Bike Chains, Part 8

Table of Contents

An endless post

This is part 8 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.

Part/Post & LinkS.Topics
1. Chain WearMy discovery of wear Issues
1Safety Bicycles
— History
— Variety
— Manufactured Industrially
— Bike Brands
— Shops or Stores
— Mechanics
2Bike knowledge sources, Internet
3Bike Chains
2. Roller Chain4Chain Drive
3. Lubrication5Lubrication Theory
6Petroleum
4. Lubricants
7Fluid Lubricants
— Motor Oil
— Drip Lubes
— Engineered
— Wet and Dry marketing
— Additives
8People and Projects
9Lubricant Efficiency Tests
10Wear tests – chains & lubricants
11Innovation 2022-24
12Consumers’ options
5. Cleaning13Cleaning
14Deep Cleaning with Solvents
15New Products
6. Durability16Modern Chains
17Durable Chain
7. Paraffin 18Paraffin Wax
19Method
20Wax-compatible Drip Lubes
8. Learnings
for Make Benefit		Assortment of Notes

Satisficing

At one time, the problem of what was good enough could be answered with a slogan such as “close enough for government work” or “The Best is the enemy of the good“. The term satifisficing, invented by the economist Herbert Simon, defines a condition believed to be good enough, even if it is not entirely optimal (the best). It is used by project managers, economists, psychologists and even by philosophers.

Henry Ford is reported to have said in 1909 of the Ford Model T: “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” The Ford Model T, produced from 1908 to 1927 cheap, mass-produced, powered by an internal combusion engine, was the most popular automobile in the world. At first the cheap mass produced automobile was a marvel. Later, automobiles had to be faster, safer, more efficient, more aerodynamic, prettier, and produce less harmful emissions, and became very expensive. Bicycles have become more complex and expensive too.

Bike manufacturers make bikes that are better for some surfaces and conditions, and encourage consumers to buy and use multiple bikes. Whether a bike or a component is the best available for a rider may be unknowable until a rider rides it a lot, and has encountered road conditions and weather. There are imperfect aspects to owning and maintaining a bicycle. The manufacturer’s team made decisions about design features and components. They aimed to make a bike that can be sold profitably to many cyclists. The manufacturer of my Cannondale Topstone gravel bike used a mediocre, KMC chain to make an affordable bike. SRAM PC chains are more expensive, but mediocre too.

Chain Size

Shifting problems can also be caused by the shifters, the derailleurs, the chain, sloppy execution by me, or bad karma. Shifting problems are often blamed on incorrect alignment of the rear derailler pulleys with the cassette cogs.

I looked at my bike at rest and on a repair stand many times, but not at the position of the rear derailleur pulleys when the chain was on the large chain ring and largest rear cog, or the smallest chain ring and the smallest cog. I avoided pedalling in those combinations. Generally if I was going to climb, I would be on the small chain ring. A few times, I would get into the smaller rear cogs on the small chain ring which lead to a rattle or rumble sound. I could not see what was happening as my legs were pumping, I was looking where I was going, and the bike was at speed. I thought the chain, nearing its outer position on the cassette, with the front derailleur in the inboard (small chain ring) position was starting to rub the outer plate of the front derailleur.

The main way of sizing a chain in Sheldon Brown’s Bicycle Technical Info page in the section Chain Length in the article on derailleur adjustment ensures the chain is long enough to run in the largest combination of the diameters of the chain wheel and cassette cogs. That method and the complementary check of chain tension at the other extreme are shown in the Park Tool article Chain Length Sizing and video How to Size a Chain and in the Global Cycling Network’s Dan Lloyd video How to Calculate the Correct Chain Length.

In February 2022 after I had broken the derailleur hanger, and had taken the bike to a mechanic for replacement of the rear derailleur cable. The mechanic had made the adjustments to the cable barrel to match the cogs, and the derailleur positions to the shifter indexing. The bike had a new rear derailleur cable, properly installed and adjusted. I looked at the rear derailleur pulleys in both exteme positions.The derailleur pulleys had some room to go further when the chain was on the large chain ring and largest rear cog, and there was slack in the bottom span of the chain when the chain was on the smallest chain ring and the smallest cog.

The chain was a full link (25.4 mm.) too long. I had sized the new SRAM chain in 2021 against the KMC chain on the bike, which had been new when I bought the bike. The KMC chain was not replaced when I had replaced the original Shimano cassette with a SRAM cassette in the winter of 2019-20.

I sized my new chains in 2022 against the resized SRAM chain – one full link less. I operated the YBN chains with fresh paraffin lubrication. Other problems with the derailleur and cable had been addressed by a mechanic as I said above. The chains shifted without skipping the shift or jumping a cog when I tap a shifter lever.

YBN SLA-110 or YBN SLA-1100

YBN is a brand of YABAN Chain Industrial Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of steel products based in Taiwan founded in 1989. SLA is used to describe chains made with “Special Lubricating Aid”, a coating described as “NI-PTFE blend”.

The Yaban site, in late 2023, discusses the SLA-110 chain. An SLA-110 chain has YBN’s SL+ feature, a laser cutaway section on the inner and outer plate. YBN claimed 8,000 Km life on its SLA-110 11 speed chains, which it describes:

the SLA110 comes standard with laser cutouts and hollow pins to reduce weight; DHA chromium hardening to increase service life (up to 8000 kilometers); and Ni-PTFE treatment to reduce friction and drivetrain noise. Add in chamfered plates for precise shifting

…

Ti-Nitride treatment for durability / … / Flat-step riveting for pin strength exceeding 350kgf / Salt spray test: 500 hours / Arc guide block design for chain stability / Thin plate construction for shift accuracy / Size: 1/2″ X 11/128″ / Pin length: 5.5mm / Total number of links: 116 / For road and off road use

YBN manufactured, at one time, SLA-1110 chains. Molten Speed Wax, the US dealer for YBN had a stock of SLA-1110 chains. It had some with the Black Ti Nitride coating in 2022, and still has some in other colours in late 2023. MSW’s description of the SLA-1100:

Blue collar workhorse chain for training or racing

  • Compatible with all 11sp drivetrains
  • Ni-PTFE treatment for reduced friction and noise
  • DHA chromium hardened pins and rollers for increased longevity
  • Solid chain plates for maximum strength and stiffness High-quality nickel plating for durability and rust prevention

Dave Rome in the Waxing Endless FAQ at CycingTips 1online but paywalled in 2023, noted that Adam Kerin suggested an immersion waxed YBN SLA chain can be run for 15,000 Km., waxed with Molten Speed Wax (proprietary paraffin blend), if the wax is refreshed at intervals of about 300 Km. The article did/does not distinguish between SLA-110 and SLA-1110 chains.

In February 2022 I ordered a YBN SLA chain with Black Ti-Nitride coating from Molten Speed Wax, and a few pounds of MSW. The production and delivery of Molten Speed Wax in early 2022 was delayed by supply chain and logistic issues. They shipped me a pre-waxed chain, but no wax. I got the chain just after I had replaced a broken rear derailleur hanger, and had the bike serviced (replace the cable to the rear derailleur tuning the setting of the rear derailleur). It was in bubble wrap and a sealed plastic bag. It lacked cutaway sections on the inner and outer plates. It was an SLA-1110.

I did not careful clean the lube/dirt gunk out of the cassette or scrub the chain wheels. I put the new chain on the bike. I ran that chain (the black one) for 557 km, which is far longer than ZFC advised.

I am not sure what happened. I got the chain I ordered. It was better than the chain it replaced. I ordered and installed a second waxed chain. I received an SLA-110. I stopped running the second chain it at 472 km. At that point I installed a new SRAM chain (I called it SRAM ’22 in my notes) lubricated with Silca Synergetic.

When I got some Molten Speed Wax in May 2022 I waxed the two YBN SLA chains. I began to run those SLA chains. I did made efforts to deep clean them with solvent a few times.

My YBN SLA 1100 chain lasted about 5,000 Km before it reached replaceable wear in September 2023. My second YBN SLA-110 chain at just over 5,700 Km, as of March, 2024, has not reached replaceable wear.My decisions to to run those YBN chains as long as I did, and some bad cleaning practices contributed to chain wear.

Lube Directions

Deep cleaning with solvents (see Bike Chains 5) was a niche practice for users who melt paraffin and immersively wax their chains.

