Choosing a Drip Wax: Which One Is Right for You?
We stock three drip waxes: Tru-Tension Tungsten All Weather, KMC Go Wax and CeramicSpeed UFO Drip All Conditions. All three keep a chain cleaner and running more smoothly than a traditional wet oil lube. Each one makes a different trade-off, though, and the right choice depends on how and where you ride.
Book a ServiceThe trade-off: easy to live with vs. clean
The simplest way to choose is to picture a sliding scale.
Easiest to live with: Tru-Tension, then KMC Go Wax, then UFO Drip.
Cleanest in use: UFO Drip, then KMC Go Wax, then Tru-Tension.
"Easy to live with" means forgiving. The lube copes with rain and with a bike that gets put away wet. "Clean" means the chain picks up less grime, stays quieter and faster, and leaves less black gunk on your drivetrain (and your hands).
The two pull in opposite directions because of oil. More oil in the lube means better protection against water and rust, but oil also holds on to dirt. Less oil means a cleaner chain with less protection.
What the independent testing shows
Zero Friction Cycling (ZFC) in Australia runs the most thorough public chain lube test we know of, and has tested more than 60 lubes. Each one runs on a test rig in 1,000 km stages: clean running, dry dust, clean running, wet grit, clean running, then an extreme stage with double the water and grit. The chain is never cleaned, only re-lubed as the maker directs. ZFC measures how much the chain wears in each stage. Low wear means the lube kept the grit out and kept working, and a chain that isn't wearing is a chain that isn't wasting your effort to friction.
The figures below show how much of a chain's working life was used up in each stage, where 100% is a chain worn to the 0.5% replacement mark. Lower is better.
| Stage (1,000 km each) | Tru-Tension Tungsten All Weather | UFO Drip All Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Clean | 14% | 2% |
| 2. Dry dust | 10% | 3% |
| 3. Clean | 12% | under 1% |
| 4. Wet grit | 31% | 32% |
| 5. Clean | 18% | 17% |
| Total after 5,000 km | 85% | 56% |
| 6. Extreme wet grit | 32% | 37% |
Figures are rounded. Both lubes were re-applied at the same standard intervals.
To put those totals in context, the average lube ZFC has tested had used up 151% by the end of stage 5. In other words, it had already worn out one chain and was halfway through a second. Both of ours used less than one chain over the whole 5,000 km. Of more than 60 lubes ranked over the full 6,000 km, UFO Drip All Conditions placed 18th and Tru-Tension 22nd, and most of the places above them are taken by immersive (hot-melt) waxes rather than drip lubes.
What the numbers tell you:
KMC Go Wax has not been tested by ZFC.
Tru-Tension Tungsten All Weather: the easy one
Tru-Tension has the highest paraffin oil content of the three, which makes it the most forgiving. If you get caught in the rain and leave the bike overnight, the chain is unlikely to rust.
It also does well in ZFC's testing, particularly in dusty conditions: its chain wore less during the dust stage than during the clean stage before it. In its detailed review ZFC rated it 10/10 as a harsh-conditions lube and 8 to 9 out of 10 as an everyday lube, and found it easy to strip clean when you want to.
The trade-off: ZFC found it very clean for a drip lube, but of our three it is the one that will show the most grime.
KMC Go Wax: the middle ground
KMC Go Wax is much less oily than Tru-Tension, so it stays noticeably cleaner. It is also very tenacious: it clings to the chain and lasts a long time between applications. We have run it for more than 400 km on a single application, well beyond what UFO Drip manages.
The trade-off: because it sticks so well, it is harder to clean off when you want to strip the chain back to bare metal. It also has less rust protection than Tru-Tension, so it is worth drying the chain after a wet ride.
KMC Go Wax has not yet been independently tested by Zero Friction Cycling, so its place on the scale is based on our own workshop experience.
UFO Drip All Conditions: the clean, fast one
UFO Drip is almost pure wax that sets to a hard, dry coating. Of the three it is the fastest and the cleanest, and the closest you can get to an immersive (hot-melt) waxed chain without the pot and the hassle. In ZFC's testing it caused almost no chain wear at all in clean and dusty riding.
The trade-offs: you give up mileage for that speed and cleanliness. ZFC estimates a single application lasts around 300 km on dry roads, around 150 km on dry gravel or trails, and as little as 50 km in wet, muddy conditions before wear starts to climb. It needs time to set after applying, so lube the night before a ride. And because there is almost no oil in it, it gives next to no rust protection. A chain left wet after a rainy ride can rust quickly, so dry it and re-lube soon after riding in the wet.
Quick guide
Ride in all weathers, store the bike outside, or don't want to think about it? Choose Tru-Tension Tungsten All Weather.
Want long life between applications and a fairly clean chain? Choose KMC Go Wax.
Want the fastest, cleanest chain, and don't mind re-lubing more often and drying the chain after wet rides? Choose UFO Drip All Conditions.
Getting the best from any drip wax
Start with a clean chain. Drip waxes work best on a chain that has been fully degreased, including the factory grease on a new chain. Putting wax over old oil lube mixes the two and loses most of the benefit.
Give it time to dry. Apply the night before a ride where you can, and follow the drying time on the bottle.
Don't mix lubes. If you switch products, strip the chain clean first.
Re-lube little and often. Don't wait for the chain to squeak.
Test data: Zero Friction Cycling main test data (October 2026) and ZFC's detailed review of Tru-Tension Tungsten All Weather (2020).
Not sure which to choose?
Ask us when you book. We stock all three in the workshop.