If you’re going to buy the “world’s fastest chain”, you’re going to want to use the fastest lube, right? Ceramic Speed and Squirt are teaming up to make it easier to prolong the UFO chain’s optimization for race days.
Spin past the break and see how, and for how long, all of this works….
Back in May we covered the announcement of CeramicSpeed, well known for their high speed long lasting ceramic bearings, acquiring “UltraFast Optimization” (UFO), from Friction Facts, an independent testing lab in Boulder, CO. The UFO chain is a standard top-shelf chain from Sram, Campagnolo, KMC or Shimano that has been “Optimized”. To Optimize a chain, they first break it in & clean it, apply their wax coating, and finish it off with a coating of Teflon powder. This “Optimization” is said to decrease enough drivetrain friction to allow an additional 2 – 5 watts to make it from your foot to the rear wheel, (which is significant during a long race considering how close top contenders’ fitness levels are). The maximum performance from the optimization treatment is said to last about 200 miles and is to only be used in dry conditions due to the wet and grimy conditions wearing off the treatment.
After testing numerous lubes, the Friction Facts Lab determined that Squirt’s wax-based lube was the fastest drip lube and are now including a 15ml bottle of Squirt lube with every chain. Once the 200 miles of “maximum performance” wears off, CeramicSpeed says that by adding the Squirt Lube to the UFO chain, the traces of optimization left on the chain are stimulated even further, resulting in an upgraded and high-quality training chain. The chain itself then wears out just like any run of the mill un-optimized chain. Depending on which chain, the UFO chains will retail $129 to $165 (€115 to €149).