I tried to run my new ’21 SRAM chain with a few drip lubes in 2021:

  • factory grease for a couple of rides. This confirmed to my satifisfaction that factory grease is not a lubricant.
  • Dupont Multi-Use with Teflon. The chain ran better but was noisy. This was enough to satisfy me that this household lubricant should not be used as chain lube.
  • Silca Velo’s Super Secret Chain Coating fluid wax product. It was very runny. Most ran off the chain in spite of my applying it the way Silca Velo’s Ask the Expert Video showed. The video made the point that the fluid should be dripped on the chain with the chain cross-chained (large-large combination) and left to penetrate and dry. Silca Velo also recommended or required deep cleaning a new chain with a direction to use the product on an “Ultra Clean” chain. I did not understand that Silca meant “remove factory grease with solvent” when I started to use Silca Super Secret Chain Coating in 2021.

MSpeedwax, Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling and Dave Rome of CyclingTips recommend deep cleaning to remove factory grease from any chain before applying any lubricant. After using the ’21 SRAM chain a for a few thousand Km. in the summer and fall, early in the wet Cascadian winter, I finally deep cleaned the chain, and applied Silca Velo’s wet lube Synergetic. The solvent showed opaque clouds of detergant, wax, water and dissolved grease.

The chain ran silently on the wet lube, but it gathered dirt. Eventually, the chain passed the replacement point, according to the gauge I used. The chain wore in about 5,000 Km. of riding which was better than I expected after the fiasco with Super Secret Chain coating and factory lube.

I bought a waxed YBN SLA chain from Molten Speed Wax in February 2022.. I ordered some bags of MSW wax pellets. In February 2022 MSW was taking orders for shipment of wax at the end of April. The chain arrived in March, and I tried it. After I passed about 300 Km., I topped up the wax on the chain with Silca Super Secret Chain Coating. I did this about 8 AM on a day I rode at noon. It left the chain making some noise. Silca recommends leaving this product for 24 hours to penetrate and dry. I applied more Super Secret Chain Coating on a rest day, and left it for a day. The fluid dries out, and leaves a dry wax. The chain ran better and was good for a few more rides. Super Secret Chain Coating works to top up hot wax applied to a clean chain.

The directions on the Super Secret Chain coating drip bottle and jar, and the promotional material do not tell the whole story. Silca Velo, unlike the larger lube makers, has product directions and resources on the Web.

Derailleur adjustment

A new cable will stretch after time on the bike and shifts. The cables hold the derailleur against springs.

The shifts on a rear derailleur on a single click of an indexed shift are small. Cable stretching can result in a click moving the pulleys too little or too far. The barrel adjuster(s) (I have one adjuster at the derailleur end of the cable to a Shimano 105) make tiny changes in response to a quarter or half turn of the barrel It was necessary to watch YouTube (Park Tool’s 16 minute rear derailleur adjustment) and experiment to learn the skill.

Wet lubes and paraffin don’t mix

Wet lubes adhere to all the metal surfaces they touch including the other drive train componments: chain rings, cassette cogs and rear derailleur jockey wheels. A rider switching to paraffin must clean the drive train to remove wet lube and contaminants adhering to the lube. It is not possible to avoid cleaning the drive train. The wet lube, and dirt adhering to the wet lube adhering to drive train components, will affect the paraffin. It may not happen instantly but it will make the chain squeaky or creaky again

The components must be down to bare metal or plastic. The components don’t have to be washed in solvent to the same standard as the roller chain.

Techno-optimism: Carbon fiber

Carbon fiber composites are used to manufacture bike frames, forks, wheel rims, cranks and handlebars. CyclingTips explained the machinery and processes for mechanics, riders and others not involved with manufacturing

Carbon fibers are a chemically engineered product. Short fibers can be manufactured, spun, weaved and cut into threads, ribbons and sheets. The threads are laid in forms and coated and held together with baked resins and plastics produce long pieces of high modulus (stiff), flexible plastic, known as carbon composite, carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers or carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (“CFRP’). Some industries need CFRP made to high specifications (e.g. aircaft components). The sporting good industries are less rigorous, and the rejection and waste ratio of CFRP material is lower.

There is one company in the world, as of late April 2022, Carbon Fiber Recycling in Tazewell, Tennessee, USA that recycles carbon fiber from composite scrap. CyclingTips NerdAlert podcast covered the company in the April 28, 2022 episode. A composite item has to be shredded, and metals removed. The CFRP is pyrolized. The necessary heat is initially supplied with natural gas, which contains methane. Baking the plastic produces more methane. The methane is collected and use to fuel the process. The carbon fiber is chopped and can be reused. Silca Velo was the first cycling company to use recycled carbon fiber. It uses the fibers to make a tubeless tire sealant. Carbon Fiber Recycling hopes to license its patents, and suggests that recycled carbon fiber can be used to manufacture durable small components.

Manufacturing carbon fibers, baking them into CFRP, and breaking down CFRP burn fossil fuels and produce products of combustion. The bike industries have been using CFRP to replace metal but have not stopped using fossil fuels to make carbon fibers and CFRP.

Manufacturers of bikes, components and lubricants talk around the fact that bikes are manufactured and maintained with industrially manufactured materials and maintained with industrially manufactured petrochemical lubricants, solvents and detergents.

The Way We Eat Now

The Way We Eat Now, a 2019 book by British writer Bee Wilson discusses paradoxes of food in the modern world: the success of farmers in growing enough food to feed the world, the inequalities of access to food, and the prevalence of unhealthy eating. Ms. Wilson does not identify herself as a chef, biologist, ecomomist or food scientist. She approaches food as a consumer, cook, parent and journalist.

The book suggests that individuals might spend more time cooking and eat more vegetables, apparently endorsing Michael Pollan’s advice to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” and much of what Michael Pollan wrote in his books In Defence of Food (2008) and The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006). The book makes a stronger argument about the problems of modern food.

The prevalance of unhealthy food was discussed in this excerpt or digest from the book:

What we eat now is a greater cause of disease and death in the world than either tobacco or alcohol. In 2015 around 7 million people died from tobacco smoke, and 2.75 million from causes related to alcohol, but 12m deaths could be attributed to “dietary risks” such as diets low in vegetables, nuts and seafood or diets high in processed meats and sugary drinks. This is paradoxical and sad, because good food – good in every sense, from flavour to nutrition – used to be the test by which we judged the quality of life. A good life without good food should be a logical impossibility.

….

Almost every country in the world has experienced radical changes to its patterns of eating over the past five, 10 and 50 years. For a long time, nutritionists have held up the “Mediterranean diet” as a healthy model for people in all countries to follow. But recent reports from the World Health Organisation suggest that even in Spain, Italy and Crete, most children no longer eat anything like a “Mediterranean diet” rich in olive oil and fish and tomatoes. These Mediterranean children, who are, as of 2017, among the most overweight in Europe, now drink sugary colas and eat packaged snack foods and have lost the taste for fish and olive oil. In every continent, there has been a common set of changes from savoury foods to sweet ones, from meals to snacks, dinners cooked at home to meals eaten out, or takeaways.

….

For most people across the world, life is getting better but diets are getting worse. This is the bittersweet dilemma of eating in our times. Unhealthy food, eaten in a hurry, seems to be the price we pay for living in liberated modern societies.

Bee Wilson, March 16, 2019, Good Enough to Eat, the Guardian

The author appears to agree that Green Revolution succeeded in breeding growing plants that put calories in mouths, but observes that agriculture failed to add to the quality of diet of most humans. She appears to agree with the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security that food security means that “all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life”, and that the Green Revolution did not provide humans with food security. She does not attempt to explain how the Green Revolution changed the way that food is purchased by food processing companies and sold in markets of the world or discuss the issue in terms of agricultural economics.

The Way We Eat Now refers to the NOVA food classification system suggested by Carlos Monteiro, with his team at the Center for Epidemiological Research in Nutrition and Health at the University of São Paulo, Brazil in the 2009 paper “Nutrition and health. The issue is not food, nor nutrients, so much as processing” in the journal Public Health Nutrition. The NOVA system classifies many foods as ultra-processed.

