It's so clean. I use a drip-on wax from Squirt, and not having to use degreaser to clean the bike is amazing. I don't care if it gives me 10W or takes 10W, clean hands and calves are worth it.
Yes the chain stays cleaner but I find the major difference is not the product I'm using but rather my behaviour towards my chain state. I'm checking it much more frequently than when I was using oil and so it gets much more care, pretty sure you could get the same result with oil but it's just more messy. I still use oil for my indoor trainer bike which doesn't get outside because waxing would bring very little benefit there
If you have to store your bike in your living space and not in a shed or basement, the biggest advantage is that everything is so clean and you don't bring any black gunk into your home.
@@Flym4n111 Same here with Squirt and the advantages but when I went with the Silca system, it switched the game up several notches especially with their new Endurance additive. More expensive to get into the system but once you've made the upgrade you'll never look back :-)
EXACTLY the same experience for me - I've got ten years of cycling on you LOL and I'l never go back either. The Silca system is rather expensive to get into but it's well thought out and works to a fair thee well. Their extended use "ENDURANCE" wax additive I think you will find VERY addictive :-)
@@jakebrakebill Agree. We all started out with an oiled chain. Just like we all started out on a tricycle. Neither of these things are bad, They’re just less efficient. What ever degree of efficiency you’re happy with is fine. Personal choice. Friction occurs when people refuse to accept proven or demonstrable efficiencies… could be cleanliness, impact on wear, impact on friction etc. It’s like saying things “fall up, not down”, which is a regressive form of thinking that does a disservice to the truth and riders.
@@paulgrimshaw8334 I'm always behind the curve because I want to see how things work out in the public sector more than a lab. Waxing is like the first index shifter, then the first brake lever shifters, now wireless shifters, it's been a game changer for me.
I started using wax approximately 1 year ago and will never go back to oils. Having a clean bike is so nice and it makes travelling with the bike much nicer as a result (less mess). I don’t find it difficult or annoying and if there are also performance gains and component life gains, bonus!
I think the cleanliness is a benefit that doesn’t get enough attention. I use super secret on my old beat up commuter, and don’t have to worry about getting stains on my pant legs every time I bump my chain.
This is about the only reason im going this way i lucky enough to be able to afford multiple chains on standby. so yea the cost was high but should be able to wax my chains once a month and not worry about it.
Fully agree. I get about 2x chain life in the winter and 5x or more in dry weather. Overall time spent is less due to cleaning time. Rotate 3 chains so always have an easy swap over.
I've gone back to oil for the winter. I found it didn't last at all long enough and I would only ride the bike when it was dry, which was hardly ever. I have 2x waxed chains ready and waiting to go again in the spring, I do love how clean it stays.
You should try Chain L if you like oil, it's the best one. I would be using it year round except I am riding on a sandy path at the moment and dry lube is better for this. No sand involved nothing can beat the pure drivetrain quietness of Chain L. Wax sucks for this and is making noise after 4-5 rides.
Try the Squirt e-bike chain lube, I found it being far more water resistant than both silca energetic wet lube and also their wax; the chain used to have an oil/water mix in it after a rain ride, but when in summer I once happened to end up in pouring rain with my second bike with Squirt e-bike lube on, the water had no chance of getting in the chain, it stayed waxed and dry. They also got a wax for low temperature.
I wouldn’t hot water rinse your chain in the sink, like you showed in the video. The water and wax will cool just a few feet down your drainpipe and then stick and eventually build up and clog your drain. Not good.
Using drip wax(wet wax) for about 3 years now, I got a few additional tips. 1. A lot of people say it needs to set in for a night, but I find that applying with heat works better. Apply it during the day in warm sunlight or use a hairdryer to really get it in the chain. 2. Stretch your chain out when applying and actually helps a lot to apply some on the gear cogs as well. 3. Specifically for wet wax, you really need to rewax if you ride in the rain as the water does wash it out a lot. 4. Clean it will hot boiling water in a bucket instead of running tap water like in the video. (wax can cool down and clog your drain) Now you can ride in white socks and shoes too.
I’ve been hot waxing using Molten Speed Wax for the past 9 years. I may have missed it - it’s important to strip the chain of the factory lube as well as your cassette, chain rings and pulleys of grease, oil and grime from pre-waxing. To that end it’s easiest when setting up a new bike, or at least replacing the chain and cassette. The above is true about stripping whether hot waxing or using the emulsion.
@@winterwatson6437 for sure can be. My point was it seemed the presenter forgot to talk about stripping the drive train - making it lick clean. Though that might have diminished his pitch for people to go to wax.
Thanks Alex and crew , I became a "Waxer of the chain " after trying lubes for years! The wear and cost savings were incredible ! Once I learned how to do it , it became a lot easier , and the money I have saved changed my mind forever , thank you !
I first heard of chain waxing from Oz Cycling. I followed his steps for making up the wax, cleaning the chain, and applying the wax. Still works and the overall coast is pretty cheap. Not being a pro rider and doing my winter riding on Zwift, I do not burn through a lot of wax per year. So for me, I'll keep it DIY for my wax mix. Thanks for the good video.
My method - old rice cooker, 12 paraffin wax candles, 500ml paraffin oil. Perfect, under under $20. The oil makes the candle wax more flexible. Don’t over think it!
@@William.Driscoll , perhaps you trust a left leaning publication that specializes in attacks on conservatives (as usual the attacks don’t pan out) as well as sensationalism masquerading as journalism. You can find building blocks for tens of thousands of chemical products occurring naturally in the body. There as yet is NO studies which can prove an direct association with pfas. But sensationalism sells. Most all lubes would be considered toxic in manufacturing and use or particularly misuse.
I really like wax on my fair weather bike. For my winter commuter (it rains all winter here) I went back to oil lube. Wax had to be reapplied so much that it was more of a mess than the oil.
The real faff involved in chain waxing is stripping the chain clean before the first wax application. Which is not to say it's not worth the trouble, but the first time I read the stripping instructions I forgot about waxing for a solid year.
I have not used wax, because i am in northeast Ohio (lots of wet & frozen wet), & i live off my bicycle. Use a Rohloff rear to a single ring on the front, so the chain can last a long time (compared to before with a cassette). Go ride. Know your/you're love
I Use wax for over 2 years now and the only negative i find that you have to re apply more often than the oily stuff, especially in the wet months. The positive its cleaner Your components last longer and a deep clean of the chain and the other components goes much faster.
I wax my chain in order to experience that feeling of superiority. The chain is certainly quieter and seems to last longer. I don't use anything special - just a melted down candle and an old saucepan. The wax lasts between 200 - 500 miles so long as it doesn't rain.
Wax all the way! Went with the Silca system and won't go back to oil. It really is quick, easy, and simple. Just add one simple tool: quick link tool and I get my chain off, relaxed, and back on my bike in just over 30 minutes
Ive been using squirt wax emulsion lube for a year or so now. seems to work well, I reapply it every 3-4 weeks. the chain and jockeys don't have that gritty crud you get with oil based. chain seems quiet no idea how it impacts wear in reality
I love using wax. But... you initially described a wax suspension that required a shake when wax particles settled. Said it didnt work well. Then later described it again saying it was pretty good. What were the differences? To remove wax.... take old pot. Clean of course. Boil water. Put chain in water. Leave it to boil a few min. Wax floats. Chains sink. Put pot insink with cold water in to cool the system. Scoop out floating hard wax. Take out sparkly clean chain. Give a rinse in case there are a few hunks of cold wax. Let dry. Put into new wax immulsion. I made my own wax kit. Bought 1kg of parrafin, and 100g ptfe at 1 micron size... total of about 45usd for all of it.another 15usd for a cheap slos cooker. And a couple wire coat hangers to hold chain, hang it after. Simple
been waxing for about 4 or 5 years....hot waxing now and using drip wax as back up....chain lasting much much longer, no doubt. thanks for the history lesson. It does pick up a little gunk, and can wash of quicker than oil based lubes, but no where near the mess that lubes generate on the way to damaging your chain.Overall the extra faff is worth it (similar argument for road tubeless)
Місяць тому+1
I am using a hot waxing and then drip waxing mainly. And reason is that this is cleaner and also easier than using an oil and then cleaning a chain. And as a bonus - yes I can surely say that my chains are lasting longer, a way longer than before.
I'd say don't worry about the degrees. What do you care if the paraffin is too liquid and not much of it stays on the chain? Perhaps you'll need to rewax 20% sooner, but you don't have to care when it's a simpler faster process. The excess wax will just flake off during the first rides, especially noticeable on the turbo trainer. I've heard that 73 degrees is a conspiracy by the expensive wax sellers in order to sell more of it. ;-)
Just as a suggestion. I got a cheap ultrasonic cleaner to clean the chain with some water based degreaser, the chain comes out like a mirror. Then I use simple wax. It is fun to see all the dirt that comes out!
In the past I've always used a PTFE based lubricant such as GT85 instead of oil based. Repels water, isn't sticky so doesn't attract dirt. Reapplying is as simple as spraying it (copiously) again, the solution washes the existing off and reapplies. Have just bought my first gravel bike, and will consider waxing as there's so many positive comments here about it!
Waxing chain is amazing, I have to admit that. But when the chain gets wet, you have to wipe it dry and rewax after, otherwise corrosion is going to be the problem.
You can mitigate this problem by putting on a stainless steel chain (e.g. from Connex) or get one of those hard chrome finished SRAM XX1 Eagle chains. They are more costly, but if you use wax, it could be that the next chain purchase is years and years away (you can get 14K km on an XX1 chain with no detectable wear).
