Flaer Revo Via

Flaer's Revo Via is an automatic chain-lubing system. It works. Unless you're a pro/elite road racer or a long-distance triathlete, it's hard to see how you'd be able to justify the £250 outlay given the very minor efficiency gains. As such, it's pretty difficult to recommend, although it does do what it's designed to do.

In essence this is a lubricant reservoir and battery-powered pump, a tube, and an applicator that dribbles the specific Via Fluid lubricant onto the chain via the jockey wheel. There are three levels of lubrication available via the press of a button on the reservoir. The system dispenses 0.03ml of lube at a time and it'll do so every 30, 90 or 150 seconds depending on the setting. The lubricant itself is designed to be washable and biodegradable, so the lubricant is continually replaced on the chain as you ride. The reservoir will last between 7.5 and 37.5 hours depending on which mode you're in.

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Fitting the Revo Via system is easy enough. You need to replace the bolt holding your lower jockey wheel with one that Flaer supplies, then attach the lubricating nozzle and run the tube back to the reservoir. I fitted mine on a plate that sits underneath a bottle cage; you can see me doing so in this video.

Once you've got it all set up it's just a case of remembering to turn it on at the start of a ride, and making sure that the lubrication mode is right for the conditions: less if it's dry, more if it's wet. And off you go!

Does it work? Yes, it works. The pump sends the lube to the chain and the chain stays lubed. In the wet the lube washes off more easily than a sticky wet lube, but that means your chain is cleaner and if you're pumping enough fluid it'll still be running smoothly. If it's drier then you need to remember to set the application rate lower; if you're riding in the sun and the Revo Via is set to lube every 30 seconds then the chain can get swamped.

When you get back from a ride and hose your bike down and give the transmission a scrub it's noticeably easier to remove than standard lubes that are designed to be a bit more tenacious.

Is it worth it? Probably not. How much would you spend to save 12W of power? To me, £250 sounds like an awful lot. That 12W is the best that you'll see, according to Flaer; actually the graph on its website suggests maximum losses of a chain system at around 12W, with the Flaer keeping them hovering at around 5W, so according to its own graph it's a 7W gain, not 12W. We don't have the wherewithal here to do empirical testing to check. If those numbers are accurate, the saving at the start of a ride, with a properly lubricated chain, will be zero; if conditions are good they will probably hover around zero for the length of your ride.

If the weather's not so favourable then you'd expect the losses associated with friction to mount as the lube got washed off. But for the Flaer system to have any benefit you'll need to be riding long enough in bad conditions – several hours – without any option to stop. That more or less narrows the demographic down to professional/elite athletes (Orica-Scott are using the system) and long-distance triathletes. If you're on a long sportive, or an audax, or you're racing the Transcontinental, stopping is a part of the ride, and re-applying lube is simply a case of having some with you. At a sportive you might even get a little sample of lube in the goody bag.

> How to clean and lube your chain

Let's assume the average efficiency saving is 3.5W, zero at the start and 7W at the end. We've seen gloves that claim more than that, and certainly bike fitting, skinsuits, bongo hats, shoe covers and the like should be on your list ahead of the Revo Via. If you've exhausted all those options in your ruthless quest for efficiency and you really can't stop to re-lube then this is going to be worth a look. Otherwise, lube your chain well before you leave and lob a sample tube in your pocket if you think you might need it, and you'll not go far wrong.

Verdict

It's a system that works, but it's very niche and expensive