In a 2015 article, Ms. Wilson discussed her thoughts on the way food is discussed:

It’s easy to be negative about this: much easier to criticise the overweight two thirds of the country than observe the smaller proportion who are in, well, proportion. “What they should be telling us,” she insists, “is that one third of the population, assuming they are not anorexic, bulimic or compulsive exercisers, have positive eating habits which means that eating well is a pleasurable thing.” We’ve become moralistic about food and size, waging war with words. “It’s not ‘naughty’ or ‘virtuous’. It’s food,” Bee fumes. “Painting chocolate as naughty and salad as virtuous just enforces the dualism in which salad is unpleasant and sweet things, frankly, sound like way more fun.”

Changing the lingo is just one part of the battle; changing attitudes is the objective. A good starting point, Bee suggests, is to remind ourselves that as omnivores, eating has long been a complex thing. “We don’t have an instinct that tells us what to eat,” she says. “We have to educate ourselves. It’s not a moral thing. It’s a skill we learn.” When people say it’s easy to lose weight—move more and eat less—it is not just insensitive, but patronising. “It’s not about intelligence. It’s about education.”

In Scandinavia they’ve tried diet interventions at various ages: using cooking workshops and meal planning, they’ve introduced both young and old to new tastes. Projects carried out in Finland proved that children’s tastebuds can be broadened considerably, and in Sweden even 70-year-olds were taught to like vegetables eventually. “It’s not hopeless at any age.” On the other hand, she reminds me “there are plenty of highly intelligent people who haven’t worked out how to stop when they’re full.”

Clare Finney, June 29, 2015, “It’s not ‘naughty’. It’s not ‘virtuous’. It’s food.” in the Market Life section of online magazine of the Southwark Borough Market, archived at the Wayback Machine

Ms. Wilson critiicizes sweetened soft drinks – ultra-processed compounds of water, dissolved sweetener, and flavourings. The majority are sweetened with sugar. The brain registers that the liquid quenches thirst, but does not register that the person has consumed enough sugars to provide energy for hours of activity. In the absence of activity, the body converts the glucose to fat. She also says:

The occasional bowl of instant ramen noodles or frosted cereal is no cause for panic. But when ultra-processed foods start to form the bulk of what whole populations eat on any given day, we are in new and disturbing territory for human nutrition. More than half of the calorie intake in the US – 57.9% – now consists of ultra-processed food, and the UK is not far behind, with a diet that is around 50.4% ultra-processed. The fastest growing ingredient in global diets is not sugar, as I’d always presumed, but refined vegetable oils such as soybean oil, which are a common ingredient in many fast and processed foods, and which have added more calories to what we eat over the past 50 years than any other food group, by a wide margin.

Bee Wilson, March 16, 2019, Good Enough to Eat, the Guardian

Ms. Wilson criticizes fad diets including food promoted by the inventors and supporters of “clean eating”, meal replacement fluids and powders (e.g. Soylent, Huel,). She thinks many energy bars and gels are largely candy snacks (ultra-processed), dressed up as special foods with benefits for some people (e.g. athletes competing in endurance sports). Her view of protein bars is similiar. She discusses the growth of prepared food – whether prepared in haute cuisine restraurants or fast food shops. The food is appealing and plentiful but not nutritious.

She also refers to psychological issues influencing how humans make decisions about buying and consuming food.

Cooking has been socially deprecated. Cooking skills and home economics are not part of the education of children. Nutritious foods are hard to identify, inconvenient, or not available in grocery stores. At the same time ultra processed food is cheap, convenient, strongly flavoured and available anywhere in the world. The book supports the campaigns to regulate the marketing and sale of soft drinks (e.g. the campaigns discussed in the writing of Marion Nestle). In part, this reinforces comments of Michael Moss, the author of Salt Sugar, Fat (2013) about modern food, poor public health policy and advice on diet, the biases and failures of so-called food science in America, calories and obesity.

Another of Ms. Wilson’s criticisms of the food supply and processing industries is that they buy and sell ony a few varietals of several fruits and vegetables, usually based on durability, size and availability in bulk rather than nutrition or taste. The Cavendish banana is ubiquitous, often used to sweeten ultra-processed grain “breakfast”cereals. It is not a nutritious fruit. Some vegetables – e.g. most winter squashes (or all squashes) – are water in a plant fibre shell, and are not palatable. She discusses the efforts of Dan Barber to breed a better tasting squash, which have been covered in articles including Tom Philpott’s Squash Is a Mediocre Vegetable. It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way in Mother Jones in 2018.

In part, Ms. Wilson describes the the world food markets as a giant mess that cannot be solved without political action affecting farmers, processers and consumers:

A smart and effective food policy would seek to create an environment in which a love of healthy food was easier to adopt, and it would also reduce the barriers to people actually buying and eating that food. None of this looks easy at present, but nor is such change impossible. If the transformations we are living through now teach us anything, it is that humans are capable of altering almost everything about our eating in a single generation.

Bee Wilson, March 16, 2019, Good Enough to Eat, the Guardian

The goal of creating an environment of a love of healthy food is vague, and involves changing the role and power of food companies in the markets of the world and altering the present climate of respecting the perceived preference of consumers for fast food which can be harvested, processed and brought to market with the least expense to producers and processers.

Much of this book discusses ideas first discussed in Ms. Wilson’s column in the Daily Telegraph, interviews with other writers, and articles in publications such as the Guardian. Her material at the Guardian is indexed under her profile.

Index (a Book)

Index, by Dennis Dutton, was favourably reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, the NY Times and the Washington Post. I put a hold on it while the Greater Victoria library system had it on order.

As the reviews promised, the book has anecdotes about British writers, including the historian MacAulay, the 18th century novelist Samuel Richardson, the mathematician/logician/novelist Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and the 20th century novelist Virginia Woolf. It has stories about unsuccessful efforts to index works of fiction in English, fictional indices in fiction and the uses of hostile indices as polemical attacks on adversaries in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is, as the reviewers said, literate and witty. It is short, informative and funny in places.

The book tells stories about the history of books and the efforts of classical, medieval and Renaissance scholars to create indices of religious, scientific and philosophical works. The book touches on

  • the innovations in the technologies of making records of information – papyrus, scrolls, the codex (bound book), paper, the printing press, the invention of page numbering, and
  • the tools used to structure records – the table of contents, the concordance and the subject index.

The book explains the labour necessary to create works like Index of Periodical Literature started by William Frederick Poole in the 19th century, and efforts of Josephine Miles, in the 1950s, to convert the notes of the deceased scholar Guy Montgomery to punchcards to create a database to complete and publish Montgomery’s Concordance of the works of the 18th century poet John Dryden. The book touches on creation in the 1980s and 1990s of the personal computer software used by modern index professionals to create indices for and in (inline) modern works, such as MACREX, CINDEX and SKY Index, and explains the development of tags and markup to generate indexes in flowing text in ebooks. The discussion of tags leads to a discussion of the use of hash (#)tags in Twitter, which leads to the evocative hashtag created by publicists for the release of a 2012 album by the singer Susan Boyle [#susananalbumparty].

The book lacks a bibliography, but has enough endnotes to credit sources of information.

Kermode and Mayo leave the BBC

I have listened to Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review podcast on an iPod and more recently on podcatcher apps on my phones, since 2011. The podcast was a recording of a radio program broadcast on the BBC Radio 5 channel in the UK, with added audio.

In the podcast on April 1, 2022, Simon Mayo mentioned that his pass to a BBC building had been cancelled before he had tried to enter the building for the Friday afternoon radio broadcast and podcast recording. The hosts also recorded a call to the versatile British actor Jason Isaacs. (His performance as Marshall Zhukov in the black comedy The Death of Stalin was brilliant). While the hosts had made “Say Hello to Jason Isaacs” a meme, they only had had Jason Isaacs on the show when he was interviewed about a movie.

The broadcast on April 1, 2022 was the final episode. The end of the show had been mentioned in the show and podcast March 11, 2022. I had missed or misunderstood the announcement. On March 11, 2022, the hosts had announced that the show was ending in tweets, which I had not seen.

My podcatcher did not save the episode, which I expected on April 8. I searched. The seach engines took me to the BBC program and podcast pages – which had become archives of the BBC programs. The BBC did not say, on this pages, that the podcast and the program had stopped. The BBC had posted a news item on March 11, 2022. The Guardian published an informative article which suggested that the hosts would be starting a new program with another publisher, but did not provide a way of finding the new broadcast or podcast. Information about the new show was published in an article in the Independent on April 1, 2022. There will be a public podcast called Kermode and Mayo’s Take starting May 5, 2022, indexed by the podcast sources and available free by subscription in most or all podcatching platforms. There is to be another podcast to be called Take 2 available on a paid subscription basis in the Apple store.