@@JoeyMills-y3v Waxes have been used throughout history, across almost all applications, as lubricants. My mom taught me to rub a candle on wooden drawer glides so they slide smoothly. Waxed bike chains are incredible (except in the wet), I'm never going back to the expensive and Messy petroleum-based lubes.
@davebrown9725 your bike chain is not made of wood 🤣 No industrial roller chain lubrication methods use wax, they all use mineral oil... But keep reaching & coping, eh? 😂
Dupont Chain Saver in the aerosol can is the best I have ever used. Was originally using it on motorcycle chains, but it works flawlessly on bicycle chains too.
There are similar dialogs around lubrication of machine tools, but Rule #1 is always given as "Any oil is better than no oil." In fact, the wrong oil will get you about 95% or closer, to pull a number out of the air. I started dipping the chain of my track bike in melted paraffin over 30 years ago, largely because I wasn't riding it all that much, and I wanted to keep it in a bedroom, so chain cleanliness was my objective. I found I had to re-apply the straight paraffin every couple of rides, which was not a routine that would work for my road bikes. Along the way I tried a variety of commercial and home brew lubes, even mixes of chainsaw bar oil (super-tacky), Teflon, and light oil. Really, the easiest and most effective has been a low-budget version of the drip-emulsion approach, Dupont Chain-Saver. I just apply this the night before, spraying it on the inside (the top of the bottom run) of the chain while pedaling it backwards until the entire chain is wet. The volatiles evaporate, leaving a dry chain with a wax coating externally and internally. I still get some buildup over time that requires drivetrain cleaning, but it's pretty minimal, and drivetrain life has been quite good. I plan to do some more experimentation with a hot mix of paraffin, moly disulfide, and Teflon powder, but for now at least, the Dupont Chain-Saver is doing a fine job at a super-cheap price.
I find hot waxing with parafin wax is best. With a quick link on the chain, it only takes minutes to swap in my spare chain and; job done. I clean and rewax the not very dirty chain at my leisure.
Team oil, deffinetly. I don't do performance riding, instead commuting 40 km daily. I tried wax once, pre waxed chain from the bike shop new and then maintained it with drip on. However, when riding through Enlish / Dutch weather daily, I find that wax needs replacement very much more often, and noticing that it needs it comes on much more sudden. Then requiring maintenance at pretty inconvenient moments during the workweek. In my mind it's a luxury product. And when you need to wash your bike more often then you generally need to lube the chain, wax becomes time consuming and more expensive because it just washes away every time.
I do both. Hot wax like once per year and top off with the Super secret liquid wax every few rides. Will never go back to oil lube. Chain is always clean.
For best results cleaning your chain ahead of drip wax, use isopropyl alcohol. There is a spray on version available at office supply shops that really gets the job done. The alcohol dries quickly and you’re ready to apply your drip wax.
I used a drip on wax emulsion for 10 years before I ever tried hot wax immersion. Where I would differ from you is that I would recommend simply going to hot wax immediately. Emulsion waxes tend to be a bit softer and pick up more dirt. You end up having to clean your drive train more often (still dramatically less than an oil based lube). You also benefit enormously from flushing the chain, which is much easier if you remove the chain. Also, you *still* need to properly degrease the chain before you start anyway. Once the chain is off the bike, it's just easier to do hot wax immersion. I think people who are wax curious and don't want to spend a lot of money should simply try paraffin. You need a large tin (an empty tomato tin is fine). Put the tin in a cooking pot half full of water. Put the wax in the tin. Heat the tin over very low heat. You want the water to simmer, but not boil. Add the chain and let it sit there for a long time. You don't even need a stand. Once you remove the chain from the wax, it only takes about 3 minutes to cool down. Use some tongs to remove the chain from the wax and simply hold it for 3 minutes. If you have a bit of uninsulated wire, you can thread it through the chain if you want. Once you have a degreased chain, it really shouldn't cost you more than about $10 to experiment with a waxed chain. I think most people won't go back once they have tried it. After that, you can decide if you want the fancy expensive wax, and a dedicated wax melt system.
that's pretty much how I do it too. first time it feels complicated, second time it's very easy. Really only takes a couple minutes. degreasing and cleaning the chain is the hardest part about this (also it's amazing how much oil can hide in your drivetrain, the switch to wax made that visible)
The thing is with immersion waxing, you don't need to degrease the chain completely. Just a single 5 minute soak and shake in mineral spirits is sufficient to wash off the factory grease. The remnants of the grease and solvents will just dissolve in the molten paraffin. Water based wax emulsions are a different thing, the grease would prevent them from getting inside the chain.
@@ltu42i so hope this is true. do i have to take your word for it, or is there actual evidence? tbh my degreasing and cleaning has gotten a little sloppier than the first times around, so if it turns out that good is good enough, i'd be so happy 😅
@@p199a Just hot water. Usually I remove the chain from the bike, thread it onto a wire, put it into a small pot and then pour boiling water from the kettle on it. If you are using hot immersion wax, you can just take the chain out and you don't even need to dry it. It goes strait into the (cold) wax pot. Then you turn on the heat to melt the wax. The water in the chain is more dense than the wax, so it gets forced out of the chain by the wax and sinks to the bottom. As the wax heats up, the water slowly evaporates. By the time the chain is ready, there is no more water in the wax. Basically no effort at all. This is really one of the best parts of immersion waxing.
Made the switch to wax emulsion about 2 years ago and I love it. No melting pot and cleaning the chain with hot water made chain maintenance super easy. I apply the wax after my ride to let it sit overnight. I repeat the process about every 200 miles.
I changed from oil lubrication to drip-on wax lubrication about a year ago. I'm not really interested in power savings (I'm quite a leisurely cyclist); the main benefit for me has been a big reduction in maintenance. On the bike I commute to work on, when it had oil lubrication the chain needed cleaning at least once a fortnight in winter, and the chain needed replacing roughly once per year. Since I changed to using drip-on wax, I'm cleaning or re-waxing the chain no more than once a month, and wear on the chain seems to have greatly reduced. There aren't any downsides I can see to using drip-on wax in comparison with using oil.
@@rkhayden You're lucky, don't pay attention to it at all because then you will become someone who prefers mineral oil to waxing, and mineral oil is a mess.
Got in the habit of Silca hot waxing even on the commute bike, wouldn't go back to a black oily dirty drivetrain. Just rotate 2 or 3 chains per bike so you don't have to rush rewaxing, use an Xpower air duster to dry chain. Never had a problem with quick links or corrosion but I use good plated YBN/CONNEX 7 speed or 9 speed chains. Just air dust, wipe and rewax, never bother washing chains after initial prep for waxing.
Great video! I don't care, if wax or oil is on my chain, I just want to ride my bike, without putting a lot of time into maintainace to keep my bikes in good condition. Wax seems to be more time consuming, this is why I continue with liquid lubrication.
Once you start riding waxed chains, especially when you buy extra chains & reusable master links (so you don't have to go through the whole hot wax routine each time you need a fresly waxed chain), there is no going back to the dirty gritty nasty petroleum-based lubes. Fresh chain in minutes, with no dirty fingers!
Bananawax Drag & Friction TdF Racing Chain Wax, 10 years Later still the best Chain Wax on the market. Never ever had a chain fail or cassette wear out in 10 years.
95% of the hassle of wax is learning it the first time. After that it's a breeze. I only wax about once every 300 miles so it's just plain easier than any lube I've ever used. Add in the perfectly clean driveline all the time and hot wax is a no brainer. Cycling since 1973.
I did use oil based lub since starting cycling, but switched to squirt wax emulsion and it's a game changer. What was a convoluted 20min job (degrease, let it do it's job, clean it, dry it, lub it, and do all of that without spoiling the floor) turned into a 5min job, wipe and reapply. Now I just wipe it, reapply and ride!
Hi all, the drip on wax is excellent, but I have found that after applying as Alex suggested, try forcing the wax to run by rotating the the drive train backwards while heating the cassette with a hair-dryer. This is the Uncle Fester method!
For spring/summer/autumn: new chain degreased then silca secret (hot wax) for the first time only and after only Silca super secret (drip). Application once a week (400...500 km) cleaning with micro-fiber (no water). Between 9000 and 10000 km with a chain (Shimano 12spd). If it rains application every time. For winter I also tried wax, but last winter it rained every day, the chain was dead after 3500 km (SRAM 12 spd & Dynamic Slick wax). This winter I will try Silca Synergetic oil. I also had good results with Dynamic Speed Potion wax in summer.
Wax on my road bike chain makes a big difference in cleanliness and longevity. For the city/gravel/winter bike that gets thrown around in all-weather conditions, I still use oil lubricant. Gets more grimy but the purpose of that bike is to 'set and forget' so degreasing and lubricating gets done with periodical scrub of the whole bike anyway.
Team wax. I hot wax the new chain and then use drip wax from then on. I get 10,000 miles out of chain worn to 40%. I used to get 2000-2500 using oil. Quiet also ! Good video.
It s all about the convenience for me. I have tons of equipment from my Smithing days and that includes a heating element for when I used to use Froglube on my parts. The process is just like waxing a chain. I trie it for a year and just found it too inconvenient when I can just apply a wet lube 100x faster and on the go. I can admit that when I get new chains, I do wax them before installing them, but once I think its time for a relube, I skip the wax and use traditional wet lubes..
