. Its chain coating drip fluid wax Silca Super Secret Chain Coating, is superior. Its prices are higher than the prices of competing lubes but less expensive than several lubes sold as professional grade (racing) lubes.
Josh Poertner said in videos that Silca had been making paraffin wax pellets for a professional cycling team(s) for a few years, and that Silca put the product into production for retail sale as Silca Secret Chain Blend, released in June 2020. Hot Wax X was released in 2022. Silca followed up with advice videos and promotional videos. Silca did not claim, at first, advantages over other immersive waxes. The first mover in modern immersive wax production had been Molten Speed Wax. MSW and Silca Secret Blend paraffin wax products have to be melted. Each has some additives. Immersive wax was seen as a difficult way of lubricating chains when Silca brought its Secret Chain Blend to market. Silca’s entry to the market inspired MSW to improve its formula and change its presentation from pellets to solid pucks or disks. The sales of wax products have not been reported or published.
Silca Super Secret Chain chain coating fluid lube was announced in April 2020. In some ways, it competes with Ceramic Speed UFO Drip and with a few liquids made from paraffin precursor oils, or natural oils:
Squirt,
Smoove,
Effetto Mariposa Flower Power.
Silca says its Super Secret Chain chain coating fluid lube uses the the same paraffin as its hot wax Secret Chain Blend, with water and alcohol to make the product a low viscosity fluid; the fluid it is supposed to dry out and remain in place as a lubricant wax. The marketing is that this is as good as hot wax, and easier to apply. The label on the containers advises the product should be use on an “ultra clean” chain, new or used. This means, after reviewing Silca’s videos and podcasts, a chain with factory grease and residues of old lubricant and dirt removed – deep cleaned with solvents with the chain off the bike. The reviewer at Road.cc noted this, and some problems with the application of this lube in a review posted in October 2020. It is runny – most of it runs off the chain at the moment of application. I found this to be true.
Silca Velo suggests Super Secret Chain Coating be left for 24 hours after application to let the lube penetrate and dry into a wax chain coating. Silca’s product release information about Super Secret Chain Coating did not discuss the conditions limiting the use of this product – although more information was published by Silca.
Josh Poertner answered questions comparing Silca Secret Chain Blend, Super Secret Chain coating and Synergetic in March 2021 in the Marginal Gains channel video “Choosing the Best Chain Lube“. He said that Super Secret Chain coating had to be left for 12 to 24 hours after application, before use. Mr. Poertner said that a user planning a long ride in dirty or wet conditions would choose, among the Silca products, the wet lube Synergetic. (Further discussion of using Super Secret Chain Coating as a wax-compatible drip lube to refresh or top up immersion wax on a chain in Bike Chains 7 in this series).
Josh Poertner has not, as of August 18, 2024, directly attacked the new Finish Line hot waxes with their microspheres, although his discussions of lubrication of circular surfaces seem to criticize the idea that such particles can do what the Finish Line marketing says they do.
However, in a video published August 16, 2024 promoting more Silca custom wax “chips” he claimed that Silca’s Super Secret (Hot) Wax was the best lubricant in a ZFC test when ZFC has not made that call.
Synergetic drip lube
Silca announced Synergetic wet lube in November 2020. Synergetic superceded Silca NFS, which had been on the market as Silca’s wet drip in 2018. (Silca NFS had been endorsed by Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling in his discussions with Dave Rome of CyclingTips for the March 2018 Seeking the Holy Grail article). Mr. Poertner said that Silca Velo had been unable to obain some ingredients and decided to drop Silca NFS and offer a new product.
Silca’s Synergetic wet lube was discussed in the a 22 minute Silca Velo YouTube video November 17, 2020 Announcing Synergetic Web Lube. The video shows the use of an abrasion testing machine with Synergetic and with Silca’s previous web lube, NFS. Silca has done other videos with the device to claim the superiority of Synergetic to Pro-Gold drip lubes and the superiority of Silca’s Synerg-E (e-bike) wet lube. The development of Synergetic was discussed in the Silca Marginal Gains podcast Lubes & Chains & Marginal Gains, November 30, 2020. The dominant theory has been that there must be enough oil on/in the chain to form a durable liquid barrier film on the surfaces where metal bears on metal and can cause wear. The video shows the wear that occurs where the oil does does not adequately coat the metal. For bicycle chain and other roller chains, this is generally believed to be due to the failure of the lubricant to penetrate or the displacement or dissipation of the lubricant.
In the podcast, Mr. Poertner referred to:
racing car motor oils, Polyalphaolefin (“PAO”) and other “synthetic” base stocks,
high quality type 5 (100% PAO) – the original Mobil 1 synthetic lubricating oil,
the invention of hydro-cracked synthetic oil,
litigation between Mobil and Castrol and
changes in the motor oil industry.