The articles and stories do not explain why and how Kermode and Mayo left the BBC. They had a successful show with a loyal following. They were also boomers, with an older audience interested in modern cinema, perhaps an elite niche in coverage of popular culture. Simon Mayo had been popular as host of popular music programs, and had shifted his emphasis to literature and other cultural interests. The BBC is a complicated organization. I recently read Beebology, a review of two histories of the BBC, published at the London Review of Books. The BBC could have resisted paying as much as the hosts wanted, or usedthe end of the show as an excuse to promote younger talents, more amenable to the ideas of young managers and to working in a gig economy model of public broadcasting.

Wulfrunian

A Wulfrunian 1A Wulfrunian is not a member of an alien people in a video game. Draconian was the name of a video game in the 1980s. It was also a trope refers to the disproportionate severity of punishments in the first written legal code of Athens. Some lawyers, tired of the hyperbole of comparing modern laws to Draconian laws, have joked that the Draconians were hostile aliens in an episode of Star Trek. A Wulfrunian is not an ally of House Stark in the HBO series Game of Thrones or in the novels by George R.R. Martin.is a resident of Wolverhampton in the English midlands, once an industrial town in the English Black Country. In the 19th century, many Irish immigrants to England lived and worked there.

The English journalist and writer Sathnam Sangera notes in his 2021 social history book EmpireLand: How Imperialism has Shaped Modern Britain 2The link goes to the Goodreads entry; the book does not have a Wikipedia entry as of April 2022. that in 1871 one Wulfrunian in five was Irish, and that Wolverhampton was called Little Rome. References to Rome were a discrimiatory English allusion to the Roman Catholic religion of the Irish immigrants. After 20th century immigration from the Caribbean Islands, Asia, and Africa, an area of Wolverhampton was known as “Caribee Island”.

Mr. Sanghera’s ancestry is Sikh. The British conquered the Punjab in the wars of colonization of South Asia. The Sikhs became loyal to the empire, and many immigrated to Britain in the 20th century. His parents were disappointed, on emigrating to Britain and settling in Wolverhampton, at the British hostility to immigrants. (Enoch Powell, the controversial conservative 20th century politician (he might now be seen as an early right wing populist), was initially an MP elected in Wolverhampton).

British workers, including 19th and 20th century workers, were born and raised as social inferiors in the British class system. Many workers were resigned to traditional working class status. Some accepted that they could not change their class and sought and power collectively. Some became or aspired to become middle class. For a variety of reasons, working class British persons might speak with accents, or favour certain entertaiments and interests, and signal their working class identity.

The woke English blame colonialism and empire for the failure of the working class to welcome immigrants, or call working class persons racists. The name calling signals the sense of the name callers that they are socially and morally more virtuous than working class persons.

The book is good3Many or most of the comments on the book at Goodreads comments are “woke”. .

Energy Transitions

Energy Transitions by Vaclav Smil, published in 2010, is short. Reading it took time. The book is a narrative survey of some studies of changes in the way humans have used energy to perform work. Humans and animals convert biological mass (food) and heat and light from the sun into chemicals that grow into muscles or power muscles. Humans use energy to collect food or to collect fuel to cook food. In modern times many humans use energy to work for wages or profit to pay for fuel, energy and food. Humans used energy to capture and domestic animals, to gather and plant seeds, and to practise agriculture to have more food. Humans used energy to make tools. Humans used energy and tools to gather more material and make new tools. In the last few hundred years, humans have used fossil fuels and radioactive minerals to make machines which convert heat energy to mechanical power or to electrical energy.

Scientists have measured or estimated the energy used and the work perfomed. In the industrial revolution, which is still happening in parts of the world, some humans in some societies in some places replaced biomass with fossil fuels as the principal energy source. World-wide, humans have deceased the use of biomass (wood and straw) as fuel to generate heat, compared to other fuels. External combustion could change the biomas wood to charcoal, or fossil fule coal to coke or heat to power in steam engines. Internal combustion of refined petroleum generated more energy and power. Energy could be converted to electricity. Electricity needs transmission infrastructure and energy sources. European and North American countries made several energy transitions in the 19th and 20th centuries. They use coal, petroleum and natural gas – fossil biomass to thermally generate electricity, and petroleum in internal combustion engines and turbines to power transportation and industry. The book sketches the changes involved in doing work with machines, and getting energy from biomass, fossil fuels, radioactive minerals, geographical/geological forces (wind, tide, geothermal) and from solar radiation.

This book discussed, primarily, how hard it will be for humans enjoying or transitioning to high energy consumption to transition to more sustainable sources of energy. The book mentions the fear that the world is running out of some resources, noted in the 1972 Limits to Growth report commissioned by the Club of Rome. The book mentions dematerialization but concentrates on energy. His 2013 book Making the Modern World on dematerialization notes that recyling has changed the production of steel and aluminum in parts of the world.

Dr. Smil’s sine ira et studio approach will disappoint climate action warriers. He notes that governments and industries have taken action on some of the environmental issues that concerned North Americans and Europeans in recent decades. We don’t hear much about acid rain because of steps taken to reduce emissions of sulfites in flue gases and nitates in automotive engine emissions.

The book suggests that modern and modernizing societies will not easily stop burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are denser sources of energy than biomass. Modern machines need fossil fuels. Fossil fuels power electical generation, petroleum production, chemical production, and the production of ceramics and metals. China has invested in coal production and thermal generating plants to power its modernization. The “West” cannot tell the formerly colonized peoples of the earth that they should not aspire to the things the West has.

Wind power can be harnessed but requires vast infrastructure to get the power where it can be used. It is not a dense power source. Photo electric is not a dense power source. The fuels made from biomass – eg. ethanol are not dense and are costly to produce. The earth cannot generate biomass to burn as fuel or convert to fuel without devastating changes.

Politicians make treaties that cannot be implemented due to national politics. The techno-utopian publicists for capital promise that technology will save the world some day. Every country with resources and technology has adopted neo-liberal economics and politics, and waits for some fabulous invention to be made. Governments and industry continue to wait, promising to adopt, at some point, new technology.

Bike Chains, Part 5

Table of Contents

Endless Post

This is part 5 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.

Part/Post & LinkS.Topics
1. Chain WearMy discovery of wear Issues
1Safety Bicycles
— History
— Variety
— Manufactured Industrially
— Bike Brands
— Shops or Stores
— Mechanics
2Bike knowledge sources, Internet
3Bike Chains
2. Roller Chain4Chain Drive
3. Lubrication5Lubrication Theory
6Petroleum
4. Lubricants
7Fluid Lubricants
— Motor Oil
— Drip Lubes
— Engineered
— Wet and Dry marketing
— Additives
8People and Projects
9Lubricant Efficiency Tests
10Wear tests – chains & lubricants
11Innovation 2022-24
12Consumers’ options
5. Cleaning13Cleaning
14Deep Cleaning with Solvents
15New Products
6. Durability16Modern Chains
17Durable Chain
7. Paraffin 18Paraffin Wax
19Method
20Wax-compatible Drip Lubes
8. Learnings
for Make Benefit		Assortment of Notes

13. Cleaning

The Bike

The solid surfaces of the bike frame and fork are protected with paint – like an automobile or motorcycle. The painted surfaces can be hosed off or gently scrubbed. Few would use a wire brush, sandpaper or metal scrapers on the bike frame.

When the bike is hosed the joints and the open parts, including the chain, are exposed to dirt, water, and detergents. Many products would not harm the painted finish of bicycle frame and fork. Some may splash or spray into vulnerable areas. Brake rotors may be contaminated by materials used to clean the frame or the chain.

Cleaning Products

Solvents and detergents can be used to clean a chain .

Solvents dilute and wash oils and grease off of surfaces. Water is a solvent, which can dilute oils but is not a good solvent to remove oil from metal surfaces. Most industrial solvents are the product of refining or processing petroleum oils. Some industrial solvents are used clean bicycle chains and components that contain bearings.

Detergents are surfactants or mixtures of surfactants with cleansing properties when in dilute solutions.

Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension or interfacial tension between two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. The word “surfactant” is a blend of surface-active agent, coined c. 1950.
As they consist of a water-repellent and a water-attracting part, they
enable water and oil to mix; they can form foam and facilitate the
detachment of dirt.
Surfactants are among the most widespread and commercially
important chemicals. Private households as well as many industries use them in large quantities as detergents and cleaning agents, but also for example as emulsifiers, wetting agents, foaming agents, antistatic additives, or dispersants.
Surfactants occur naturally in traditional plant-based detergents, e.g. horse chestnuts or soap nuts; they can also be found in the secretions of some caterpillars. Today the most commonly used surfactants, above all anionic linear alkylbenzene sulfates (LAS), are produced from petroleum products. However, surfactants are (again) increasingly produced in whole or in part from renewable biomass, like sugar, fatty alcohol from vegetable oils, by-products of biofuel production, or other biogenic material.

Wikipedia entry, Surfactant

Some detergents may interact harmfully with bicycle chains. Some manufacturers of some chain cleaning products have suggested that some industrial detergents can be a cause of hydrogen embrittlement1Josh Poertner of Silca Velo suggested this about Simple Green and any detergent that was not certified for use on metal parts in aviation.

Clamshell Cleaners

These are devices that can be attached to the lower span of a chain on a bicycle placed against a support, when the bike is not in motion. The chain is rotated through the device by pedalling backward as the user hold the device steady. The device has rollers with bristles that pentrate inside links and bend the chain into the lower compartment, which is usually filled with a chain detergent. The Park Tool CM-5.3 is one modern device.

These devices remove dirt sticking to the chain by rotating the chain in detergent that facilitates detaching dirt from the metal, and rubbing off the dirt. These devices remove dirt in the chain on the outside surfaces including the surfaces oriented inside such as link plates. This gets close to getting a chain clean enough to lubricate. The bristles and cleaning components of these devices do not reach inside the sleeves, around the pins, or in the spaces where link plates overlap with brushes or friction.

Clamshell devices hold tiny amounts of detergent which gets dirty, which leads a user to believe the chain was dirty – which was a given. These devices have to be emptied and refilled at short intervals. They clean the visible surfaces including most of surfaces of link plates and roller pretty quickly.

The detergent will penetrate the chain. It may take a long time to remove internal contaminants, which will also introduce more detergent and water. They only clean the “insides” of the chain to the extent that detergent gets in and out, and carries away contaminants. It is best to wait and let the detergent dry off before re-lubricating a chain. Wet detergent residue contaminates any new lubricant.

The information security consultant Bruce Schnier uses the term security theatre:

Security theater refers to security measures that make people feel more secure without doing anything to actually improve their security.

Schnier on Security, Beyond Security Theater

A Clean Chain

Chains wear and have to be replaced to protect other drive train
components and ensure the proper operation of the gears. The point of
cleaning, and using using better chains and lubricants is to delay the replacement of the chain and to avoid damaging other components of the drive train.

Most chain cleaning removes visible material that interferes with the chain. Many pages, videos and podcasts discuss cleaning chains; for instance:

Many chain cleaning articles address:

  • removing the visible dirt that sticks to the ouside and inside of link plates, on the chainwheels, in the derailleur pulleys and on or between the cassette cogs;
  • cleaning chains that have been lubricated with motor oil, gear oil, and most of the proprietary bicycle chain drip fluid lubes.

It is essential to get the outside surface of a chain clean enough to be able to lubricate it. This is a dirty job

It is difficult to remove the microscopically small particles of grit that adhere to the rollers, link plates, pins and other load bearing surfaces Jobst Brandt, in a paper published in Bicycle Technical Information (Sheldon Brown site), described the problem (emphasis added):

Chain wear is caused almost exclusively by road grit that enters the chain when it is oiled. Grit adheres to the outside of chains in the ugly black stuff that can get on one’s leg, but external grime has little functional effect, being on the outside where it does the chain no harm.

The black stuff is oil colored by steel wear particles, nearly all of which come from pin and sleeve wear, the wear that causes pitch elongation. The rate of wear is dependent primarily on how clean the chain is internally rather than visible external cleanliness that gets the most attention.

Only when a dirty chain is oiled, or has excessive oil on it, can this grit move inside to cause damage. Commercial abrasive grinding paste is made of oil and silicon dioxide (sand) and silicon carbide (sand). You couldn’t do it better if you tried to destroy a chain, than to oil it when dirty.

….

… the chain should be cleaned of grit before oiling, and because this is practically impossible without submerging the chain in solvent (kerosene, commercial solvent, or paint thinner), it must be taken off the bicycle.

Jobst Brandt, Bicycle Technical Information, January 2002, Chain Care, Wear and Skipping; (Also see Jobst Brandt bio and index of Jobst Brandt’s BTI articles.)

The grit in a chain is partly the metal products of friction between steel surfaces, and between chain parts and grit in the lube. The grit includes dust suspended in air or accumulated on the road and suspended in water on the road.

Deep cleaning will be addressed in section 15, below. Deep cleaning of a new, unused chain is the most effective way to remove enough factory grease to let lubricants adhere to bare metal. It is recommended/required as a prelude to lubrication with:

  • Immersion waxes by manufacturers of the paraffin wax products and the hot waxing advisers; and
  • Modern fluid chain coating wax products by some of the manufacturers – e.g. Silca Super Secret Chain Coating

A deep cleaning may be necessary “to reset contamination” (as Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling refers to this) if the hard wax on a chain had been contaminated by dirt, water and wear under adverse conditions. Deep cleaning can be used with chains that have been run with drip lubes. It can remove most contamination when a chain has been contaminated during a ride(s) under adverse conditions. It is not a common practice.

Deep cleaning involves removing the chain from the bike. Removing a chain required using a chain breaker to remove and installed a pin for chains without master links. Master links need to be replaced, although not necessarily after a single use.

Deep cleaning also involves soaking the chain in a solvent. The effective solvents have been harsh industrial chemicals which may require handling and disposal as hazardous waste. The detergents have to be flushed with water, and the chain has to be be dried!

The limits of deep cleaning were lllustrated by a parody in an April Fools Day (prank/humour) article “The ShelBroCo Bicycle Chain Cleaning System” in the Bicycle Technical Information (Sheldon Brown) pages. A complete cleaning of a chain could literally require dissassembly of links!

Bike & General detergents

Many users use general purpose cleaners. Some use cleaners marketed as bicycle chain cleaners or degreasers. A 2023 post or page The Best and Effective Degreasers in 2023 at the GeekyCyclist site listed products sold in bike shops including:

  • Simple Green
  • WD-40 Bike Degreaser
  • Park Tool Bio Chainbrite
  • Muc Off Bio Drivetrain Cleaner
  • Pedro’s Oranj Peelz

In Canada, the cycling section of any Mountain Equipment Cooperative store sold the MEC store brand Bio-Cycle Chain Cleaner detergents.

Many bike and general detergents are easier and safer to handle than solvents but once used to remove grease or oil, may be subject to hazardous goods disposal rules for oil and grease.

Some users use a chain cleaner/degreaser detergent product to clean the chain. Some use the cleaner/degreaser with brushes or a clamshell cleaner. Some users used a cleaner/degreaser before removing a chain to deep clean it with solvents.

14. Deep Cleaning

The Process

Deep cleaning a new chain or a chain that is not worn is necessary, if the user wants to remove have factory grease, or lubricants applied by previous owners and users. Removal of factory grease and reside of lubrication applied by the seller is necessary before immersive waxing or the use of chain coating emulsion lubricants.

Deep clean of a chain that has been lubricated with an oil based fluid and used but not contaminated with dirt or water may be a choice or option.

A chain that that has been contaminated by exposure to dust and water, and by the products of chain wear (metal dust) may need to be deep cleaned before it is lubricated again.

A deep cleaning may may start before the chain is removed, but often involves removing the chain from the bike. It involves:

  1. Removing visible contaminants and lubricants from the exterior surfaces of the chain and the drive train components that contact the chain – chainwheels, cassette cogs, derailleur pulleys. Some parts can be scraped or brushed. For other, rags can be used, or the strong blue disposable paper towel (e.g. Scott Paper Shop Towel). Some users use microfiber wipes and towels. Small amounts of detergent may be used.
  2. Washing a contaminated chain with/in a detergent. This involves taking the chain off the bike. The methods include soaking, soaking and agitation, soaking and scrubbing any surface than can be reached with a scrubbing device. Some soaking is necessary to allow the detergent to contact the material to be cleaned off inward facing visible surfaces and visible on the edges of load bearing surfaces (edges of rollers and link plate). Some advice cautions against soaking a chain in detergents that may chemically interact with the chain steel, causing “hydrogen embrittlement”. Some advisors recommend automotive or aviation detergents to remove oil from metal without damaging the metal.
  3. Washing the chain in solvents.