Great to hear your journey though the waxing options. I have been using wax for a while and find the hardest part is getting all the oil from the existing chain to start with and the products to do this are expensive. Any tips?
Get a drivetrain cleaner replenishment bottle (I use Muc-Off drivetrain cleaner), pour a little bit of it into a jar with a screw-on lid, put the new chain in it, shake it about a minute, get the chain out, rinse it with tap water, hang it up to dry, done.
Hi there, I have multiple chains used in rotation now. I let any factory pregreased chain soak in turpentine or paraffin for a while. In case of turps I leave it thoroughly bathed for a couple of weeks in a waterproof lidded plastic container, and give it a gentle shake or stir every now and again. Once I think no residual grease I use a degreaser wash, such as Virasol, for say 10 mins, rinse with water, followed by an isopropyl bath for a few minutes let chain evaporate / dry with micofibre cloth. Now wax the chain remembering to take chain out of hot wax bath slowly to prevent wax running off too quickly and losing any benefit. Btw KMC now do pre waxed chains for around £30, which avoids all the initial processes above! Obviously the rest of drive train such as jockey wheels, sprockets etc should all be oil and grease free before using the waxed chain 😁😁😁
The SILCA chain stripper is expensive, but the nice thing is that you can pour it through a coffee filter and reuse it several times. That reduces the costs per de-greasing significantly. And one has to do it only for a new chain, so that bottle will last for 20+ chains. Most other more cost effective options I know produce to much organic waste that I have difficulties recommending them. I haven't tried boiling in dishwasher yet, but the factory grease is really a hard nut to bust for the regular detergents.
Like several others, I got the idea from Oz Cyclist. I use Gulf canning wax and blend in a little highly refined kerosene to control the melting point. In winter, a little more kero to lower the melting point and in summer a little less to raise it. Over 6 years I've spent less than $15 on lubricant cleaning chains for 2 bikes about 1x/month and I get about 3000 miles on a chain before it shows any measurable wear. My cogs on my current bike have 6400 miles with no measurable wear. If you're a national class cyclist, $50 for some tungsten sulfide and maybe PTFE might be worth it. Otherwise, a fool and his money are soon parted. Oh yeah. I clean my chains with some type of detergent surfactant (simple green or citrus) and mineral spirits. Surfactant to remove the dust and loose particles and mineral spirits to get rid of most of the residual wax. Getting all of the wax off isn't necessary.
I switched from candle paraffin to Silca and if anything the chain wear has only increased. I got 20 000 km out of the previous chain, and this one is showing 0.4% stretch after 10 000.
Spot on - except for the bit about adding PTFE - I'd do WS2 if anything, much much lower friction coefficient and more controllable particle size. I used to use canning wax (definitely better!) and stopped for no good reason other than laziness and lack of riding big miles. Interesting touch, your adding a bit of kero to lower the MP. Do you mean a few drops per 100ml, or? I wonder if the kero evaporates once the wax turns solid or remains in the frozen mix. Also, wonder if it makes the solidified wax mass more soft once it congeals? Too advanced nonpolar-organic chemical questions for me - I got lost somewhere between the wiki on vapor pressure and azeotropism, but happy to nerd along!
I started hot waxing this summer (with liquified wax top-ups in between hot waxes) and I'm sold on it for road but I'm not sure about gravel. It seems to get loud quite quickly in dry dusty conditions. But I suppose oil lubes in dusty conditions might be even worse?
So, what do you do if you ride to work and it´s wet? As far as I understood, when using emulsions, you need to dry the chain and re-apply wax before you´re able to drive back home?? 🤔 Doesn´t sound less time consuming to me.
We were (hot-pot) waxing chains over 40 years ago. Now we didn't know it saved power back then, it was just cleaner... back then (1980's) I did dump dry graphite powder (lubricant) into the pot (i think i used a double boiler pot back then.. for safety...) so we did know or at least think that just paraffin was not enough. I think now I have the MOs2 in with the wax (I now just use a crockpot). The biggest thing is simply to never lube a dirty chain. I wash my chain with dish soap and garden hose and grudge brush..
I ride all year long and thus also in the winter time. At first this was exactly the reason why I did not use wax on all of my bikes: in the winter time, when the streets are wet, you basically have to use drip-on-wax after every single ride (I'm commuting by bike for example and have drip-on-wax at the office). However, after cleaning the greasy mess again and again and having to lube the oil-chain after every two or three rides, too, I very much went to wax for the bad-weather-bikes, too, because it is still far less work than cleaning that greasy stuff over and over again. I don't mind if I have a mechanical on the way because it's no problem to touch the chain or the chainrings/cassette sprockets. No need for latex gloves in the seat bag any more. My method generally is to use simple paraffin hot waxing and after some rides or when it was wet, using drip-on-wax. From time to time, I put all the chains from 3 bikes into the hot wax again. By waxing all of them at the same time, I only have to "cook" one pot, my wife does not get upset so much ( 🙂) and I can even prepare spare chains. I also don't mind the nanoparticles. I've actually studied nano-engineering. Yes, those particles do work, if you can manage to keep them in place - what it pretty much impossible in a highly stressed object like a bike chain. Also, the problem with rain... you'll lose these benefits far too quickly. That's something for racedays maybe, but not for everyday riding. For everyday riding the last 0.2 watts are irrelevant. You need to have a reliable and simple to maintain bike to get onto the bike again. For that, basic paraffin is all that you need and that is far superior to oil.
I HAVE been using drip Squirt wax for about a year. it’s taken a while and patience to remove the old grease but it stays cleaner. i took my bike in to my LBS and one of the mechanics chided me for having a “dry” chain. So, I guess it’s not a good idea. But for me it’s the best. Shifting is much quieter, the cogs get messy but I use Muc-Off drive train cleaner and it comes off. Not going back to oils.
Oh my! I took my bike to a bike shop to resolve a problem with a stuck shift lever while on vacation in Sicily. The good man washed and lubed my chain (which has just been waxed). It was a black mess by the end of the week.
The only drip wax I have tried (Squ...) is softer than melt-wax and retains dirt much more; the chain looks black almost as quickly as it does with a regular oil. Melt-wax chains stay much cleaner. I only use drip-wax to top up when I've run out of waxed chains and don't have time to do the waxing. As stated by others, waxing two or more chains, or at least waxing one before it is needed, limits many of the potential problems with waxing.
Smoove and Squirt utilize lower-grade, softer slack wax I assume because it flows better. But it's sticky. Kinda negates the whole idea of chain waxing: dry, non-sticky lube WITHIN the chain rollers with the added benefit of a dried barrier around the gaps between the parts to act as a barrier to dirt.
I disagree with the statement, "if you just want to ride your bike with the least amount of fuss, just use oil base" While there may be a little more involved with the waxing process, I find that there is less to worry about with a waxed chain. When I'm getting my bike ready to ride, I just air the tires and go. I don't have to worry about if my chain needs attention. If I decide to ride a bike that has been sitting a while, I know the chain hasn't dried up. If I want to wash my bike after every ride, I don't have to worry about degreasing and reapplying lube. I just rinse it off and microfiber the chain. In my experience, I fuss with the chain far less with wax over oil.
What’s your take on the quick link, particularly on the 12 speed chains, as you shouldn’t re-use them. Shouldn’t that be consider as part of the equation if you wax your chain 15 times or more during its life span
From my personal experience and those commenting on the web, re-using quick links is no problem at all. And not all are "one use only." The bike industry has liability to think about. Plus, they get to make more money saying the links cannot be reused, so think about that. And as Richard said, you can purchase quick links marketed as reusable.
Team Waxing, but i am struggeling with the question if i should keep waxing my commuter bike as well. Maybe I will switch back to oil on that one, because i am riding it a lot in the rain, and during winter on salty streets.
I Like the wax on my Sunshine-Ride bike, its clean, its less noisy I have the feeling. Recently I made a tracking tour in Italy where it was raining a lot, I had to drive threw flooded roads but mostly asphalt. The chain was rusty after the first day, after second day, I had passed 160 km with a freshly hot waxed chain, it was completely dewaxed. As the trip was not over jet I had to ask for oil... What to do against the rust?
Definite hot wax with bit of teflon powder in the 'slow cooker' with 4 chains on the go. Cleaning is hot water, then ultrasonic, then a 5min soak in the hot wax. Use in MTB as well - hose after dirty rides and quick wipe - only change chain every couple of months
I use an extremely cheap recipe which was tested among some others on our forum. Bee wax 4 parts with 1 part of oil by weight (engine, transmission, almost any type) for dry weather and 2:1 for wet weather. Ususally it lasts for 500+ km. Transmission stays dry and pretty clean. Measured wear speed for standard chain lubes is around 5000km till max acceptable wear, best one could reach 10000km, water-based wax lubes could reach 15000-20000km, and the mentioned recipe gives 40000km. Adding friction modifiers (powders or liquids) boosts it more. Molybdenum disulfide, tungsten disulfide, hexagonal boron nitride, graphite, PTFE powders may be added to reduce friction. And metal conditioners (chlorparaffines such as ER, SMT2, don't know which ones are available in your country) will increase rewaxing period - they start working when most of the wax already came out of the pins and metal to metal contact is occuring. My last mix was bee wax 3 : 1 mobil jet oil (esters), PTFE powder, hex-boron nitride powder and metal conditioner. Ridden it for 520 km with 7500m elevation gain (many steep uphills on lowest gear with corresponding chain skew) and chain is still absolutely silent.
