I bought my first YBN chain, and just pulled it out of the Silca hot wax this morning. I'm not sure I hot-waxed it right though, but I'll try it out this weekend.
I cleaned out the wax container yesterday since I thought that the Silca wax was contaminated. I thought that because at the bottom of it, once it was all melted, I could stir up a very black particulate that made the whole solution black.
So I cleaned that out, added new wax, and with the new wax beads only partially melted I put the cleaned and dried chain on top of the beads overnight. Pulled it out to a clear coating of wax, but in pulling it out the black particulate stirred up again. So apparently that black particulate belongs there, but it was not suspended in the wax when I waxed the chain - so very little, perhaps none, of it got into the chain rollers. Well, it's gonna have to be OK with what it got so far - I have a small trip to take this weekend that won't have particularly challenging riding, and I'd like to test that new chain out.
YBN vs. SRAM chain: a lot more play when new for the side-to-side movement. The YBN feels like a worn chain would from another maker. To that end, I guess that that is why the YBN is recommended for a more efficient 12 speed drivetrain (severe angles being wattage wastes with tighter chains), where-as SRAM chains are recommended for a longer-lasting, albeit less efficient, chain. But for the price of the YBN vs. the X01 chain, it might be worth it just in the cost of having prepped (waxed) chains to rotate through.
