I feel slightly guilty for criticising Green Oil. I rated their basic lube, and they have so far managed to combine impeccable eco-credentials with products that actually work - and work well. However, their latest offering, White Super Dry Chain Wax, is far from impressive.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of this type of lube. It gives you a chain that runs very clean and is easy to wash, but unless you ride track or have a fair weather TT bike it generally wears off too easily to be useful.
As is the way of these things, applying the lube is a tricky process. It's very thin, basically a beeswax lube in a plant-based ethanol carrier. In theory, the ethanol washes over your chain, leaving the wax behind. In practice, what usually happens is that you end up squirting the stuff over chain, chainstays, wheels, cranks and floor. I got around this by holding a pad of kitchen roll under the chain as the lube went on. It's still wasteful but at least you don't get the stuff everywhere. It dries out quite quickly - Green Oil recommend leaving it at least seven minutes in cold weather - leaving a whitish residue over the chain.
At first I put it on a brand new chain, fresh from its very first clean. For over 200 miles it ran quiet and smooth. I was impressed. Had I written this review straight away I'd have been saying lots of nice things. Sadly, the chain was attached to the Dawes Century SE that I was testing (great bike: go and buy one) so it had to go back before I could give the White Super Dry Chain Wax a more vigorous thrashing.
So, after a thorough cleaning, I stuck it on my daily workhorse. Did I get 200 miles? No. I got two commutes, which is barely 30. I applied a fresh load, reasoning that the previous chain must have had remnants of factory grease left in the rollers, a luxury that my workhorse bike's chain certainly doesn't have. Again, I got around 30 miles. Thirty (dry) miles is a pitiful performance by anyone's standards. The next load I applied didn't even get me to work before it wore off. I was hoping that repeated applications would eventually build up within the rollers, but this didn't happen. Eventually I gave up, having used almost the whole bottle.
It's possible we had a faulty sample, with too much ethanol carrier and not enough actual lube. It's equally possible that this is just ineffective. Sorry, Green Oil chaps, but this is by far the worst lube I've ever used. One to avoid.
Verdict
Green Oil usually make a good lube. This chain wax is absolutely useless
road.cc test report
Make and model: Green Oil White Super Dry Chain Wax
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
Blurb - "White is a super dry wax lube. White creates a dry lubricating layer of wax on your chain, protecting and lubricating, without attracting dust or dirt."
Dry. Yes,dry is definitely the word...
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
"White has been in development for more than a year. Part of the challenge was keeping the formula biodegradable, in accordance with Green Oil UK's company ethos. To do this, we use within the formula bees wax, replacing conventional paraffin or petrochemical wax. This ensures production is more sustainable. During development, we used a solvent which was biodegradable, though produced using petrochemicals. The launch was delayed in order to find a natural alternative."
A plant based ethanol is now used, which is not only biodegradable, but made using EU grown sugar. Other ingredients are plant based and the whole formula is biodegradable."
Rate the product for performance:
2/10
Didn't seem to last any time at all.
Rate the product for durability:
1/10
Laughable, even for a lube that isn't designed to last for very long.
Rate the product for value:
2/10
After barely 300 miles, I've almost finished the bottle.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
It doesn't.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
The eco-cred counts for nothing if the product doesn't work...
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
It didn't work.
Did you enjoy using the product? No
Would you consider buying the product? No
Would you recommend the product to a friend? No
Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?
Back to the drawing board chaps, this stuff doesn't work.
Age: 41 Height: 5' 8 Weight: er....86kg
I usually ride: Kona Dew Drop My best bike is: Guess SC1 scandium
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Experienced
I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, Audax and long distance solo rides
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