@@eXTreemator What is toxic? I don't lick chain anyway. Friction modifiers work anytime. Only metal conditioner starts working when metal to metal contact occurs and extend rewaxing period (protective metal chloride film is very strong and there is almost no wear for some time)
Been waxing my chains for a while now and wouldn’t go back to an oil based lube. I’ve used the expensive wax, which was good, but now just buy cheap, but good quality, paraffin wax from eBay and a slow cooker to wax two chains at once. Once set up it really isn’t that much of a faff, much less faff than having to degrease a manky chain! I do come across people who say they’ve tried waxing chains but it just didn’t work, that’s usually because they haven’t thoroughly cleaned the chain beforehand.
I'm doing the same. But also picked up tungsten & molybdenum disulfide powder additives. Both non-toxic and inert. But which one to use? I used both! $40 for 10 lbs. of wax and these powders will last me a lifetime for our family's 20 bikes. Let me count the benefits: Mountain biking? ✔ Road riding? ✔ Travel bike? ✔ Commuter bike? ✔ Chain life? ✔ Clean Freak? ✔ Less work? ✔ Wanna avoid the dreaded "rookie mark" on your right calf? ✔ 😜
Effetto Mariposa Flowerpower Wax Lube if you want something ALOT cheaper than Silca (especially their 500ml bottle). I used many different brands of wax lube BLUB, Finish Line, Muc-off, Squirt but Effetto is the cleanest (Zerofriction aka Frictionfacts also ranks it highly)
Effeto is the best drip wax I've tried, but it's not the cleanest. It leaves that grey waxy stuff on the chain more than other drip lubes. The grey waxy stuff isn't very dirty though, and wipes off in 10 seconds with a rag.
Gone from White Lightening to Squirt to Smoove. Hose down sometimes after a ride and leave it outside to dry, put it in the storeroom and the outside of thr chain shows rust in places. So i can see that dipping a chain in wax would be better than just dripping wax onto the rollers.
Try Effeto Mariposa, it's sunflower seed wax and the oily nature of the sunflower seed will protect from rust unlike Squirt and Smoove (Paraffin based)
Squirt lube in summer, 3in1 oil in wetter winter conditions. Squirt washes off fast, my last chain didn’t last 2minutes because of riding in wet conditions.
That’s interesting, I use squirt and when I had a chained bike for commuting (I now have belt drive)I found that if I just reapplied (without cleaning😱) every couple of weeks it worked just fine and that was on a bike that was used EVERY day no matter what the weather for my 16 mile commute.
3-in-1 was originally sold as a bicycle lube, but that was 130 years ago. It is said to be a light spindle oil with a small amount of corrosion inhibitors. As such, this should actually make it a poor choice for a bicycle chain lube, as it lacks additives that would keep it from running out. It might be better to use a chainsaw bar oil, as this at least has tackifiers to keep the lube in place. It could be just the thing for your Rover Safety, though, especially if dripped out of a small glass bottle (the metal can didn't appear as 3-in-1 packaging until the 1930s).
My immersion home-brew mix of candle wax with tungsten & molybdenum disulfide powder performed flawlessly on our tandem. 400 mile trip with two days in hours of downpour. Chain needed zero attention thereafter and is still running fine (I admit it's louder than when fresh, but still no squeaks or sounds like it's dying).
After watching your segments about waxing, I gave it a try. I went with the Silca Super Secret drip on and love it. Makes it simple to apply and works well. Thanks for the informative videos you pit out. Really helps for sure.
i use on a new chain Silca hotwax, and every second or 3th ride I add Silca Secret wax on lubricant. Before I strted to use Silca products I used Squirt Wax, but that stuff did not hold on a wet chain. So stopped using that and now using over 3 years Silca and will not go away from it
Water & rain can flush wax from chains. The solution is to have many chains waxed & ready to throw on as needed. The whole drivetrain stays so much cleaner.
I've been using Squirt for the last year and I doubt I will go back to oil lubricants again. If the chain gets dirty I take it off & thoroughly clean (white spirits then alcohol rinse) it & let it dry while I use my second chain. I don't follow the manufacturer's instructions to the letter & relube more often than they think I need to but I have never been happier with my chain lubrication.
I would agree the Silca drip wax is the way to go. But I will take off the chain to dip it a couple of times a year but that also gives me a chance to clean off the wax build up on the drive train. Waxing the chain has definitely extended my chain life too. At over 3300mi this year my (dura ace) chain still hasn't stretched to the point of replacement
I far prefer hot wax to emulsion, mostly because in a cold tin hut on the west of Scotland the emulsion never dries - it just drips off onto the floor! Two chains and hot wax cost me almost zero effort and are always very clean. The only downside is slightly less surface rust protection in a Scottish winter. The first two chains (cheap ones) lasted around 25%-30% longer than the same chain model previously run with wet lube. Trying pricier chains this time.
The formula of paraffin wax with PTFE powder (TY Oz Cycling) works IMO best for my type of riding. I have tried the formula with Tungstein bla bla bla nano particles and had to apply more frequently the waxing process. Now I use melted candles with PTFE powder rotating 3 chains per bike. When my 3th chain need to be re-waxed I do all 3 chains, 1 after an other while I clean my bike. This is part of my maintenance routine. I rode with 1 chain around 12000Kms before I had to renew the chain. Problem is that a new chain on that drive train is more noisy due to small amount of wear on it. Reason why I start with 3 chains on a new drive train. Keep on waxing and ride safe.
Hi guys why does my squirt drip wax turn into a gray glue like substance where i feel like glue friction is holdng my legs back? I feel like i had to switch back to the black mess of my liquid super fast fully synthetic oil?
Team hot melt wax, Silca. I care about the cleanliness of my bikes and longevity of wear parts. The quiet drivetrain and increased performance is an added bonus but not my main reasons. I also use squirt drip lube on my fixie bike as it’s easy to apply, don’t have to remove the chain and works good enough.
Haven’t tried. Love the idea of a clean chain but I guess if most of my rides involve lanes/mud/water even in summer, probably not advised right? (Long time Fenwicks Pro user)
Have you found any difference using chain wax? ⚙️
It's so clean. I use a drip-on wax from Squirt, and not having to use degreaser to clean the bike is amazing. I don't care if it gives me 10W or takes 10W, clean hands and calves are worth it.
Yes the chain stays cleaner but I find the major difference is not the product I'm using but rather my behaviour towards my chain state. I'm checking it much more frequently than when I was using oil and so it gets much more care, pretty sure you could get the same result with oil but it's just more messy. I still use oil for my indoor trainer bike which doesn't get outside because waxing would bring very little benefit there
If you have to store your bike in your living space and not in a shed or basement, the biggest advantage is that everything is so clean and you don't bring any black gunk into your home.
@@Flym4n111 Same here with Squirt and the advantages but when I went with the Silca system, it switched the game up several notches especially with their new Endurance additive. More expensive to get into the system but once you've made the upgrade you'll never look back :-)
Simply Wax and Ride
after 35 years of trying everything, I finally and reluctantly tried wax, and I'll never go back to any of the others.
EXACTLY the same experience for me - I've got ten years of cycling on you LOL and I'l never go back either. The Silca system is rather expensive to get into but it's well thought out and works to a fair thee well. Their extended use "ENDURANCE" wax additive I think you will find VERY addictive :-)
@@davidbee8178 👍
@@jakebrakebill Agree. We all started out with an oiled chain. Just like we all started out on a tricycle. Neither of these things are bad, They’re just less efficient.
What ever degree of efficiency you’re happy with is fine. Personal choice.
Friction occurs when people refuse to accept proven or demonstrable efficiencies… could be cleanliness, impact on wear, impact on friction etc. It’s like saying things “fall up, not down”, which is a regressive form of thinking that does a disservice to the truth and riders.
@@paulgrimshaw8334 I'm always behind the curve because I want to see how things work out in the public sector more than a lab. Waxing is like the first index shifter, then the first brake lever shifters, now wireless shifters, it's been a game changer for me.
Same, and I’ve been riding for 40 years. I used to race, and was a bike mechanic.
I started using wax approximately 1 year ago and will never go back to oils. Having a clean bike is so nice and it makes travelling with the bike much nicer as a result (less mess). I don’t find it difficult or annoying and if there are also performance gains and component life gains, bonus!
And not only that, but hot waxing is an order of magnitude less faff than degreasing and the consequent drive train cleaning!
I think the cleanliness is a benefit that doesn’t get enough attention. I use super secret on my old beat up commuter, and don’t have to worry about getting stains on my pant legs every time I bump my chain.
100% agree, cleanliness is the No.1 reason I wax 👍
If you wear your pants under your trousers like the rest of us, you should be okay!
This is about the only reason im going this way i lucky enough to be able to afford multiple chains on standby. so yea the cost was high but should be able to wax my chains once a month and not worry about it.
Fully agree. I get about 2x chain life in the winter and 5x or more in dry weather. Overall time spent is less due to cleaning time. Rotate 3 chains so always have an easy swap over.
Completely agree with you. I do the same and experience the same results.
I've gone back to oil for the winter. I found it didn't last at all long enough and I would only ride the bike when it was dry, which was hardly ever. I have 2x waxed chains ready and waiting to go again in the spring, I do love how clean it stays.
You should try Chain L if you like oil, it's the best one. I would be using it year round except I am riding on a sandy path at the moment and dry lube is better for this. No sand involved nothing can beat the pure drivetrain quietness of Chain L. Wax sucks for this and is making noise after 4-5 rides.