When a chain is immersed, it needs to be rinsed and dried before another substance is applied. A chain can be hung on a peg or a nail, in a dry place and left to dry. Users with the tools and time may blow compressed air through a chain.

Deep cleaning means, basically, washing the chain in solvents that remove grease and oil. Some advisers recommend soaking in the solvent before washing. The method is: immerse the chain in the solvent in a closed container, and shake it. The shaking caused turbulent flows of material in the container, including the movement of diluted grease out of the chain and clean solvent into the chain. The shaking or agitation of the chain in the container is shown in many videos on the web. (Many of the videos refer to this method a part of a program of applying paraffin by immersion.) Some use plastic bottles (bottles for Gatorade and similiar products, with wide mouths – not narrow mouthed soft drink bottles). The videos will suggest on attaching something to an end of the chain to extract the chain from the container. Removing factory grease take several rounds of immersion and agitation. It depends on what the chain manufacturer put on the chain, and on how much.

Solvent

The recommended solvent for deep cleaning is mineral spirits (“mineral terps” in Adam Kerin’s Australian English), or white spirits, a low viscocity combustible petrochemical product. Some white spirits are formulated, packaged and sold for specific applications: fuel, solvent, paint thinner or even as lubricant.

Mineral spirits, as opposed to paint thinner, are preferred for degreasing metal items. Turpentine is a paint thinner made from plant resin; it is not used for cleaning metal because it leaves residue.

In Canada, most retailers sell mineral spirits manufactured by Recochem Inc.2Business Wire: “Founded in 1951 in Montreal, Recochem has grown into a leading manufacturer and marketer of branded, private label and bulk automotive aftermarket and household fluids for consumers and industrial customers worldwide. The Company operates a global platform, with a network across North America, Europe, Australia, China, India and the Asia Pacific region. Recochem’s strong reputation in the markets it serves has earned the Company vendor appreciation awards from its customers and long-standing relationships with its suppliers and partners around the world. With innovation and agility built into its DNA, Recochem is poised to continue its expansion into global markets while maintaining its core values of exceptional customer service, consistent product quality and environmental stewardship.” in the H.I.G. Capital3Business Wire: “H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with $43 billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion.” portfolio under the brand name Solvable. Recochem does not offer a Solvable brand odourless mineral spirit; Recochem makes an “odourless” mineral spirit sold as Varsol, usually as a paint thinner; Varsol is a trademark of Imperial Oil in Canada.

Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling has deep cleaned many chains in the ZFC business and the ZFC tests. In Episode 6 “Chain Preparation FAQ” of the ZFC YouTube series, Adam Kerin notes the differences in the removing factory grease – some chains take 3 rounds of mineral spirits but SRAM chains take 4 or 5. This was a useful aside. Removing factory grease, and using wax or a high-reputation drip lubricant appears to make a SRAM chain run silently.

Mineral spirits cut the grease, but may leave microscopic amounts of water that cause some oxidation of the metal. It is also necessary to rinse the chain with a polar solvent that will carry off any water. Denatured alcohol (“methylated spirits”) is a polar solvent. It is mainly made of industrial ethyl alcohol or ethanol. Ethanol is the intoxicating chemical in potable beer, wine and spirits. In the US, the federal government mandated during Prohibition – the rule was never changed – that industrial ethyl alcohol must be “denatured” (poisoned) with methanol to deter people drinking it and bootleggers from selling it. It is a clear fluid – no food flavouring, colour or sugar. It evaporates quickly. It is cheaper than potable spirits (hard liquor). Using potable spirits to clean a bike chain is inefficient: potable spirits contain other substances that leave residue, and it is expensive. Solvable does not offer a denatured alcohol, but does distibute methyl hydrate or methanol. Some Canadian hardware stores sell the Klean Strip brand “Denatured alcohol clean burning fuel” in the blue metal container depicted in the image on the denatured alcohol Wikipedia page (link above).

Rinsing a chain cleaned in solvent in the polar solvent allows the user to dry the chain. Again, when a chain has been immersed in mineral spirits and alcohol, it needs to be dried before lubricants are applied. Generally, after an alcohol rinse, the alcohol evaporates quickly.

Used mineral spirits may or may not be subject to hazardous goods handling rules. The used spirits are contaminated with fine particles, factory grease residue, and petrochemical lubricant residue. Mineral spirits are petrochemicals. Rules vary.

15. Etc.

New Products

There are new detergents s available in early 2024 that can dissolve oil and be used to remove factory grease or to clean a dirty oiled chain.

  • Ceramic Speed manufactures UFO Drivetrain Cleaner (and UFO Clean Bearings and UFO Bike Wash).
  • Silca manufactures and distributes SILCA Chain Stripper, SILCA
    Bio Degreaser and Gear Cleaner, and a few kinds of wipes and micro-fiber
    cleaning cloths.

Cleaning a Waxed Chain

This is discussed in Part 7, on immersive waxing (immersion in heat paraffin) and chain coating fluids.

One approach is to remove dust from the exterior of a chain. Modern microfiber towels are resistant to the damage of being shredded in rubbing a chain and can be washed. Chains that have been ridden a few hundred Km. in dry conditions or only for short rides in mild wet conditions can be rubbed clean and dry and simply immersed in hot wax again. This is the Molten Speed Wax manufacturer recommendation for “training chains”. The wax will get mildly contaminated, but this method can be repeated many times before the wax needs to be is discarded. A variation on this approach for more serious contamination is swishing the chain in boiling water to wash off the contaminated wax, drying the chain and putting the chain in the hot wax. Zero Friction Cycling lists the boiling water method, with these comments, among other options:

… There is no tangible benefit to boiling water flush rinses after dry rides – especially road riding where extremely little contamination will get into your solid wax lube – but even for most offroad riding unless extremely dusty – just wipe outside. …. Don’t over complicate things – basically just re wax unless fully wet ride …. With waxing just even straight re-waxing will reset contamination in chain extremely well, and a brilliant job can be done with just some boiling water.

Zero Fiction Cycling, Waxing-FAQ.pdf

A badly contaminated chain may need a deep cleaning to reset the chain to a clean condition, and an immersion in clean wax.

Bike Chains, Part 6

Table of Contents

Endless Post

This is part 6 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.

Part/Post & LinkS.Topics
1. Chain WearMy discovery of wear Issues
1Safety Bicycles
— History
— Variety
— Manufactured Industrially
— Bike Brands
— Shops or Stores
— Mechanics
2Bike knowledge sources, Internet
3Bike Chains
2. Roller Chain4Chain Drive
3. Lubrication5Lubrication Theory
6Petroleum
4. Lubricants
7Fluid Lubricants
— Motor Oil
— Drip Lubes
— Engineered
— Wet and Dry marketing
— Additives
8People and Projects
9Lubricant Efficiency Tests
10Wear tests – chains & lubricants
11Innovation 2022-24
12Consumers’ options
5. Cleaning13Cleaning
14Deep Cleaning with Solvents
15New Products
6. Durability16Modern Chains
17Durable Chain
7. Paraffin 18Paraffin Wax
19Method
20Wax-compatible Drip Lubes
8. Learnings
for Make Benefit		Assortment of Notes

17. Drive Systems

Modern Chain

As of 2022-2024, chain manufacturers make many kinds of chains to supply the need for replacement chains:

  • Most modern bikes on the market in Canada and the USA, other than e-bikes, children’s bikes and single gear bikes, have derailleurs and rear wheel cassettes with 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13 cogs, and compatible laterally flexible bushingless chains;
  • Some cargo bikes and e-bike manufacturers make bikes that have:
    • rear derailleurs, and flexible bushingless chains; or
    • purpose-designed chains, which may be bushed chains or wider bushingless chains than chains for road bikes, gravel bikes, mountain bikes and hybrids; and
  • Older bikes requiring wider chains compatible with derailleur shifting with less cogs than modern bikes are in use.

Some chain manufacturers claim that e-bikes with the motor situated at the bottom bracket or chainwheel (as opposed to the drive wheel hub) put higher stresses on chains than chains for non-electric bikes can withstand.

