BEFORE and AFTER

We bought these cheap footstools a decade ago while shopping for stuff to set up an apartment we leased here in Sicily. The poor things have been moved/stored and beat-up ever since, including being recovered with cheap colored packing tape when the inexpensive vinyl covering faded or flaked off as you can see above.

We looked for replacements all over, but there were none to be found, so we asked around about getting 'em recovered locally. Our friends HERE who have made some custom leather bits for us over the years suggested we try a local place, Caschetti Tendaggi, so Zio rode his shopping bike over there with the top photo to see if they would recover 'em?

"Of course!" was their reply so over the course of a couple of days the two were delivered. Two weeks later we hopped on the shopping bikes so we could bring both back in one trip. We're pretty happy with the way they turned out and how simple it was to get done.

 Wax on...wax off.

Paraffin wax is obtained from petroleum by dewaxing light lubricating oil stocks. It is used in candles, wax paper, polishes, cosmetics, and electrical insulators.

Zio thought this was interesting. Regular blog readers have read his questions about the wax-cult and their claims about insane longevity of chains when wax is used instead of oil. Now a major chain maker is selling 'em pre-waxed and claims all ya gotta do is use the drip lube they sell. Just wipe the chain with a clean cloth they say and you're good to go. More details here.

Zio asked the "L. Ron Hubbard" of the wax-cult for his thoughts. I guess it should have been no surprise that "Friction Fiction" went off on a rant about how removing/degreasing/boiling your chain in wax is the greatest thing ever and anyone who questions this is a moron, or in his words - a "flat earther". We'll note here that NO chain or component maker that Zio knows of recommends removing your chain for cleaning, let alone taking all the original lubricant off and boiling it in wax. Most seem to warn against removing the chain except to replace it with a new one.

And let's not forget a chain (like a tire or brake pad) is a "service-item" that has a lifespan and should be replaced when it gets to its service-limit. Chain makers give a elongation measurement for replacement, saying if you exceed it you risk damaging other drivetrain components.

Zio's guess is if one could buy a pre-waxed chain and maintain it simply by wiping and dripping on some of the same wax, "Friction"s sales of bags o'wax pellets, etc. would probably tank, right?

But it got Zio to thinking about this more, ending up here for some comparisons taken from "Friction"s own website.

Zio notes the top performing drip lube in the "cost per run" charts is a product* that sells for $7.50 an ounce! Yep, ONE ounce! While the "cost per run" may not be as good as the immersive waxing scheme, Zio's not gonna bother doing that so he didn't bother with the chart showing those results.

But it makes him wonder how a drip lube that costs 68 cents an ounce and so far (3000+ kms) has netted 0 wear on a new 13 speed chain would rate? 

But Zio's guess is "Friction" will NEVER test MOBIL 1 SHC 75/90 because it's not marketed as a chain lube and would quite likely put a big dent in his entire wax-cult program. And as noted above, don't forget WAX comes from petroleum so the cultists who insist it's all so environmentally-friendly vs a few drops of oil on your chain are pulling-your-leg.

Finally, there's the issue of WHAT is the economy here? A new 12 speed chain sells for around $50** online. So if you double the life of yours you're saving $50, right? Triple the life and you save $100. But if you have to spend $50 on a bag o' wax + $100 on a "system" to boil your chain in wax + solvent and maybe ultrasonic cleaning equipment to take the grease off before you can do the waxing, not to mention the time involved with it all - WHERE is the savings vs just dripping some oil on now and then and cleaning the drivetrain when you wash the bike?

It's hard for ol' Zio not to see this as one of those "Save $ by buying my expensive stuff" schemes even if the claims of chain longevity are 100% true and accurate, but as they say "your results may vary".

* To be fair, this product's maker claims it contains no petroleum products, the "wax" is made from plant materials.

**Friction claims "we have cassettes at $700+ (my t-type xxsl is $1100 aud), chains are now up to $260 aud for a t-type xxsl. Chain rings like sram red with integrated power meter can be $1500 to $2000aud+" which may well be true, but it kind of illustrates the stupidity of "saving money by using my expensive products" and makes Zio wonder what these people are doing that justifies this kind of expense? He remembers back-in-the-day special aluminum freewheels and titanium chains, but those were "world record attempt" limited-use things. Friction certainly knows his customers better than Zio and maybe they're happy spending this kind of dough and his immersive waxing regimen seems cheap in comparison?