Try the Squirt e-bike chain lube, I found it being far more water resistant than both silca energetic wet lube and also their wax; the chain used to have an oil/water mix in it after a rain ride, but when in summer I once happened to end up in pouring rain with my second bike with Squirt e-bike lube on, the water had no chance of getting in the chain, it stayed waxed and dry. They also got a wax for low temperature.
Yes, riding in the wet is the one weak area for waxed chains, water tends to float the wax off.
@@overcookit1433 My experience too, run it on my MTB and its great.
I wouldn’t hot water rinse your chain in the sink, like you showed in the video. The water and wax will cool just a few feet down your drainpipe and then stick and eventually build up and clog your drain. Not good.
I used to wash my paint brushes in the sink, then discovered a sticky mess in the drain outside. Its a similar scenario I guess.
100%. especially if you live in a cold climate. this is the same reason you should not pour cooking fats (bacon grease) down the drain.
@@manitoublackThe other reason not to pour your bacon grease down the drain is that it's delicious and thus valuable.
If you pour a gallon of gasoline down the sink after it should clean all that right up. You can clean the gasoline up with a match.
@@throx Thanks I will try that.
Using drip wax(wet wax) for about 3 years now, I got a few additional tips.
1. A lot of people say it needs to set in for a night, but I find that applying with heat works better. Apply it during the day in warm sunlight or use a hairdryer to really get it in the chain.
2. Stretch your chain out when applying and actually helps a lot to apply some on the gear cogs as well.
3. Specifically for wet wax, you really need to rewax if you ride in the rain as the water does wash it out a lot.
4. Clean it will hot boiling water in a bucket instead of running tap water like in the video. (wax can cool down and clog your drain)
Now you can ride in white socks and shoes too.
I’ve been hot waxing using Molten Speed Wax for the past 9 years.
I may have missed it - it’s important to strip the chain of the factory lube as well as your cassette, chain rings and pulleys of grease, oil and grime from pre-waxing.
To that end it’s easiest when setting up a new bike, or at least replacing the chain and cassette.
The above is true about stripping whether hot waxing or using the emulsion.
cassette is easy enough to pop off and toss in the solvents with the chain
@@winterwatson6437 for sure can be. My point was it seemed the presenter forgot to talk about stripping the drive train - making it lick clean. Though that might have diminished his pitch for people to go to wax.
Thanks Alex and crew , I became a "Waxer of the chain " after trying lubes for years! The wear and cost savings were incredible ! Once I learned how to do it , it became a lot easier , and the money I have saved changed my mind forever , thank you !
Glad that our advice was useful to you.
@@gcntech ALWAYS you are my go to you and Calvin of course
I first heard of chain waxing from Oz Cycling. I followed his steps for making up the wax, cleaning the chain, and applying the wax. Still works and the overall coast is pretty cheap. Not being a pro rider and doing my winter riding on Zwift, I do not burn through a lot of wax per year. So for me, I'll keep it DIY for my wax mix.
Thanks for the good video.
Me too!
Same 👍🏻
Oz Cycle….. literally the worst advice ever on waxing chains. See Zero Friction Cycling for much better advice.
But he was pitching PFAS
@@madpeddler8263 the one I saw he used PTFE powder I the paraffin wax.
My method - old rice cooker, 12 paraffin wax candles, 500ml paraffin oil. Perfect, under under $20. The oil makes the candle wax more flexible. Don’t over think it!
So true! All these hyped speciality wax products are not worth it in my honest opinion. Keep it easy and simple with pure paraffin!
Add some Teflon powder. Amazon has it fairly inexpensive and commercial mixes use it as an additive.
@@awesomexistencePTFE powder is absolutely unnecessary and harmful to the environment. Literally microplastics with extra toxic properties.
ProPublica recently released a worthwhile read on Teflon and how it is found in almost every blood sample on Earth, as well as its toxicity.
@@William.Driscoll , perhaps you trust a left leaning publication that specializes in attacks on conservatives (as usual the attacks don’t pan out) as well as sensationalism masquerading as journalism.
You can find building blocks for tens of thousands of chemical products occurring naturally in the body. There as yet is NO studies which can prove an direct association with pfas. But sensationalism sells.
Most all lubes would be considered toxic in manufacturing and use or particularly misuse.
I really like wax on my fair weather bike. For my winter commuter (it rains all winter here) I went back to oil lube. Wax had to be reapplied so much that it was more of a mess than the oil.
The real faff involved in chain waxing is stripping the chain clean before the first wax application. Which is not to say it's not worth the trouble, but the first time I read the stripping instructions I forgot about waxing for a solid year.
I have not used wax, because i am in northeast Ohio (lots of wet & frozen wet), & i live off my bicycle. Use a Rohloff rear to a single ring on the front, so the chain can last a long time (compared to before with a cassette). Go ride. Know your/you're love
I Use wax for over 2 years now and the only negative i find that you have to re apply more often than the oily stuff, especially in the wet months. The positive its cleaner Your components last longer and a deep clean of the chain and the other components goes much faster.
I wax my chain in order to experience that feeling of superiority. The chain is certainly quieter and seems to last longer. I don't use anything special - just a melted down candle and an old saucepan. The wax lasts between 200 - 500 miles so long as it doesn't rain.
Wax all the way!
Went with the Silca system and won't go back to oil.
It really is quick, easy, and simple.
Just add one simple tool: quick link tool and I get my chain off, relaxed, and back on my bike in just over 30 minutes
I wonder how you relax your chain? Music, scented candles, gentle massage? 😂
Can thoroughly recommend Wippermann Connex links. Then you don’t need a tool or to replace the quick links.
Also multiple chains, so you don't need to go through the whole process every time you change your chain for a freshly waxed one.
@@inz_uzi Autocorrect/suggest working over time. I'm relaxed by the scent of the Silca system wax
@@hal9058 😂
Ive been using squirt wax emulsion lube for a year or so now. seems to work well, I reapply it every 3-4 weeks. the chain and jockeys don't have that gritty crud you get with oil based. chain seems quiet no idea how it impacts wear in reality
Love my Silca products. I have converted a few friends as well after they saw I have a better lubed drivetrain. Cheers
I love using wax.
But... you initially described a wax suspension that required a shake when wax particles settled. Said it didnt work well. Then later described it again saying it was pretty good. What were the differences?
To remove wax....
take old pot. Clean of course. Boil water. Put chain in water. Leave it to boil a few min. Wax floats. Chains sink. Put pot insink with cold water in to cool the system. Scoop out floating hard wax. Take out sparkly clean chain. Give a rinse in case there are a few hunks of cold wax. Let dry. Put into new wax immulsion.
I made my own wax kit. Bought 1kg of parrafin, and 100g ptfe at 1 micron size... total of about 45usd for all of it.another 15usd for a cheap slos cooker. And a couple wire coat hangers to hold chain, hang it after.
Simple
been waxing for about 4 or 5 years....hot waxing now and using drip wax as back up....chain lasting much much longer, no doubt. thanks for the history lesson. It does pick up a little gunk, and can wash of quicker than oil based lubes, but no where near the mess that lubes generate on the way to damaging your chain.Overall the extra faff is worth it (similar argument for road tubeless)
I am using a hot waxing and then drip waxing mainly. And reason is that this is cleaner and also easier than using an oil and then cleaning a chain. And as a bonus - yes I can surely say that my chains are lasting longer, a way longer than before.
Candles from the shop, melt them in a rice cooker, take out the wicks. Put chain in, take out a 73 degrees, voila. Cheap and good.
I'd say don't worry about the degrees. What do you care if the paraffin is too liquid and not much of it stays on the chain? Perhaps you'll need to rewax 20% sooner, but you don't have to care when it's a simpler faster process. The excess wax will just flake off during the first rides, especially noticeable on the turbo trainer. I've heard that 73 degrees is a conspiracy by the expensive wax sellers in order to sell more of it. ;-)
@@ltu42 thanks 🙏, will try taking the chain out at higher temperatures!
Just as a suggestion. I got a cheap ultrasonic cleaner to clean the chain with some water based degreaser, the chain comes out like a mirror. Then I use simple wax. It is fun to see all the dirt that comes out!
In the past I've always used a PTFE based lubricant such as GT85 instead of oil based. Repels water, isn't sticky so doesn't attract dirt. Reapplying is as simple as spraying it (copiously) again, the solution washes the existing off and reapplies. Have just bought my first gravel bike, and will consider waxing as there's so many positive comments here about it!
The comments are all fake 😂
Waxing chain is amazing, I have to admit that. But when the chain gets wet, you have to wipe it dry and rewax after, otherwise corrosion is going to be the problem.
You can mitigate this problem by putting on a stainless steel chain (e.g. from Connex) or get one of those hard chrome finished SRAM XX1 Eagle chains. They are more costly, but if you use wax, it could be that the next chain purchase is years and years away (you can get 14K km on an XX1 chain with no detectable wear).
Seems a bit of an issue in the uk
That's because wax is not a lubricant. It's hilarious they've managed to con people into using it 😂
@@JoeyMills-y3v Waxes have been used throughout history, across almost all applications, as lubricants. My mom taught me to rub a candle on wooden drawer glides so they slide smoothly. Waxed bike chains are incredible (except in the wet), I'm never going back to the expensive and Messy petroleum-based lubes.
