Pedros Ice Wax lube

If you fancy a bit of robust knockabout fun on a bike forum, join a debate about chain lube. Some lubes are held up as Holy Unction and those which meet with displeasure are cast into the pit as the devil's own overpriced toe cheese. I've been stung too, buying a widely recommended and highly praised miracle lube only to find it about as much use as shampoo.

Conventional wisdom has it that wax lubes are cleaner than wet lube but don't last as long. So far as Pedro's Ice Wax is concerned, conventional wisdom is pretty much spot on. As it's a wax lube it needs to go on a spotless chain and be left to dry. Once dry it's worth applying another coat as this stuff doesn't soak into the nooks and crannies as easily as wet lube. It's fiddly and a faff, especially if you have a chain that's a pain to remove from the bike. The lube is a pretty vile looking off-white colour and until it dries your chain will look as if it's been sneezed on repeatedly. Once it does dry the chain has that waxy feel that brand new chains have, fresh out of the box. Nice.

As my commuter hack doesn't have an easily breakable chain I was lazy and just gave it a quick squirt, post-clean, followed by another squirt a hundred miles later. That squirt lasted for just over 130 quiet and happy miles, after which my chain was as dry as a scorpion's g-string and made from really upset mice. That's not too bad, considering the weather hasn't been great and I don't run a front mudguard. It's not as much as I get with my usual wet lube, but it's nice having a chain that doesn't look like it's been dipped in Marmite. Long haul types and muddy funsters will probably want something that lasts longer though. After all, who wants to lube up several times during a 600k audax?

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this stuff. When it's on the bike it keeps everything clean, smooth and quiet and the mileage is just about high enough to stop the more frequent applications from being a pain. As an added bonus it's biodegradable.

Verdict

Some lubes grasp your chain in a huge, greasy, never-ending embrace. Others tickle it gently before evaporating to a higher plane seconds later. This stuff is a pretty good compromise between the two. Not so great if you're lazy or into seriously long rides though.