The Tester Approves thread (see first post)

FWIW (not a lot) the OE pads which I haven't felt moved to change are KoolStop Salmon on the TT bike and SwissStop GHP on the road bike.

Thanks for the suggestions, all.

Although anything would be better than these:

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Swissstop green shirley?

Wouldn't recommend that.

@TW

The BXP (Swissstop Blue) is the one to go for as it's comparable to the Koolstop Salmon, they have the best braking performance in both dry and wet.

The Swissstop Green are harder wearing and design to last longer for a decent braking performance, great for winter bike, however the downside to this is that it accelerate rims wear, not so good if you have expensive rims.

@mdcc_tester approved 26.2mm seatpost in 350 or 400mm length?
Sorry if this has been covered.

Kalloy surely?

Kalloy

Or whatever it's branded by the distributor, but mostly model SP248.

Thank you both.

Is there a tester approved chain oil/wax/lube? Had a search of the thread and could only see a mention of using diesel.

In winter I use this

http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-hp-146-chainsaw-oil-1ltr/27933?kpid=27933&cmmmc=Google--Product%20Listing%20Ads--Sales%20Tracking--sales%20tracking%20url&gclid=CLXMvuH5-NACFc277Qodj3MHxg

Is there a tester approved chain oil/wax/lube?

Degrease and apply paraffin wax for racing. If you're being tarty, add some MoS₂ powder to the mix. If you're being very tarty, use WS₂ instead. Next level tartiness is nano-divided WS₂ and vacuum impregnation. If you're lazy, just spray it with Boeshield T9 when it starts to squeak.

Is Promax a rebranded Kalloy or a manufacturer in itself?

Approved MoS2 sauce?

Approved MoS2 sauce?

Calcium soap, any kind of oil, 2.5-5% MoS₂ by weight, season to taste with corrosion inhibitors.

Or did you mean source? In which case, take your pick from ebay sellers because it's not easy to find in quantities under 1lb/0.5kg from industrial suppliers, and you're unlikely to want more than a tenth of that unless you're setting up as a chain fettling shop.

Is Promax a rebranded Kalloy or a manufacturer in itself?

This Promax? They seem to be a design shop attached to a distributor, I expect their manufacturing is all contracted out to China (either variety). They might by chance have picked Kalloy as their seatpost manufacturing subcontractor, but there's no reason to suspect that.

How do you apply / heat your paraffin? What do you use to clean it first?

How do you apply / heat your paraffin? What do you use to clean it first?

You need a non-polar solvent to degrease the chain, such as white spirit or xylene. Avoid sources of ignition unless you enjoy being killed in the face with fire, and work with plenty of ventilation unless you like waking up 3 days later with the worst hangover of your life.

You can melt wax in a saucepan on the stove. Don't overheat it unless you still like fiery death.

Make sure all of your solvent has evaporated before throwing the chain into the molten wax, unless you like explosions, fiery death and large insurance claims.

In theory, you can dissolve wax in xylene to avoid cookery, but I haven't tried this so I don't know how many weeks you'll have to wait for the solvent to evaporate.

Seriously, unless you're trying to extract the last Watt of marginal gains, just spray some T9 on it and save yourself a lot of trouble.

trying to extract the last Watt of marginal gains

Srs commute is srs

You need a non-polar solvent to degrease the chain, such as white spirit or xylene.

Why non-polar? I've found that solvents such as MEK do a very good job of degreasing chains. Obvs, I'd be very happy to find myself in possession of a 50 litre can of trike, but it appears to be even more hard to get hold of than decent dichloromethane-based paint stripper. MEK, on the other hand, while alarmingly volatile, seems reasonably easy to source.

P.S. Have T9. Not as good as Chain-L. IME.

Have T9. Not as good as Chain-L

Anything that's packaged like this can fuck right off however good it is :)

Obviously there's more than one way to skin this particular cat, so don't assume that what I like is the only good solution.

Why non-polar?

Dissolves aliphatic compounds better, but removing factory chain grease is not a tough job and pretty much anything will work well enough, including but not limited to meths, IPA, limonene, detergents, acetone and probably tap water if you have an ultrasonic bath and time on your hands. Xylene is about the same price as MEK, but if you already have some other viable solvent there's no need to add to your chemical stores.

Perfect, cheers!

They're a proper manufacturer - also go under the name of Leechi. They make the BB series of cable pull disc brake for Avid (http://www.leechi.com.tw/index.php?language=en

Promax/Box Components US is an offshot but mainly BMX focused - run by ex-BMXer Toby Henderson (THE designs)

Koolstop salmons. I get on well with aztec pads as well.

Tester approved 10/11sp 46/36T chainrings for cyclocross?

1st priority is value for money, 2nd is the colour black.
These will only come in 110bcd right?