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Rex Race Day Spray bottles DIY chain optimization

Rex Race Day Spray shows how to reduce bicycle chain friction with easy DIY treatment
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Rex Race Day Spray shows how to reduce bicycle chain friction with easy DIY treatment

With expensive options like CeramicSpeed’s UFO chain and Muc-Off’s Nanochain wearing off quickly and leaving you with a standard (albeit high end) chain, Finland’s Rex took their decades of ski wax experience and created a complete system for optimizing your bicycle chain in a much more economical manner. And claim better performance, too.

Rex Race Day Spray is a fluorocarbon spray that they claim maintains a minimum 3 watt savings over six hours of riding in adverse conditions, and it lasts for a few hundred kilometers. In testing done by Wheel Energy, it also reduced chain noise by 1db for five hours and it only gained 0.5 watts of friction over a 7 hour test designed to simulate spring classics races’ wet conditions.

 

Rex Race Day Spray bicycle chain optimization lube

The watts savings are compared to using a standard wet chain lube that wears off/down over the course of a 3-5 hour race. Each bottle provides three full chain applications, and a can retails for $94.90 / €79,90.

RDS is designed to work with their Domestique Chain Lube specifically and is not a lube in itself, so you’ll need to completely degrease your chain apply their lube first. After that, you can add more of their chain lube as needed, saving the other RDS applications for big races. The lube is wax based, with high PTFE and fluorocarbon content, but without any solvents, so it’s 100% lube. Meaning a little goes a long way, with recommended application being only 1g for a complete chain.

These two products are part of their complete line, including a high PTFE & fluorocarbon Assembly Grease and a 100% biodegradable, non-alkaline Bicycle Wash. All of their products are made in their own factory in Hartola, Finland.

Rex.fi

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29 Comments
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TEFLON DON
TEFLON DON
6 years ago

Is this just more expensive PTFE fluoro oil sold by Finish Line for $11 per bottle?

Jonathon
Jonathon
6 years ago

$100 chain lube!!?
Or you can buy a pound of the best stuff of the market for $20, Molten Speed wax, and a $9 crock pot, and have a faster cleaner chain. You can seriously rub white socks on a waxed chain and show how incredible a waxed setup is over anything else, and it’s more efficient!

Collin Snyder
Collin Snyder
6 years ago

Sounded cool until you find out it costs $95. I’ll spend $9 on some squirt lube and use the money I saved for lots of beer.

Allan
Allan
6 years ago
Reply to  Collin Snyder

Yup, if you are gonna use wax, I’ve found nothing better than Squirt. Liquid enough to get in all the moving bits, then dries to a hard candy shell.

ElPablo
ElPablo
6 years ago
Reply to  Allan

Does it actually dry at all? The surface is always tacky and never completely dry. It is a wax/water emulsion and while it does work well, it still turns to mess while riding and is not completely dry.

joellallement230368@gmail.com
joellallement230368@gmail.com
6 years ago
Reply to  ElPablo

I have tested all the wax brands on the Belgian market and the Morgan Blue Dry Wax (New Formula) appears to be the best in all weather conditions and surely for the long distance (+250km)!

Cristi Sarbu
Cristi Sarbu
6 years ago

Olive oil!

Superstar Components
6 years ago

3 watts over a whole race…. try breathing to theside rather than forwards would save you more!

idiotic

Allan
Allan
6 years ago

My new favorite thing now is how many watts Product X will save you. Buy my wheels, save 5 watts and 40 seconds in a TT! 3 watts for the chain lube! 5 watts for using 1X!

Grams and watts, the two biggest selling factors in cycling equipment…

Greg
Greg
6 years ago

breathing to the side! great idea! I’m going to market a mask where you suck air from the front and when you exhale, two side ports open. Breath propulsion!

blah blah blah
blah blah blah
6 years ago
Reply to  Greg

those two side ports better swivel on ceramic speed bearings

vic
vic
6 years ago

But can I put thi sstuff on pulleys for even more watt savings?

