This is the Fischer-Tropsch process in which gas from NG or coal is reacted in the presence of catalysts and heat into oil. Shell has been using this for some time to make motor oils. The Germans used it to produce oil and fuel during the war and South Africa perfected it to do the same during Apartheid. Nothing new.

is there much / any evidence that GTL oil is superior to high quality synthetic oils from which the crude has been distilled and purified and man made chemicals added etc etc? Odds on FL being able to provide data on GTL vs synthetic oil base showing GTL superior in performance on a bicycle chain and so that is why they went that path..... for $70 for 120ml consumer price....

@@zerofrictioncycling992 I think at least in the motor oil world, it appears that both GTL base oils and highly refined base oils are more or less functionality equivalent with no clear cut tribological benefit but I'm sure there might be economic benefits or something

based on this price, apparently not economic benefits for the consumer 🤣

thanks for sharing your real world experience. And yeah what are Pinkbike comparing too / normally riding if wet conditions is their least gunky lubricant!!! I have no idea whats going on with that testimonial as it is by design going to be gunky AF.

thanks borche - so you applied wet over the top of hot melt and ss drip ?

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Kind of, but I might have used bad wording. Let me explain it better: Immersive wax. After +-150km top up with cs ufo drip wax v2. Another 80km ride. And then cs wet weather drip wax. Basically I'm just topping up with the most suitable lube for the next ride.

ah thanks for info - i have a bottle of indoor just to test on my ergo, as its not designed at all to be any good in the zfc main test with contamination. but i would have hoped it would be clean as that is one thing people look for in indoors. that doesnt sound amazing...

all conditions is v2 / v3 . v3 is slightly improved v2, which was then re named all conditions to not confuse when wet conditions released. I use all conditions as a top up between waxes on one of my bikes, its very clean still. As will all wax drips (except wet conditions), apply, thoroughly work in, thoroughly wipe excess, allow overnight set - and UFO all conditions is one of the all time best wax drips

was only very minor change to v3 vs v2 i believe, have updated name on previous v2 test to be in line with current naming of all conditions, but havent tested v3 vs v2 so the results are still v2. v3 supposed to be improved in a couple of minor bits.

Yes i did ponder such things way back at the start, but anything that is required to work exactly the same every test for very long periods of time - there is a risk that something may occur. Ie test block 4 takes about 34 hours of machine time to complete. So that is a lot of time every test for the drip system to be dripping water at the exact same rate the entire time, every test. And so if something was to go wrong halfway through block 4, i have an invalid block 4 test. And i can just re-start the test from block 4. so then potentially weeks of test time to that point is not also scrapped and needing to be re started. In the end i needed the most robust repeatable process for the test, one that still clearly assessed a difference between wet conditions and dry conditions. the pressure spray is pretty relatively high pressure but its still only 500ml hitting the chain (over a period of 1 minute) every circa 5 hours. And water is hitting the rollers etc, so by time its deep inside chain, its not "blasting" as such - it is just a good through put of water. A lot of wet rides will see way more than 500ml of water go through the chain in a 5 hr period. So really its just a benchmark - if ones wet ride is harsher or less harsh, still comparatively a lubricant that tests strongly in zfc test vs another is extremely likely to be the stronger performer in their own wet ride. I do have an idea for a specific wet ride test more along the lines of what you are thinking that i hope to have by end of this year and look to have a more consistent wet ride only test.

@@zerofrictioncycling992 Actually, I believe a test that is unrealistically harsh is perfectly fair.

at the moment the top compatible options are UFO all conditions, Silca ss drip, and tru-tension tungsten all weather. Smoove uses a different wax base but seems to be ok re waxing over especially if one wipes excess thoroughly after applying and also if run the treatment for a decent stretch before re wax - there is very little left to trouble the re wax if it was going to cause any mix and match issues. I have done this in the past for field test and it seems to go fine. But i wouldnt recommend just re apply as top up lube multiple times between waxings as smoove will start to gunk up and its not as compatible as those using a similar very refined paraffin base. Smoove is overall a great product and a great price point so it can be good bottle to have for some things, i need to get to testing smoove again in the updated S.A.L, as a smoove prepped chain for harsh conditions would a strong option

its too tacky / messy to use a "normal" lube - use the all conditions version which is brilliant. There is no point running a wet specific lubricant which has some negative attributes re cleanliness and gunking up rapidly in its attempt to not wash off - vs running lubricants that perform brilliantly in dry conditions without that issue.

There's a review of their Flowerpower drip wax on his site

look at his charts..its the best drip wax hes tested, although immersion wax is still better..he thinks highly of it..tests great..

yes it is still the lowest wear drip lubricant tested to date, great price point overall etc - it was a real surprise. However it is a very different wax base so you cant use it with immersive waxing, and it runs visually quite black and dirty. It isnt abrasive dirty like we see with many wet lubes, but just visually - its not a clean running wax lube aesthetically. The visually dirty running and not compatible to use in between waxings has limited its market somewhat for an otherwise absolutely top product choice. Effetto are fully aware of this feedback of course from the testing, field testing and customer feedback, and i believe they are working on something new. Judging by a box of samples that rocked up, i think they have been working hard!

Thanks

@@zerofrictioncycling992 I sent you an email that you will definitely want to read at 21:52 ACST, 24th April . I sent an enquiry to EM about their Flowerpower ingredients and incompatibility. Apparently it is compatible with paraffin wax . I got the impression it was incompatible so have probably not helped EM ( oops ) 😞 . EM seem like a good company and responded very fast !

i can neither confirm nor deny if i am testing for cyclowax :)

yes correct re BN just that no lubricant yet has shown any benefit to BN at all, and especially for ceramic drip lubricants, how much is in there, and how is it forming an actual ceramic coating on all the parts of the chain - the chances of that actually happening i think are astronomical. How have the tested vibration reduction reduction from what will be extremely tiny, but apparently hollow - tungsten particles extremely tiny but not hollow tungsten particles. Saying its a stretch that they have this information will probably be the largest understatement i make in 2024

between that and recommending double-double applications to use the bottle up quicker 🙄

I mean maybe the point is to give the lube time to penetrate while it sits overnight, but it looks to me like it's so thick that's unlikely to happen. or maybe the idea is that it's supposed to be an ablative protection, and once the coating is gone from the top, it's just no longer protected