Manufacturers will be making chains for years to come. The flexible bushingless roller chain is an established technology in wide use.

The bushingless, steel roller chain has a short life expectancy. To make chains thin, chains have short pins. To make chains light, link plates are thin; many chains have hollow pins. The chain is vulnerable to wear and breakage. Consumers have been “educated” by their experience with the actions and words of the bike industries to realize that some bike components have limited “service lives“, and to accept that the mean time before failure of a modern bike chain is only a few hundred hours of riding.

Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”) suggested in an interview by CyclingTips in 2019 that 11 & 12 speed chains are more durable, in terms of wear, than 8-9-10 speed chains due to technological innovation:

It’s commonly said that the wider chains of past drivetrains were more durable. Sure, older 8-, 9- and even 10-speed systems do offer wider cog widths which provide increased surface area with the chain, but does that actually mean the chains are more durable?

It’s a question I posed to Kerin after the previous testing was done, and he got the Zero Friction Cycling torture machine up and running again to find out. In this, he tested the top Shimano chains from each respective speed, and the results may surprise you.

…

It seems that with each gear added, durability has improved. And at least for Shimano chains, 10-speed saw a significant jump in durability from 9- and 8-speed, and Shimano’s latest 12-speed XTR mountain bike chain rules the roost as Shimano’s most durable offering.

The reasoning for this is less clear, but certain materials have improved, manufacturing processes have become refined, and new low-friction coatings have been added. Similarly, the chain designs themselves have changed, and where 8- and even 9-speed chains would see the inner links turn solely on the connecting pins, newer chains typically see these forces shared across the pins and specifically stamped plates, too.

Dave Rome, CyclingTips, 2019, Finding the Best Bicycle Chain 1Note – defunct link

Other Drive Systems

Some internal hub systems, including planetary gear systems are in use or in development:

  • Sturmey-Archer 3-speed AW internal gear hub system was used on Raleigh bicycles for many years. There are articles and resources at Bicycle Technical Information (“BTI” – the Sheldon Brown site), such as “Servicing Sturmey-Archer 3-Speed Hubs“, and other manuals and support resources. There is a BTI article on Internal-Gear Hubs.
  • Shimano
  • Classified Cycling, situated in Antwerp (Belgium) and Eindhoven (Netherlands), introduced its Powershift system in 2023. It is available for Road, Gravel, MTB and Urban bikes by purchasing and installing new bikes or wheels with Powershift hubs and compatible cassettes. It is on some Ridley road and gravel bikes (Belgian bike brand, no dealers in Canada)

Some internal hub systems had or have a friction or coaster brake. Some are available on bikes or wheels for a disc rotor or metal rimmed wheel (for rim brakes). Most are available with a single gearwheel on the drive wheel for use with a single chainwheel gearwheel. Some recent Shimano Alfine models were also made for a belt drive.

The shaft drive and the belt drive have some history. The shaft drive appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, disappeared, and has been revived in 21st century prototypes: Ceramic Speed is raising funds for its Driven technology – a 99.2% efficient shiftable drive shaft. Belt drives reappeared late in the 20th century e.g. the Gates Carbon Belt Drive.

An alternative drive system may be an option for a home mechanic, or a shop option for an owner with the ability to pay for work and parts, if an owner can find a mechanic who can do the work.

18. Durable Chains

Introduction

Some modern laterally flexible bushingless chains on the market are durable. ZFC tested “top” Shimano 8-9-10 speed chains, and a top Shimano XTR 12 speed chain, and some other chains. In the CyclingTips NerdAlert podcast episode March 16, 2022 “Finding the best chain lube for your needs” Adam Kerin mentioned those chains, including the use of chrome in the manufacturing. The Outside Magazine sites, including its Velo (corresponding to the online verson of VeloNews) have depublished this material. Adam Kerin has discussed durable chains with other interviewers, but I have not located the interviews and passages. Adam Kerin has Chain Wear Test Results on the Chain Efficiency page. The chain wear result graph selected chains for “longevity” in terms of km in wear testing to the .05% wear mark .

ZFC initially planned tests of lubricants and tests of chains but has done more lubricant tests than chain tests. The initial 2018 document laying out the chain “longevity” (durability) testing is still online. The ZFC data chain durability is not as detailed as the material on lubricant testing. ZFC found that some chains were more durable than others in tests run with White Lightning Epic Ride dry-drip lube.

Chains by different manufacturers vary. Bike manufacturers and bike shops do not regard chain replacement as their responsibility, and do not have inventories of chains as spare parts for specific bikes. In modern commercial and economic thinking, chains are consumables. A bike shop can sell a new chain to replace a worn chain.

Not all chains by the same manufacturers are equally durable – it depends on plate, pin and roller, material, machining, metal treatment, coating, lubrication and conditions.

In an interview with Global Cycling Network tech journalist/presenter Alex Paton “They Don’t want your chain to last this long” in March 2024, Adam Kerin diffentiated some SRAM chains as better value than other chains on the basis of SRAM’s “hard chrome” treatment of chain components (which seems to be the use of chromium alloy steel plating on some chain surfaces) on those chains. Durable chains, compatible with modern drive trains and cassettes cost more.

Durable chains are not available from all manufacturers, or to all purchasers and riders in the markets of the world. Buyers and riders have lighter, thinner bushingless chains that are more vulnerable to wear. Light and thin can be cheap or expensive. Durable is more expensive. Modern chains have associated costs.

There were reports of counterfeit chains on the market during the pandemic. The elusive idea/hope buying an inexpensive durable branded chain on the internet has suffered more.

Data, Records

A rider should know when a chain was installed or lubed last, and the distances the bike has traveled. A cycling computer has a trip odometer. Keeping trip records in the device or an app requires tinkering with the device and the settings – and turning the device on. The rider may store trip data in an app that stores it in the cloud, or in spreadsheet or chart or table, or in a notebook.

Tested Chains

ZFC posted bar graphs of the durability test results in a “News” item in 2022. Some of the results are explained in CyclingTips Finding the Best Bicycle Chain article, which adds to the ZFC results:

  • Some chains were retested;
  • The ZFC “cost to run” results are graphed in $US.

ZFC also publishes a pdf version of a “consolidated” Chain-Efficiency-and-wear-life” results bar graph.

ZFC is attempting to measure some of the real world effects of chain construction, lubricants, and operating conditions in tests that represents the real world. Josh Poertner of Silca Velo has provided his explanatory gloss on Adam Kerin’s lubricant testing work in a couple of Silca Velo channel YouTube videos:

In 12 speed chains, ZFC thought SRAM Eagle XX1 and X01 could run about 5,000 Km, and the Shimano XTR 9100 to about 4,000 Km., with the control lubricant a low quality “dry” drip lube, based on pure elongation results. The ZFC lubricant tests indicate that a high quality chain will last longer with paraffin lubrication. ZFC suggested, in an extrapolation calculation in the lubricant testing spreadsheets, that a few specific modern Shimano chains, immersion waxed, can be run for 25,000 Km. ZFC is not always consistent in predictions and estimates; its comments refer to specific chains, and not to manufacturers or brands.

Will what manufacturers of the tested durable chains have done be replicated in production lines of chains by any manufacturer?

The best 11 speed chains in the elongation tests, among those tested by ZFC, at over 3,000 Km., were SRAM XX1, Campagnolo Record, and YBN SLA-110. ZFC found, in its cost to run 10,000 KM. calculations, several chains at about $500 (Australian), or about $200 (US), making assumptions about chain replacement and other drive train component replacements. The cost to run numbers in US dollars are in in a bar graph. Several chains show at a price to buy $150-$200 US per 10,000 Km. Online or retail stores list economy and mid price bike chains under the SRAM and Shimano brands from $30 to $50.

ZFC sells the following chains, in bundled waxed chain sales, as of 2024 (not counting some chains for e-bikes2ZFC discloses the shipping costs to consumers outside Australia – more emphatically than most e-commerce sites. I have not matched the description in the ZFC store to the desciptions in the test charts):

10 speed11 speed12 speed13 speed
Campagnolo
Ekar
Campagnolo
Record		Capagnolo Super
Record – C-Link
Shimano
HG-901/XTR		Shimano M9100
Shimano M8100
SRAM AXS UFO
SRAM AXS Road
SRAM AXS Eagle
YBN-SLA 101YBN SLA-110YBN SLA Ti-N

Adam Kerin was cited by CyclingTips in”Finding the Best Bicycle Chain” (The Outside Magazine sites, including its Velo site, corresponding to the online verson of VeloNews,the owner have depublished this material) as regarding the Campagnolo Record and YBN SLA as “excellent choices”. Adam Kerin did not distinguish between YBN 11 speed SLA chains – SLA 110 and SLA 1100. YBN chains can be ordered from MSpeedwax in the USA and other regional dealers elsewhere, including ZFC in Australia. MSpeedwax lists the SLA-110 chains at about $70 US.