@davebrown9725 your bike chain is not made of wood 🤣 No industrial roller chain lubrication methods use wax, they all use mineral oil... But keep reaching & coping, eh? 😂
Dupont Chain Saver in the aerosol can is the best I have ever used. Was originally using it on motorcycle chains, but it works flawlessly on bicycle chains too.
There are similar dialogs around lubrication of machine tools, but Rule #1 is always given as "Any oil is better than no oil." In fact, the wrong oil will get you about 95% or closer, to pull a number out of the air. I started dipping the chain of my track bike in melted paraffin over 30 years ago, largely because I wasn't riding it all that much, and I wanted to keep it in a bedroom, so chain cleanliness was my objective. I found I had to re-apply the straight paraffin every couple of rides, which was not a routine that would work for my road bikes. Along the way I tried a variety of commercial and home brew lubes, even mixes of chainsaw bar oil (super-tacky), Teflon, and light oil. Really, the easiest and most effective has been a low-budget version of the drip-emulsion approach, Dupont Chain-Saver. I just apply this the night before, spraying it on the inside (the top of the bottom run) of the chain while pedaling it backwards until the entire chain is wet. The volatiles evaporate, leaving a dry chain with a wax coating externally and internally. I still get some buildup over time that requires drivetrain cleaning, but it's pretty minimal, and drivetrain life has been quite good. I plan to do some more experimentation with a hot mix of paraffin, moly disulfide, and Teflon powder, but for now at least, the Dupont Chain-Saver is doing a fine job at a super-cheap price.
I've settled on using a drip-on wax, then using a heat gun to melt the wax so it wicks into all the gaps. It seems to work quite well.
I find hot waxing with parafin wax is best. With a quick link on the chain, it only takes minutes to swap in my spare chain and; job done. I clean and rewax the not very dirty chain at my leisure.
Team oil, deffinetly. I don't do performance riding, instead commuting 40 km daily. I tried wax once, pre waxed chain from the bike shop new and then maintained it with drip on. However, when riding through Enlish / Dutch weather daily, I find that wax needs replacement very much more often, and noticing that it needs it comes on much more sudden. Then requiring maintenance at pretty inconvenient moments during the workweek. In my mind it's a luxury product. And when you need to wash your bike more often then you generally need to lube the chain, wax becomes time consuming and more expensive because it just washes away every time.
I do both. Hot wax like once per year and top off with the Super secret liquid wax every few rides. Will never go back to oil lube. Chain is always clean.
He's waxing lyrical, but his theories are off the chain!
For best results cleaning your chain ahead of drip wax, use isopropyl alcohol. There is a spray on version available at office supply shops that really gets the job done. The alcohol dries quickly and you’re ready to apply your drip wax.
I used a drip on wax emulsion for 10 years before I ever tried hot wax immersion. Where I would differ from you is that I would recommend simply going to hot wax immediately. Emulsion waxes tend to be a bit softer and pick up more dirt. You end up having to clean your drive train more often (still dramatically less than an oil based lube). You also benefit enormously from flushing the chain, which is much easier if you remove the chain. Also, you *still* need to properly degrease the chain before you start anyway. Once the chain is off the bike, it's just easier to do hot wax immersion.
I think people who are wax curious and don't want to spend a lot of money should simply try paraffin. You need a large tin (an empty tomato tin is fine). Put the tin in a cooking pot half full of water. Put the wax in the tin. Heat the tin over very low heat. You want the water to simmer, but not boil. Add the chain and let it sit there for a long time. You don't even need a stand. Once you remove the chain from the wax, it only takes about 3 minutes to cool down. Use some tongs to remove the chain from the wax and simply hold it for 3 minutes. If you have a bit of uninsulated wire, you can thread it through the chain if you want.
Once you have a degreased chain, it really shouldn't cost you more than about $10 to experiment with a waxed chain. I think most people won't go back once they have tried it. After that, you can decide if you want the fancy expensive wax, and a dedicated wax melt system.
that's pretty much how I do it too. first time it feels complicated, second time it's very easy. Really only takes a couple minutes.
degreasing and cleaning the chain is the hardest part about this (also it's amazing how much oil can hide in your drivetrain, the switch to wax made that visible)
The thing is with immersion waxing, you don't need to degrease the chain completely. Just a single 5 minute soak and shake in mineral spirits is sufficient to wash off the factory grease. The remnants of the grease and solvents will just dissolve in the molten paraffin. Water based wax emulsions are a different thing, the grease would prevent them from getting inside the chain.
@@ltu42i so hope this is true. do i have to take your word for it, or is there actual evidence? tbh my degreasing and cleaning has gotten a little sloppier than the first times around, so if it turns out that good is good enough, i'd be so happy 😅
and how do you clean waxed chain if you want to wax it second time ?
@@p199a Just hot water. Usually I remove the chain from the bike, thread it onto a wire, put it into a small pot and then pour boiling water from the kettle on it. If you are using hot immersion wax, you can just take the chain out and you don't even need to dry it. It goes strait into the (cold) wax pot. Then you turn on the heat to melt the wax. The water in the chain is more dense than the wax, so it gets forced out of the chain by the wax and sinks to the bottom. As the wax heats up, the water slowly evaporates. By the time the chain is ready, there is no more water in the wax. Basically no effort at all. This is really one of the best parts of immersion waxing.
Made the switch to wax emulsion about 2 years ago and I love it. No melting pot and cleaning the chain with hot water made chain maintenance super easy. I apply the wax after my ride to let it sit overnight. I repeat the process about every 200 miles.
I changed from oil lubrication to drip-on wax lubrication about a year ago. I'm not really interested in power savings (I'm quite a leisurely cyclist); the main benefit for me has been a big reduction in maintenance. On the bike I commute to work on, when it had oil lubrication the chain needed cleaning at least once a fortnight in winter, and the chain needed replacing roughly once per year. Since I changed to using drip-on wax, I'm cleaning or re-waxing the chain no more than once a month, and wear on the chain seems to have greatly reduced. There aren't any downsides I can see to using drip-on wax in comparison with using oil.
Main downside is that after 5 rides the chain gets super loud on wax compared to oil.
@@凸Bebo凸 I've not experienced that. I'm applying drip-on wax once every twenty rides roughly.
@@rkhayden You're lucky, don't pay attention to it at all because then you will become someone who prefers mineral oil to waxing, and mineral oil is a mess.
Got in the habit of Silca hot waxing even on the commute bike, wouldn't go back to a black oily dirty drivetrain. Just rotate 2 or 3 chains per bike so you don't have to rush rewaxing, use an Xpower air duster to dry chain. Never had a problem with quick links or corrosion but I use good plated YBN/CONNEX 7 speed or 9 speed chains. Just air dust, wipe and rewax, never bother washing chains after initial prep for waxing.
Great video! I don't care, if wax or oil is on my chain, I just want to ride my bike, without putting a lot of time into maintainace to keep my bikes in good condition. Wax seems to be more time consuming, this is why I continue with liquid lubrication.
Once you start riding waxed chains, especially when you buy extra chains & reusable master links (so you don't have to go through the whole hot wax routine each time you need a fresly waxed chain), there is no going back to the dirty gritty nasty petroleum-based lubes. Fresh chain in minutes, with no dirty fingers!
Bananawax Drag & Friction TdF Racing Chain Wax, 10 years Later still the best Chain Wax on the market. Never ever had a chain fail or cassette wear out in 10 years.
I wax 1,5 years now... But I still don't know certainly, when is the right time to rewax, how to get it to understand when to rewax?
95% of the hassle of wax is learning it the first time. After that it's a breeze. I only wax about once every 300 miles so it's just plain easier than any lube I've ever used. Add in the perfectly clean driveline all the time and hot wax is a no brainer. Cycling since 1973.
Are you sure about that? Up until a year ago you were telling us that Muc-Off was gods gift to cyclists.
Daaaaaaamn
Perfect 😂
They don't call em "Gaslighting Communist Network" for nothing my friend.
Muc off is the ex girlfriend , Silca is the new girlfriend.
Your comment is perfect , i'm jealous i never came up with it myself.
For me, I’m a defo convert to waxing my chains (x4 at the mo), and might try the lubricant waxing sometime
“Our Father, who art in heaven...
Give us this day our daily GCN video on chain waxing...
Nice one Brian, I'm not a "waxer" but I will turn to your videos if I ever decide to.
does the normal wax candle works?
When you used the "hair removal" wax, was the chain nice and smooth though?
no it is to rigid
@@makantahi3731 “rigid” and “smooth” can be used the describe the same thing 🤣😎
I did use oil based lub since starting cycling, but switched to squirt wax emulsion and it's a game changer. What was a convoluted 20min job (degrease, let it do it's job, clean it, dry it, lub it, and do all of that without spoiling the floor) turned into a 5min job, wipe and reapply. Now I just wipe it, reapply and ride!
I only use organic Mānuka Honeycomb wax from the western highlands of New Zealand.
swag
Hi all, the drip on wax is excellent, but I have found that after applying as Alex suggested, try forcing the wax to run by rotating the the drive train backwards while heating the cassette with a hair-dryer. This is the Uncle Fester method!
For spring/summer/autumn: new chain degreased then silca secret (hot wax) for the first time only and after only Silca super secret (drip). Application once a week (400...500 km) cleaning with micro-fiber (no water). Between 9000 and 10000 km with a chain (Shimano 12spd). If it rains application every time.
For winter I also tried wax, but last winter it rained every day, the chain was dead after 3500 km (SRAM 12 spd & Dynamic Slick wax). This winter I will try Silca Synergetic oil. I also had good results with Dynamic Speed Potion wax in summer.