GuyOnMTB
GuyOnMTB
6 years ago

I use the Finishline Teflon spray in dry conditions. When wet I use Finishline Bananas(smell; forgot name). I don’t rep for dollars, Finishline is just the popular chain lube of stores in the area. I’ve found that exposed chains on any tech needs regular maintenance for chain longevity. So I don’t really worry about how long the lube will stay with the chain as I don’t tour(yet) and I clean up the drivechain after every visit to the forest. –Note; I do not use solvents to clean the chain. I lube the chain heavily, wipe the drive and chain clean, then lube again.

Thesteve4761
Thesteve4761
6 years ago
Reply to  GuyOnMTB

So, you do use solvent. It’s just part of your lube.

Surly Will
Surly Will
6 years ago
Reply to  GuyOnMTB

The chain killers are the contaminants that are suspended in the old lube. If you don’t remove the lube, you don’t remove the contaminants.

Now here is another mind blower, lube actually has little benefit to a clean chain: http://pages.jh.edu/~news_info/news/home99/aug99/bike.html

[i]”The role of the lubricant, as far as we can tell, is to take up space so that dirt doesn’t get into the chain,” Spicer says. “The lubricant is essentially a clean substance that fills up the spaces so that dirt doesn’t get into the critical portions of the chain where the parts are very tightly meshed. But in lab conditions, where there is no dirt, it makes no difference. On the road, we believe the lubricant mostly assumes the role of keeping out dirt, which could very well affect friction in the drive train.”[/i]

After I read this … I returned to wet lubes and cleaned my chain after any ride involving mud splash. That increased chain longevity and protected my cassettes and chainrings from “chain stretch”.

slackers
slackers
6 years ago

Use it as a chamois butter for even better power performance!

lop
lop
6 years ago

Just put some lube on your chain and ride, (deleted).

vaccum
vaccum
6 years ago

Everyone seems to be glossing over the specific RACE DAY mandate of this product. This is not a daily-use product. If you earn a living racing or if winning is really important to you, then yes, this small gain will matter. They aren’t idiots for making the product. The only idiots are the ones focusing on a singular aspect of the product as its defining value criterion.

Jonathon
Jonathon
6 years ago
Reply to  vaccum

The rare rider that can earn an actual living from racing likely doesn’t have a choice, and the other pro riders that barely make any money wouldn’t drop $100 on an overpriced chain lube. This is a product for dentists.

Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
6 years ago
Reply to  vaccum

C’mon the only guys who are racing for a living are not going to buy this if anything they’ll get it for free if they’re sponsored but if they’re like most cat 1’s/low level domestic pros I’ve met the $$$ would be used for gas to get to races or food. Let’s be honest this is for age group triathletes fooling themselves.

Surly Will
Surly Will
6 years ago
Reply to  vaccum

The guys racing MTBs for a living can’t afford hotel rooms, they live out of their cars. Unless the company gives it away or a sponsor buys it for their racers, they aren’t going to buy it.

ELEVEN_g
6 years ago

WD40… the original, not their ‘bike’ stuff. Swear by it and continue to do so, 20 years on!

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
6 years ago
Reply to  ELEVEN_g

And you’ve beaten your grandpa in every field sprint since!!!

Thesteve4761
Thesteve4761
6 years ago
Reply to  Veganpotter

His grandpa was a badass!

Darryl Duck
6 years ago

Spray bottle is short for ‘everywhere but where it is needed’.

Mikey
Mikey
6 years ago

I’ve used their chain lube for about a year now and I’m really impressed with it. It costs about the same as a Muc-Off C3 bottle, but has about double the mileage in all conditions (compared to dry and wet C3). Friction Facts also proved it’s slippery. The only negative thing is it’s tricky to apply, very thick stuff.

The spray is a very different thing. I think the purpose and price is similar to fluoro powders in XC skiing (=only used on that most important race of the year if you have to use your own money).

Collin Snyder
Collin Snyder
6 years ago
Reply to  Mikey

@Mikey, yes in XC skiing, wax will make or break your race, but in bike racing, the equivalent would be like putting mountain bike tires on your road bike (They’d fit on a 3T bike) for a crit. The wrong chain lube for 99% of conditions isn’t going to end your chances for a podium.

johnnyboy
johnnyboy
6 years ago

LOL. 1dB noise reduction? The human ear can only notice a 3dB change in noise level. $100 for 3 lube jobs as well is just insane, but I’m sure they will find some buyers.

Robin
Robin
6 years ago
Reply to  johnnyboy

Supporting data please.

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