Adam Kerin stated, under the heading “How Long will waxing last?”, on the Waxing Instructions page:

Re-waxing by recommended 300 Km. mark, the average for a top quality chain like YBN to get to recommended wear replacement mark of .5% is 15,000 Km.

….

Erring on the earlier side. i.e. re-waxing in the 200 the 250 mark [range] brings a big jump in chain and drive train life span again. From 100 Km. post re-wax there is literally zero wear … From 100 to 200 Km., the friction and wear increase is minute.

Curry in England

The London Review of Books (“LRB”) published “Too Specific and Too Vague“, a review by the English culinary writer Bee Wilson of two recent books that refer to the ways that Asian cooking encountered English tastes in England in the 20th century. One book is about the work of 7 women presenting immigrant dishes in British and American restaurants and cook books. The other was about the history of the English word curry. The article appears to be accessible, LRB has had a paywall. I am not sure if the paywall is taken off selected articles, or has been removed, or if a bypass plugin is necessary.

The story is complicated and nuanced. English adventurers encountered Indian cooking as early as the 16th century. Manufactured curry powders – blends of ground dry spices -became popular in the 19th century. The English labelled several other spicy dishes encountered in Asia as curry. In the 20th century, immigrants to Britain cooked and sold spicy food. The English liked the food. The English found it simpler to call anything made by immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangla Desh and other parts of Southeast Asia “curry”. English lexicographers concluded that the English decided that anything like anything cooked with manufactured condiment curry powder was curry. As the history of the term involved English colonialism and empire, and the reaction of the English to South Asians immigrants, the lexicographers’ decision was controversial.

Ms. Wilson mentioned Madhur Jaffrey, an Asian immigrant writer:

As a teenager, I started cooking from Madhur Jaffrey’s books and saw with a jolt that, for Indian cooks, hearing British people declaring they loved curry could come across as a crass postcolonial misrepresentation. Jaffrey arrived in London from Delhi in 1955 to study at Rada, and taught herself to cook using her mother’s recipes because she disliked English food (except fish and chips). In England, Indian food was thought to be anything sprinkled with curry powder …

‘To me the word “curry” is as degrading to India’s great cuisine as the term “chop suey” was to China’s,’ Jaffrey wrote in An Invitation to Indian Cooking (1973). ‘“Curry” is just a vague, inaccurate word which the world has picked up from the British, who, in turn, got it mistakenly from us … If “curry” is an oversimplified name for an ancient cuisine, then “curry powder” attempts to oversimplify (and destroy) the cuisine itself.’

….

For all its flaws, we seem to be stuck with the word because there are many occasions when there is no satisfactory synonym in the English language. Look at what a hash the OED [Oxford English Dictionary] makes of trying to pin it down. Curry, it says, is ‘a preparation of meat, fish, fruit or vegetables, cooked with a quantity of bruised spices and turmeric, and used as a relish or flavouring, esp. for dishes composed of or served with rice. Hence, a curry = a dish or stew (of rice, meat, etc) flavoured with this preparation (or with curry powder).’ This definition is both far too specific and too vague.

….

Some of the curry deniers have softened their stance. … in the years since Jaffrey’s diatribe against curry in 1973, she has written a series of curry-themed books including Curry Easy, Curry Easy Vegetarian, 100 Essential Curries, 100 Weeknight Curries, Madhur Jaffrey’s Ultimate Curry Bible and Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Nation. Presumably, this was partly a way of luring as many readers as possible by seeming to offer something familiar. In Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Nation she wrote: ‘If Britain once colonised India, India has now returned the favour by watching spellbound as its food completely colonised Britain.’ That book was dedicated to Britain, ‘the Curry Nation that welcomed me all those many years ago’.

Last week I found a recipe in the American writer Anupy Singla’s Indian Slow Cooker for a dish titled “Chickpea Flour Yogurt Curry” which explained that this curry is a kadhi, a northern dish made with dairy and chickpea flour. I used the slow cooker recipe, (that book had options for full size crockpots and 3.5 quart pots), in a 6 quart Instant Pot, in a slow cooker program. I used buttermilk for the dairy, intead of yogurt. See Anupy Singla’s online Instant Pot recipe for a pressure cooker/multicooker method of cooking this dish. Ms. Singla also describes stir fried vegetable – e.g. Aloo Gobi – by the word sabji.

Is NPR Woke?

In William Deresiewicz’s article in the online service UnHerd March 8, 2022 “Escaping American tribalism” he says that he started to listen to contrarian podcasts including Meghan Daum’s The Unspeakable in 2021, when he thought that American National Public Radio (“NPR”) has become partisan, on the “woke” side of the cultural divide:

“Moral clarity” became the new journalistic standard, as if the phrase meant anything other than tailoring the evidence to fit one’s preexisting beliefs. I was lamenting the loss, not of “journalistic objectivity,” a foolish term and impossible goal, but of simple journalistic good faith: a willingness to gather and present the facts that bear upon an issue, honestly and clearly, regardless of their implications.

For months, I felt trapped, alone with my incredulity. Was I the only person seeing this? Every time I turned on NPR, my exasperation grew — basically, I was hate-listening after a certain point — but what was the alternative? I literally couldn’t think of any. Then, by sheer dumb luck, I was invited on a podcast to discuss a book I had recently published. It was The Unspeakable, with Meghan Daum, and while I had never thought of myself as a podcast person, I so enjoyed myself, was so impressed with her intelligence and humour, that I became a listener.

UnHerd, March 8, 2022, Escaping American Tribalism

The implies that the audience, particularly in America, has become polarized, by identity politics, into “tribes”. Writers criticized, in the Atlantic:

Some academic writers – e.g. Dominic Packer and Jay Van Bevel in The Power of Us and in an extract in the Atlantic defend the social benefits of tribalism.

William Deresiewicz had been an adjunct professor teaching at Yale but after he was not granted tenure, he ceased to teach in 2008. He wrote articles and books as a public intellectual. He wrote Excellent Sheep in 2014, criticizing (1) the admission policies and curricula and (2) the high cost of attending of American elite universities. His book had a mixed reception. Some of the reviews – for instance by Douglas Greenberg and by Kevin Dettmer in the Los Angeles Review of Books – were harsh. The reviews insinuated – a common enough capitalist/competitive polemic strategy – he had not been good enough to get tenure, or had failings.

Meghan Daum’s book of essays, Unspeakable and William Dersiewicz’s books are good, but were not best sellers. Neither writer is a white supremacist, a Q-Anon supporter or an anti-vaxxer. They are worth reading and listening too.

In 2020, Deresiewicz published The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech on how artists sustain themselves in the Information Age. He appears to have turned to writing for contrarian platforms. In his UnHerd article, he suggests the publishing world became as censorious as the academic world. The publishing world rewards less of the few writers who attract and sustain large audiences. It extracts “content” from less popular writers and maintains – perhaps pretends – that writers are fairly compensated for content. The internet platforms prefer to publish unpaid content. Publishers say that writers are compensated by learning the business and creating a reputation that may, with luck. eventually earn advances and royalties.

Deresiewicz risks being labelled a right wing conspiracy theorist by woke academics and woke adjacent publishers – igf he is not woke, he must be against justice, or a deplorable. Attacking the writers, editors and publishers of competing media would be a way the established media would deal with dissenting and competing voices.

The effects of sectarianism along the dividing lines of ideology, religion and policy, affect writers and publishers:

UnHerd, after time and experimention, has found subject matter and material beyond Brexit, and British politics. As of March 2022 writes at UnHerd have been taking shots at Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbin, the anti-Semitism of the new Left, the new Labour leadership, woke activists, Green activists, Trans activists, the corporate leadership of the Church of England, racist immigation policies in the EU, Vladimir Putin and Britain’s embrace of Russian oligarchs.

The late George Carlin said: “It’s all bullshit, and it’s bad for you.”