Wax on my road bike chain makes a big difference in cleanliness and longevity. For the city/gravel/winter bike that gets thrown around in all-weather conditions, I still use oil lubricant. Gets more grimy but the purpose of that bike is to 'set and forget' so degreasing and lubricating gets done with periodical scrub of the whole bike anyway.
Team wax. I hot wax the new chain and then use drip wax from then on. I get 10,000 miles out of chain worn to 40%. I used to get 2000-2500 using oil. Quiet also !
Good video.
40% ! ? The recommended maximum chain wear amount is 0.5%
@@joystation1 of course I ment 40% of 100% worn . Which is 40% of 1 mm .
@@davidide1525as if you can measure that 😂
It
s all about the convenience for me. I have tons of equipment from my Smithing days and that includes a heating element for when I used to use Froglube on my parts. The process is just like waxing a chain. I trie it for a year and just found it too inconvenient when I can just apply a wet lube 100x faster and on the go. I can admit that when I get new chains, I do wax them before installing them, but once I think its time for a relube, I skip the wax and use traditional wet lubes..
Great to hear your journey though the waxing options. I have been using wax for a while and find the hardest part is getting all the oil from the existing chain to start with and the products to do this are expensive. Any tips?
boil in water + soap/cleaner (also, kmc and connex are starting to sell waxed chains)
Get a drivetrain cleaner replenishment bottle (I use Muc-Off drivetrain cleaner), pour a little bit of it into a jar with a screw-on lid, put the new chain in it, shake it about a minute, get the chain out, rinse it with tap water, hang it up to dry, done.
Hi there, I have multiple chains used in rotation now. I let any factory pregreased chain soak in turpentine or paraffin for a while. In case of turps I leave it thoroughly bathed for a couple of weeks in a waterproof lidded plastic container, and give it a gentle shake or stir every now and again. Once I think no residual grease I use a degreaser wash, such as Virasol, for say 10 mins, rinse with water, followed by an isopropyl bath for a few minutes let chain evaporate / dry with micofibre cloth. Now wax the chain remembering to take chain out of hot wax bath slowly to prevent wax running off too quickly and losing any benefit.
Btw KMC now do pre waxed chains for around £30, which avoids all the initial processes above! Obviously the rest of drive train such as jockey wheels, sprockets etc should all be oil and grease free before using the waxed chain 😁😁😁
Hot water plus degreaser is the best method besides ultrasonic. If the chain is too dirt you may have to repeat the process.
The SILCA chain stripper is expensive, but the nice thing is that you can pour it through a coffee filter and reuse it several times. That reduces the costs per de-greasing significantly. And one has to do it only for a new chain, so that bottle will last for 20+ chains. Most other more cost effective options I know produce to much organic waste that I have difficulties recommending them. I haven't tried boiling in dishwasher yet, but the factory grease is really a hard nut to bust for the regular detergents.
I blocked my nozzle when I was waxing - now there's a chat up line I've never used
Production Staff at your place is Excellent!
Like several others, I got the idea from Oz Cyclist. I use Gulf canning wax and blend in a little highly refined kerosene to control the melting point. In winter, a little more kero to lower the melting point and in summer a little less to raise it. Over 6 years I've spent less than $15 on lubricant cleaning chains for 2 bikes about 1x/month and I get about 3000 miles on a chain before it shows any measurable wear. My cogs on my current bike have 6400 miles with no measurable wear. If you're a national class cyclist, $50 for some tungsten sulfide and maybe PTFE might be worth it. Otherwise, a fool and his money are soon parted. Oh yeah. I clean my chains with some type of detergent surfactant (simple green or citrus) and mineral spirits. Surfactant to remove the dust and loose particles and mineral spirits to get rid of most of the residual wax. Getting all of the wax off isn't necessary.
I switched from candle paraffin to Silca and if anything the chain wear has only increased. I got 20 000 km out of the previous chain, and this one is showing 0.4% stretch after 10 000.
Spot on - except for the bit about adding PTFE - I'd do WS2 if anything, much much lower friction coefficient and more controllable particle size. I used to use canning wax (definitely better!) and stopped for no good reason other than laziness and lack of riding big miles. Interesting touch, your adding a bit of kero to lower the MP. Do you mean a few drops per 100ml, or? I wonder if the kero evaporates once the wax turns solid or remains in the frozen mix. Also, wonder if it makes the solidified wax mass more soft once it congeals? Too advanced nonpolar-organic chemical questions for me - I got lost somewhere between the wiki on vapor pressure and azeotropism, but happy to nerd along!
I started hot waxing this summer (with liquified wax top-ups in between hot waxes) and I'm sold on it for road but I'm not sure about gravel. It seems to get loud quite quickly in dry dusty conditions. But I suppose oil lubes in dusty conditions might be even worse?
So, what do you do if you ride to work and it´s wet? As far as I understood, when using emulsions, you need to dry the chain and re-apply wax before you´re able to drive back home?? 🤔 Doesn´t sound less time consuming to me.
We were (hot-pot) waxing chains over 40 years ago. Now we didn't know it saved power back then, it was just cleaner... back then (1980's) I did dump dry graphite powder (lubricant) into the pot (i think i used a double boiler pot back then.. for safety...) so we did know or at least think that just paraffin was not enough. I think now I have the MOs2 in with the wax (I now just use a crockpot). The biggest thing is simply to never lube a dirty chain. I wash my chain with dish soap and garden hose and grudge brush..
I ride all year long and thus also in the winter time. At first this was exactly the reason why I did not use wax on all of my bikes: in the winter time, when the streets are wet, you basically have to use drip-on-wax after every single ride (I'm commuting by bike for example and have drip-on-wax at the office). However, after cleaning the greasy mess again and again and having to lube the oil-chain after every two or three rides, too, I very much went to wax for the bad-weather-bikes, too, because it is still far less work than cleaning that greasy stuff over and over again.
I don't mind if I have a mechanical on the way because it's no problem to touch the chain or the chainrings/cassette sprockets. No need for latex gloves in the seat bag any more.
My method generally is to use simple paraffin hot waxing and after some rides or when it was wet, using drip-on-wax. From time to time, I put all the chains from 3 bikes into the hot wax again. By waxing all of them at the same time, I only have to "cook" one pot, my wife does not get upset so much ( 🙂) and I can even prepare spare chains. I also don't mind the nanoparticles. I've actually studied nano-engineering. Yes, those particles do work, if you can manage to keep them in place - what it pretty much impossible in a highly stressed object like a bike chain. Also, the problem with rain... you'll lose these benefits far too quickly. That's something for racedays maybe, but not for everyday riding. For everyday riding the last 0.2 watts are irrelevant. You need to have a reliable and simple to maintain bike to get onto the bike again. For that, basic paraffin is all that you need and that is far superior to oil.
thanks a lot. its very useful to hear your experience
Ok, got the chain for the first time, when do I apply new coat of wax? How do I know it's time to renew the wax coating?
I HAVE been using drip Squirt wax for about a year. it’s taken a while and patience to remove the old grease but it stays cleaner. i took my bike in to my LBS and one of the mechanics chided me for having a “dry” chain. So, I guess it’s not a good idea. But for me it’s the best. Shifting is much quieter, the cogs get messy but I use Muc-Off drive train cleaner and it comes off. Not going back to oils.
Oh my! I took my bike to a bike shop to resolve a problem with a stuck shift lever while on vacation in Sicily. The good man washed and lubed my chain (which has just been waxed). It was a black mess by the end of the week.
'I wish I HAD KNOWN...', not 'knew'! Good vid., by the way!👍
The only drip wax I have tried (Squ...) is softer than melt-wax and retains dirt much more; the chain looks black almost as quickly as it does with a regular oil. Melt-wax chains stay much cleaner. I only use drip-wax to top up when I've run out of waxed chains and don't have time to do the waxing. As stated by others, waxing two or more chains, or at least waxing one before it is needed, limits many of the potential problems with waxing.
Smoove and Squirt utilize lower-grade, softer slack wax I assume because it flows better. But it's sticky. Kinda negates the whole idea of chain waxing: dry, non-sticky lube WITHIN the chain rollers with the added benefit of a dried barrier around the gaps between the parts to act as a barrier to dirt.
I disagree with the statement, "if you just want to ride your bike with the least amount of fuss, just use oil base"
While there may be a little more involved with the waxing process, I find that there is less to worry about with a waxed chain. When I'm getting my bike ready to ride, I just air the tires and go. I don't have to worry about if my chain needs attention. If I decide to ride a bike that has been sitting a while, I know the chain hasn't dried up. If I want to wash my bike after every ride, I don't have to worry about degreasing and reapplying lube. I just rinse it off and microfiber the chain. In my experience, I fuss with the chain far less with wax over oil.
What’s your take on the quick link, particularly on the 12 speed chains, as you shouldn’t re-use them. Shouldn’t that be consider as part of the equation if you wax your chain 15 times or more during its life span
You can get re-usable quick links
From my personal experience and those commenting on the web, re-using quick links is no problem at all. And not all are "one use only." The bike industry has liability to think about. Plus, they get to make more money saying the links cannot be reused, so think about that. And as Richard said, you can purchase quick links marketed as reusable.
A drop of smoove on each link on my MTB. 4,500 km so far and the wear hasn't even reached 0.5%.
It really is a game changer.