He mentions Silca’s testing and comparison of Mobil 1 with Silca’s NFS wet lube product and the new Synergetic wet lube. The podcast discusses the additives that Silca uses. Wear testing establishes that Silca wet lubes with zinc dialkyldithiophosphates and tungsten disulfide are better than other wet bike chain lubes. Mr. Poertner said that Synergetic is formulated with a high quality synthetic motor oil as a base oil. Silca contends this product coats the chain parts with lubricating tribofilm(s). The application of this product requires a film of oil to supply more additives to maintain the tribofilm, and as lubricant.
Silca initially used dripper bottles with pharmaceutical dripper tips to dispense small drops on rollers, for Synergetic. This is useful in aiming the drops at the edge of the rollers, and limiting the flow to a few drops,with little waste . Silca later dropped that feature and started to use conventional dripper bottles.
In November 2021 Silca released its Synerg-E e-bike lube which is like Synergetic, with an additional “tackifier” additive and/or calcium sulfate to enhance adhesion to the chain.
Marketing
Silca’s marketing has some features:
Silca, like Ceramic Speed, has used a bar graph that looks like the Friction Facts or VeloNews friction efficiency graphs, with its products interpolated;
The Marginal Gains episode on the Silca Secret Chain Blend immersive wax pellets show an Instant Pot, the Silca sous vide bag package, and a non-contact infrared thermometer. These will interest consumers with spare cash and a yen for conspicuous consumption.
Silca’s material about Synergetic emphasized the ease of use and minimizes the time and effort of cleaning chains lubed with the product. Josh Poertner, in the 22 minute Silca Velo channel (YouTube) video November 17, 2020 Announcing Synergetic Web Lube used a blue machine that he calles a Timken machine, an ASTM machine and an ASTM G77 machine. The manufacturer is not named; it may have been made by the American Timken Company.
The videos shows the use of the blue machine with Silca products and with some other drip lubes:
Lubricant Showdown #2 between Silca Synergetic and ProGold Prolink and Xtreme lubes;
Lubricant Showdown 3 between Silca Synergetic and White Lightning Clean Ride and Epic Ride .
The machine is not said to be used to test bike chain components on the ASTM G77 standard. The machine is used for product demonstrations to criticize other drip lubricants. Based on FF and ZFC tests, the drip lubricants were not efficient or efficatious to reduce chain wear:
ProGold
FF had showed around 7 watts
ZFC does not show any testing of ProGold products;
White Lightning
Clean Ride – FF had showed around 6 watts, and
Epic Ride – FF had showed 9 watts; it had failed ZFC testing.
The videos shows the wear that occurs where or when lubricant film does does not adequately coat. The amount of lubricant applied or “flung” is not measured; no time is allowed for distributing or settling the lubricant. The ring and pin arrangement is different than the interior spaces of bike chains. A surface area of the machine ring is much larger than the surface area of bike chain pin or the interior surface of roller. The discussion of lubricant being flung seems to be a distraction, given a ring powered by an electric motor at speed will fling any liquid on the surface.
The length of the wear marks are noted and in the videos is measured. The wear marks left by the machine on pins lubricated by Synergetic were small compared to the wear marks made by other products,. In the ProGold/Synergetic video, Mr. Poertner says that he surprized by how small the wear marks left on pin after the ProGold sessions are, implying he expected larger marks. In the White Lightning/Synergetic video, Mr. Poertner showed how rapidly and badly the sample wore when the ring and the sample pin were wetted with the White Lightning products.A failure of a lubricant to form a film on on the moving or load-bearing surfaces in a roller chain can be due to the failure of the lubricant to penetrate into the chain between the moving metal surfaces, or the displacement or dissipation of the lubricant. Some products – e.g. Silca Velo’s Synergetic- use an automotive motor oil base oil and additives that coat the chain parts with metal lubricating tribofilm(s). Mr. Poertner said that the lubricating ingredients in White Lightning and Finish Line products were diluted in a carrier fluid and did not lubricate effectively, which is are fair points for discussion and comment.
In the White Lightning video Mr. Poertner said the White Lighting products and some Finish Line products contained small amount of PFAS “forever chemical” additives. The environmental accusation apparently is that the products contain Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and persistant organic pollutants. White Lightning markets Clean Ride as a wax lube, and Epic Ride as made of “non-petroleum based synthetic oils”. White Lightning does not use the Teflon™ or claim that its product contains Teflon. It does not appear that White Lightning says it contains PFTE.
When ZFC tested White Lightning products, the company did not respond to ZFC questions about its marketing claims for its products or about its testing processes.
I did not believe that the White Lightning and Finish Line products were good or good value before I saw these videos. In those videos, I saw the the marketing persona of Josh Poertner, more than his engineer persona.
More Innovation
Silca released”Ultimate Chain Stripper + Wax Prep.” in 2023, which competes with Ceramic Speed UFO Drivetrain Clean. Both are innovative, and different than mineral spirit solvents. Both are supposed to be biodegradaable, perhaps avoiding the enviromental and regulatory problems of disposing of used solvents and petroleum products. Both are expensive.
