Hello, I have just bought a Zwift smart bike - wahoo kicker Zwift cog and frame do I need to do an anything to the chain and cog to keep it maintained - wax? Or anything else ?
Thank you
Thank you Paul - thatâs very helpful to know
For indoor cycling, keeping your chain as clean as possible is key to extending its life and ensuring smooth operation. After trying various approaches, Iâve found a good system that works well for keeping indoor chains pristine and functional.
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Choose the Right Lubricant: Since indoor conditions donât expose your chain to moisture, dirt, or debris like outdoor rides, a dry lube like Muc-Offâs C3 Ceramic Dry Lube is a great choice. Itâs easy to apply, provides lubrication, and doesnât attract much dust or grime.
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Alternate Lubes for Optimal Cleanliness: Every other day, to avoid lube buildup, lightly apply a bit of WD-40 âyes, WD-40â, to the chainâit helps clean and keeps things running smoothly while being easy to wipe off without residue.
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Wipe Down Regularly: After every ride, give your chain and drivetrain a quick wipe-down with a clean, dry cloth. This removes any accumulated dust and old lube that can gunk up your chain and attract more dirt.
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Avoid Over-Lubricating: Excess lube can attract more dust and dirt. Apply sparingly, and always wipe away any extra after application.
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Note: I only use silver chains to let me know grime isnât building up, and a chain only last a couples of thousands miles at bestâŚ
This approach has kept my indoor bike setup both clean and quiet, while avoiding too much buildup or mess.
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Please donât use Dry lubes. Typically they contain very little lubricant (hence why theyâre âdryâ) so they typically perform badly in the tests detailed by Zero Friction Cycling - see Lubricant Testing - Zero Friction Cycling
Muc-Off C3 Ceramic Dry Lube performs poorly in the ZFC tests compared to others, for clean conditions . Sure, you can use it and itâs not terrible, but there are other lubes that will perform much better and hence will cause a lot less wear on your drivetrain. Why not pick the best you can get hold of, or close to the best?
Lubricants can be something of a religious issue, but nothing beats intensive actual testing on a bike on trainer, which is what ZFC do as opposed to the nonsense âtestingâ that Muc-Off do.
Youâll find much better-performing drip lubricants in ZFCâs testing data, e.g. Effeto Mariposa FlowerPower, Silca Synergetic and many more.
If anyone wants to say how great Muc-Off C3 is then please back that up with specific testing data and fhe full test protocol for that as opposed to anecdotes about how it âworks wellâ for you.
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I have zero interest in debating this. All I can say is that Iâve never won or lost a race because of lube -this topic often leads to pointless arguments among cyclists. But after tens of thousands of miles, all my drivetrains remain in impeccable condition. Now, as I transition to a 12-speed system, Iâm discarding cassettes that still look practically unused; for indoor riding, I would never go back to the mess of the wet lube chains and cassettes are super cheap, but wet lube generates more buildup, grime, and ruins everything.
Note: all those tests donât account for the practicality factor. Sure, waxing shows great numbers, but itâs a massive hassle if done daily. Thatâs why I only wax a couple of times a year. Give me a super clean chain with dry lube any day over a grime-covered chain with the worldâs âbestâ lube⌠LOL!
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This is nothing about chain efficiency, thatâs not what ZFC is about. They test chain wear, not efficiency.
It should be of interest to every single cyclist to look for chain lubes that have been properly tested for chain wear. Lower wear = less expensive drivetrain components wearing out = saved money.
The âpointless argumentsâ you refer to are typically ones based on mere opinion and what bike shops recommend (based on what deal they.get from their suppliers). Thatâs completely different from looking at intensive testing on a bike drive train under an open protocol.
Itâs fine if you want to bury your head in the sand and not look at alternatives. You can use whatever you want. And certainly indoor-only bikes suffer much easier conditions than any outdoor riding, so less wear is likely in any case.
As I said, anecdotal evidence about how long your own drivetrain lasts is totally meaningless, sorry, when there is detailed independent test data available. Itâs like the guy who smokes 40 cigarettes a day and lives to 100.
As for wet lubes, wax-type drip lubes are much better for the reasons that I suggest, and the FlowePower drip wax is bot a wet lube. CetamicSpeed UFO Drip is also a drip wax that gives outstanding results in ZFCâs testing. There are plenty of drip waxes available that perform very well and are very easy to apply. There are also some very bad drip waxes too, just check the test results at ZFC.
