Muc-Off is now selling chains pre-treated with the company’s Nanotube Speed Film, a treatment developed specifically for Bradley Wiggins’ hour record. Like similar products already on the market, these chains are pitched at racers but should please anyone looking to draw marginal gains from their drivetrain.
The friction-reducing treatment, which Muc-Off claims can deliver power savings of up to 6 watts, is also said to provide more than 400 miles of dry weather lubrication or 250+ miles in wet and muddy conditions. They also claim that there's not sharp drop-off in performance, as can be the case with speed-optimised chains treated with dry wax.
Related: Home Wrench – Scrub that chain, save money and gain speed
Each chain gets hand treated with the Nanotube formula
While they don't reveal much about this treatment, the Nanotube Speed Film is said to contain a new 'military-grade additive', driven deep into each chain link for 100% coverage.
The new chains are aimed at all riders – road, track, triathlon and mountain bikers – and are ready to go straight out of the box, coming in Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo variants.
In Muc-Off’s own words, "Each chain is painstakingly speed graded and run-in under load during which data is taken to find its optimum. Now it’s sonic cleaned in several formulas and hand treated with the Nanotube formula, then nanotube particles are applied."
The black finish of a Nanotube-treated chain means you probably won’t be able to distinguish it from a regular, untreated component
Once it’s time to clean the chain, Muc-Off recommends these chains are topped up with a Nanotube Speed Film Lube that’ll soon be available via the Muc-Off website.
According to Muc-Off, this should bring the chain back to within 1-2 watts of its optimum figure and, although you won’t be able to get it working as well as when it was new, it'll apparently be good for many more hundreds of miles of ‘ultimate speed’.
Each chain is powder-treated for optimum coverage
All of this tech doesn’t come cheap, naturally: Nanotube optimised chains start at £135 for Shimano (US and Australian pricing TBC), while SRAM and Campagnolo versions are priced at £137 and £140 respectively. More info here.
We'll be handing one over to our BikeRadar time trialists as soon as we get one in, watch this space…
Will you be buying one of the new super-fast Muc-Off chains? Let us know in the comments below.