Team Waxing, but i am struggeling with the question if i should keep waxing my commuter bike as well. Maybe I will switch back to oil on that one, because i am riding it a lot in the rain, and during winter on salty streets.
Lol, nice commercial... Exactly like an old school tele shopping experience.
I Like the wax on my Sunshine-Ride bike, its clean, its less noisy I have the feeling. Recently I made a tracking tour in Italy where it was raining a lot, I had to drive threw flooded roads but mostly asphalt. The chain was rusty after the first day, after second day, I had passed 160 km with a freshly hot waxed chain, it was completely dewaxed. As the trip was not over jet I had to ask for oil... What to do against the rust?
I have tried wax, but it just rusts. My friend had the accact same experience. Does not keep the rust away.
Definite hot wax with bit of teflon powder in the 'slow cooker' with 4 chains on the go. Cleaning is hot water, then ultrasonic, then a 5min soak in the hot wax. Use in MTB as well - hose after dirty rides and quick wipe - only change chain every couple of months
PTFE is a problematic pollutant, look up "PFAS" and "forever chemicals". Straight paraffin wax without any additives works great, too.
I use an extremely cheap recipe which was tested among some others on our forum. Bee wax 4 parts with 1 part of oil by weight (engine, transmission, almost any type) for dry weather and 2:1 for wet weather. Ususally it lasts for 500+ km. Transmission stays dry and pretty clean. Measured wear speed for standard chain lubes is around 5000km till max acceptable wear, best one could reach 10000km, water-based wax lubes could reach 15000-20000km, and the mentioned recipe gives 40000km.
Adding friction modifiers (powders or liquids) boosts it more. Molybdenum disulfide, tungsten disulfide, hexagonal boron nitride, graphite, PTFE powders may be added to reduce friction. And metal conditioners (chlorparaffines such as ER, SMT2, don't know which ones are available in your country) will increase rewaxing period - they start working when most of the wax already came out of the pins and metal to metal contact is occuring.
My last mix was bee wax 3 : 1 mobil jet oil (esters), PTFE powder, hex-boron nitride powder and metal conditioner. Ridden it for 520 km with 7500m elevation gain (many steep uphills on lowest gear with corresponding chain skew) and chain is still absolutely silent.
you know it's toxic right ? i mean unless you won't to squeeze everything from the chain it's unnecessary to add anything to wax
@@eXTreemator What is toxic? I don't lick chain anyway. Friction modifiers work anytime. Only metal conditioner starts working when metal to metal contact occurs and extend rewaxing period (protective metal chloride film is very strong and there is almost no wear for some time)
@C00LM4N you taking completely bioproduct and contaminating it with toxic chemicals for marginal gains .
Been waxing my chains for a while now and wouldn’t go back to an oil based lube. I’ve used the expensive wax, which was good, but now just buy cheap, but good quality, paraffin wax from eBay and a slow cooker to wax two chains at once. Once set up it really isn’t that much of a faff, much less faff than having to degrease a manky chain! I do come across people who say they’ve tried waxing chains but it just didn’t work, that’s usually because they haven’t thoroughly cleaned the chain beforehand.
I'm doing the same. But also picked up tungsten & molybdenum disulfide powder additives. Both non-toxic and inert. But which one to use? I used both!
$40 for 10 lbs. of wax and these powders will last me a lifetime for our family's 20 bikes.
Let me count the benefits:
Mountain biking? ✔
Road riding? ✔
Travel bike? ✔
Commuter bike? ✔
Chain life? ✔
Clean Freak? ✔
Less work? ✔
Wanna avoid the dreaded "rookie mark" on your right calf? ✔ 😜
Effetto Mariposa Flowerpower Wax Lube if you want something ALOT cheaper than Silca (especially their 500ml bottle). I used many different brands of wax lube BLUB, Finish Line, Muc-off, Squirt but Effetto is the cleanest (Zerofriction aka Frictionfacts also ranks it highly)
Effeto is the best drip wax I've tried, but it's not the cleanest. It leaves that grey waxy stuff on the chain more than other drip lubes. The grey waxy stuff isn't very dirty though, and wipes off in 10 seconds with a rag.
Gone from White Lightening to Squirt to Smoove. Hose down sometimes after a ride and leave it outside to dry, put it in the storeroom and the outside of thr chain shows rust in places. So i can see that dipping a chain in wax would be better than just dripping wax onto the rollers.
Try Effeto Mariposa, it's sunflower seed wax and the oily nature of the sunflower seed will protect from rust unlike Squirt and Smoove (Paraffin based)
Squirt lube in summer, 3in1 oil in wetter winter conditions.
Squirt washes off fast, my last chain didn’t last 2minutes because of riding in wet conditions.
That’s interesting, I use squirt and when I had a chained bike for commuting (I now have belt drive)I found that if I just reapplied (without cleaning😱) every couple of weeks it worked just fine and that was on a bike that was used EVERY day no matter what the weather for my 16 mile commute.
3-in-1 was originally sold as a bicycle lube, but that was 130 years ago. It is said to be a light spindle oil with a small amount of corrosion inhibitors. As such, this should actually make it a poor choice for a bicycle chain lube, as it lacks additives that would keep it from running out. It might be better to use a chainsaw bar oil, as this at least has tackifiers to keep the lube in place. It could be just the thing for your Rover Safety, though, especially if dripped out of a small glass bottle (the metal can didn't appear as 3-in-1 packaging until the 1930s).
My immersion home-brew mix of candle wax with tungsten & molybdenum disulfide powder performed flawlessly on our tandem. 400 mile trip with two days in hours of downpour. Chain needed zero attention thereafter and is still running fine (I admit it's louder than when fresh, but still no squeaks or sounds like it's dying).
After watching your segments about waxing, I gave it a try. I went with the Silca Super Secret drip on and love it. Makes it simple to apply and works well. Thanks for the informative videos you pit out. Really helps for sure.
I use diesel. 10ml dropped from a pipette after a big ride, then rag off surplus leaves my chain oiled and clean. 🎉
Have a second chain prepped and ready for each one of your bikes. No explanation as to why is needed.
i use on a new chain Silca hotwax, and every second or 3th ride I add Silca Secret wax on lubricant. Before I strted to use Silca products I used Squirt Wax, but that stuff did not hold on a wet chain. So stopped using that and now using over 3 years Silca and will not go away from it
If you wax your chain, do you need to remove the chain before you wash your bike?
Water & rain can flush wax from chains. The solution is to have many chains waxed & ready to throw on as needed. The whole drivetrain stays so much cleaner.
Started waxing thanks to oz cycle about 3 yrs ago and will never go back even on my commuter in a uk winter, just run 2 chains
I've been using Squirt for the last year and I doubt I will go back to oil lubricants again. If the chain gets dirty I take it off & thoroughly clean (white spirits then alcohol rinse) it & let it dry while I use my second chain. I don't follow the manufacturer's instructions to the letter & relube more often than they think I need to but I have never been happier with my chain lubrication.
I would agree the Silca drip wax is the way to go. But I will take off the chain to dip it a couple of times a year but that also gives me a chance to clean off the wax build up on the drive train. Waxing the chain has definitely extended my chain life too. At over 3300mi this year my (dura ace) chain still hasn't stretched to the point of replacement
I’ve been using Squirt now for about a year, and it’s great. Runs super quiet, and much cleaner to work with than oil lubes.
I far prefer hot wax to emulsion, mostly because in a cold tin hut on the west of Scotland the emulsion never dries - it just drips off onto the floor! Two chains and hot wax cost me almost zero effort and are always very clean. The only downside is slightly less surface rust protection in a Scottish winter. The first two chains (cheap ones) lasted around 25%-30% longer than the same chain model previously run with wet lube. Trying pricier chains this time.
The ugly is definitely the cleaning of the drive chain (+chain) in the first place before applying the wax
The formula of paraffin wax with PTFE powder (TY Oz Cycling) works IMO best for my type of riding. I have tried the formula with Tungstein bla bla bla nano particles and had to apply more frequently the waxing process. Now I use melted candles with PTFE powder rotating 3 chains per bike. When my 3th chain need to be re-waxed I do all 3 chains, 1 after an other while I clean my bike. This is part of my maintenance routine. I rode with 1 chain around 12000Kms before I had to renew the chain. Problem is that a new chain on that drive train is more noisy due to small amount of wear on it. Reason why I start with 3 chains on a new drive train. Keep on waxing and ride safe.
reshape teeth in cassette and chain ring if chain skips or is too noisy
Hi guys why does my squirt drip wax turn into a gray glue like substance where i feel like glue friction is holdng my legs back? I feel like i had to switch back to the black mess of my liquid super fast fully synthetic oil?
Squirt dries into quite a gooey wax, that's true. Fast immersion paraffin wax is faster than fast synthetic oil though!
Team hot melt wax, Silca. I care about the cleanliness of my bikes and longevity of wear parts. The quiet drivetrain and increased performance is an added bonus but not my main reasons.
I also use squirt drip lube on my fixie bike as it’s easy to apply, don’t have to remove the chain and works good enough.
Haven’t tried. Love the idea of a clean chain but I guess if most of my rides involve lanes/mud/water even in summer, probably not advised right? (Long time Fenwicks Pro user)
Found it did not prevent rusting.
for me it's immersion wax for all my bikes and oil based lube for indoor riding - it is quieter and easier to reapply frequently
What do you think of plant based chain lubes?
I couldnt watch with the Silca logos everywhere. Put a advertorial stamp somewhere sheesh. MSW FTW😄
Yep , too much