Other manufacturers entered the immersive paraffin wax market in 2022 & 2023:
Rex wax lubes;
CycloWax in Belgium introduced CycloWax, an immersive wax, and dedicated wax pot.
In early 2024 Silca released:
an additive wax to mix with other hot waxes to strip factory grease on a new chain in a one-step process, and
a dedicated wax pot with high temperature settings to melt the new additive wax and remove factory grease and wax a new chain in a single operation.
In August 2024 Silva began to market “chips” of waxes to alter the efficiency and durability of its hot melt wax products, and began to claim that its wax products had been the best tested by ZFC. ZFC had not published review of Hot Wax X, and listed the Silca immersive Waxes near the top of its tested and partially tested products but not at the top of the list.
There were announcements in early 2024 that major manufacturers in the drip lube industry were planning to release immersive waxes, chain coating fluids, and improved drip lubes. By July 2024 Finish Line had launched an immersive paraffin product called Halo. It was reported to have been failing in the first block of ZFC wear tests – to be as bad as Muc-Off and Finish Line drip lubes, relying on marketing and economic dominance of the relevant channels of distribution and sale of products.
Prepared chains
Shops including MSpeedwax, and ZFC sell and ship new chains, with factory grease removed, waxed with a branded immersion wax, ready for use. A buyer can test the riding a waxed chain. The chains will have to regularly reset by users by successive immersions. If the rider is not happy with the paraffin routine, the paraffin washes out and the user can dry the chain and use it with the user’s lube of choice.
Some vendors, e.g. Silca Velo, offered to provide a chain that has been prepared and polished. The theory is that a shop can polish or treat the metal on the inside of a chain that has been rivetted together by suspending diamond fragments in a lubricant to create a paste or slurry – which is removed by throrough cleaning before the chain is lubricated.
12. Choices
Many or most modern chains are not durable.
A few lubricants have been shown to help make chains last longer. The main options for a user or rider, involve recurring effort and costs:
Monitor chain wear and
replace the chain every few thousand Km., or
buy and use a better chain to replace the chain supplied by the manufacturer;
Keep the chain clean and lubricated; and
Use better lubricant.
Bicycle chain lubricants are chemically engineered petroleum products. Cleaning a chain involves other chemically engineered products, often solvents. Most lubricants and solvents are chemically engineered petroleum products. The main lubricant choices:
immersive paraffin waxes:
Manufactured pucks or blocks of processed paraffin and additives, including:
Molten Speed Wax,
Silca Secret Chain Blend,
other products developed by competing manufacturers – e.g. Rex, and
paraffin that some consumers have access to (blocks, candles etc.);
drip (including “wet” and “dry”) lubes,
Most are not very good:
expensive products from vendors that market widely and aggressively e.g. Muc-Off;
apprarently inexpensive products by brands including White Lightning, Finish Line, WD-40, Muc-Off, etc. ;
A few are effecive but fairly expensive e.g. Silca Synergetic;
chain coating or “wax-compatible” fluid waxes,
Ceramic Speed UFO;
Silca Super Secret Chain Coating;
Tru-Tension Tungsten All-Weather;
Smoove;
Squirt;
other innovators;
A few other fluid lubricants – e.g. Effeto Mariposa Flower Power.
Immersive waxing involves deep cleaning a chain to remove factory grease, and regular immersions in heated (“hot”) wax. Deep cleaning is discussed in Bike Chains 5. The repeated immersions involve a minor amount of time. The proprietary paraffin waxes are available from the manufacturers and from some bicycle supply companies:
MSpeedwax in Shoreview (St. Paul) Minnesota ships its Molten Speed Wax (“MSW”). MSpeedwax also is the American distributor of YBN chains and master links. MSW has been available from online retailers in the USA, although online retailers had product shortages in 2022;
Silca Velo in Indianapolis, Indiana in the USA, ships its Secret Chain Blend and other lubricants;
As of April 2023, Rex Black Diamond immersive wax was on the market .
Zero Friction Cycling, in Adelaide Australia sells Molten Speed Wax, Silca Secret Chain Blend and other lubricants. ZFC encourages consumers outside Australia to order lubricants from the manufacturers or local vendors where feasible to avoid the shipping costs for orders that involve shipping product from Australia. MSW and ZFC sell chain, including YBN chains and some other merchandise.
Drip lubes are easy to apply. The chain has to be cleaned often, and the chain wears in spite of cleaning and lubrication.
Chain coating fluids are also applied by dripping but require extra effort and time:
Some (Silca Super Secret Chain Coating, Ceramic Speed UFO Drip), perhaps all these fluids, require deep cleaning the chain to remove factory grease. The grease occupies the spaces that should be lubricated, and affects the operation of the lubricant.
These fluids have to be refreshed, and the chains have to be cleaned.
Chain coating fluid waxes require a a period of at least a few hours after application(the chain has to have time to dry).