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The reality is that a bicycle chain remains efficient and unstretched for only about 300 to 400 miles. After that, itâs all downhill, leading up to around 2,000 miles before itâs really worn out. I canât understand the focus on maintaining chains with fancy lubricants when I always race with a brand new chain. After the race, I simply move it to my trainer. These chains cost me just $60, and I find that using a new chain offers more benefits than any of those expensive lubricants manufacturers try to sell -no lubricant can prevent the stretching effect caused by the power applied to the chain, wear and tear. Iâve tried them all, and as I get older, I may not be getting stronger, but Iâm definitely getting smarter! Thus, once again, a new clean chain proves to be the superior option!
There is no actual stretching effect, in terms of the metal stretching. When you measure a chain for wear and it appears to have stretched, what you are seeing is wear to the chain components that means the links can pull fractionally further apart. No component has stretched, theyâve just worn.
Lubricants have a huge effect on chain wear. The best lubricants can make chains run for thousands of kms with very low wear and hemce virtually no impact on other drivetrain components. The best do this by effectively lubricating and keeping contaminants out.
Sorry but saying that all chains stretch after 300-400 miles is nonsense. If you are seeing this yourself then that backs up my statement (based on intensive testing by ZFC) that Muc-Off Ceramic C3 performs poorly and/or perhaps that thatâs all down to the factory grease (and without removing that first, the lubricant canât do its job properly).
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Thanks for all the advice - as with most things in cycling there are various opinions - just to be clear I am just taking about an indoor trainer chain that will never see the outside world - Zwift said I donât need to put anything on it because it comes pre waxed so I was wondering if this is true for the long term
There is no such thing as permanent lubrication, and the KMC Z1 used on the Zwift Ride isnât one of the waxed chain options from KMC AFAIK. Iâm sure it has factory lubricant on it but that will not last forever. Wax doesnât last forever either.
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As Paul says, Zwift mis-spoke there. The chain will have factory grease on it (not wax) and this will be ok-ish for a while but will degrade over time as it picks up contaminants (e.g. dust if itâs only indoors) and gradually gets spread out and it canât do its job so well.
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Does anybody have a part number for such a â98 linkâ chain?
As far as I can see the KMC Z1 is only available in 100, 112 and 128 link variants. 
Itâs normal that you would use a chain rivet tool to make it the correct length. And you donât need to buy a KMC Z1 - you could pick a higher quality chain if you want.
Also note that the KMC Z1 comes in both wide and narrow widths. You need narrow (3/32")
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Thanks - itâs a new trainer and bike so I donât need a new one for a while
Forgive me if this is a dumb question (or has been answered previously): if I want to use Muc-Offâs C3 Ceramic Dry Lube on my Zwift Ride do I need to degrease/clean the factor lube off first, or can I just apply when I feel the factory lube has worn off?
Waxing chains is a whole box of drama.
Riding with a newly waxed chain is going to make a mess. Use a towel, or drop cloth, plastic, SOMETHING that will catch the crumbs that flake off. Also wiping the chain down doesnât quite do it as the wax is everywhere in the chain.
There is a whole art to chain waxing. One of the better systems to help wax chains is by Silca. Itâs got better temperature control, and they seem to have the best wax for chains. Although itâs not without some drama itself.
The chain will be very stiff fresh off the wax treatment. Work it in before you put it on the bike. Most of that stiffness will be gone after a few minutes, but if you backpedal, check it with no load in case it jumps around.
You can use a Crock Pot, but the idea of temperature control goes out the window. You can easily scorch the wax and ruin it. Even on low, a crock pot or generic can be over 100c degrees. The Silca brand wax is for 75 degrees, and 125 if you use one of their âstrip chipsâ.
Also be aware that coated KMC chains effectively canât be waxed as the wax wonât adhere to the coating. New chains should be either cleaned with a good chain degreaser or prep kit, like the one Silca sells, or use the âstrip chipsâ they sell to remove the factory coating making way for the wax.
Waxing a chain on a trainer should ward off sweat causing the chain to rust and seize up. That happened to me, and using noise blocking ear buds, I never knew that the chain had some major seized link sections. I was using a different âwetâ lube (that smelled like a toxic waste dump so I didnât use it a lot) and within 5 or 6 months, the chain was garbage, the sweat apparently ate through, or washed off the lube. I couldnât fix it and had to toss it, it was that bad. Hoping waxed chains last longer. RIDE ON!!!