RIP Gianni Savio

 RIP Gianni Savio

Savio (R) with Heather and Paolo Alberati (L)

You almost couldn't watch a race in Italy on TV and not see Gianni Savio if his team was in the race! Somehow the TV camera always caught him around the finish area, often holding up the arm of one of his riders who had won the race.

A dear friend of ours from Bergamo worked for various Savio teams over the years and Giacomo found us at Letour where he was working for a combo team with 3 of Gianni's ZG riders combined with some from Telekom. We marveled at the less-than-top-tier equipment they had, laughing that our tour guests had better equipment but certainly not high-quality legs!

Here's a great obituary for Savio.And our blog post from the last time we saw him is here.

RIP Savio. A guy who certainly put sport before commerce!

Catching Up 2025

 Wow, is it 2025 already?

As they say, time flies when you're having fun? No blog post for almost a month?

OK, so let's catch up: Day after Xmas we caught a plane to Rome. Capitoline Museum and great food for a day before we got on a flight from Rome to Los Angeles. 14 hours! AGGHHHHH!

Visit with Heather's family while Zio got to visit some friends at family south of Santa Barbara

Sadly, Tony Bonello, Zio's long-time friend (above) wasn't there anymore. He'd passed away the very morning Zio showed-up looking for him at his pizza joint.

RIP Tony

We spent New Year's Eve in Santa Barbara and we're back in Sicily now, Heather's got an academic conference going while we both recover from flying 9 time zones west followed by 9 time zones east...all in barely a week!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Inflation - the good kind!

 CYCPLUS e-pump

OK, Zio hears ya - "WTF? How lazy do you have to be to use one of these?"

Lazy (or not) isn't the point. What IS the point is the difficulty of mounting a frame pump (one YOU have to pump) onto modern bicycles. Our e-gravel bikes didn't offer much of a way to carry a full-sized frame pump (though Zio later managed to squeeze one in on his) so it was a Silca Tattico mini-pump or nothing.

With gravel tires of 38 mm, it takes some pumping even with a frame pump (let alone a mini) to get up to working pressure, so this gizmo looked interesting when Zio saw it here. Thanks Pez!

It inflated tires just fine in the shop, though on-the-road test waits for the next flat. Zio had some concerns about how charged-up the thing would stay in the seat pack, but today pulled it out and turned it on...seemed like it would have pumped up several tires before he got tired of the racket and shut it off. Recharged in 15 minutes and went back in the seat pack. Seems like it'll stay ready-to-go in-between recharging the e-bike battery so when it's time for that, it's time to recharge CYCPLUS.

Pez has the details if you want one for yourself or maybe under the holiday tree?

Thanksgiving 2024

 Happy Thanksgiving!

We're thankful for a lot of stuff, too much to list here, so maybe just the fact we can ride bikes around in shorts and short sleeves to work-up an appetite?

Heather whipped-up a traditional meal, turkey with all the trimmings despite nobody in Italy knowing or caring much about this holiday.

Hope yours was great too!!!

NAPOLI!

 Quick visit to Napoli

Nick, one of the "sons we never had" along with his lovely wife Sara visited Italy last week. Zio flew up to Roma and hopped a high-speed train down to Napoli to meet them. We stayed at the Excelsior, the hotel used by Tony Soprano's crew when they visited...one of Zio's favorite episodes.

And unlike Tony and crew PIZZA was on our menu. Gino Sorbillo has a place just down the street!!!

The next day we walked around, stopping for cappuccino at Gambrinus. Sadly, the inside was closed for a private function but we did get to look around a bit before being seated outside.

And the cappuccino was still good.

But for the REAL espresso, it's MEXICO!

Followed by more walking around, including the historic center where "Harry & Leather" lived during her Fulbright program, including the bakery where Zio got his daily bread, a slice of what he called "Pac-Man" as you can see above.

There was also a stop at the MANN for culture of a non-edible variety, dinner at Umberto, even more pizza and a few sfogliatelle before we climbed on a high-speed train back to Rome where Zio got off to catch his flight back to Sicily while the "Ducatisti" continued on to Milano for their return flight the following morning.

Now Zio will start lobbying for their next tour of Italy, further south to Cilento, Basilicata, Puglia and maybe a pop over to Siracusa to visit Zio?

Arrivederci amici!