Waxing Bicycle Chains
 

Hi everyone,

I just started waxing my bike chains; anyone else doing it?

I watch the GCN network on YouTube and they talk quite a bit about chain waxing on there and I have watched a few other videos as well. Seems like many of the pro teams are doing it as well.

This isn’t really new, but what is new is now the technology has made the wax better than the oils we used and are still using.

I retired a week ago and decided that I could easily make time to do the initial work and the upkeep.

By far the biggest hassle is cleaning the manufacturers oils and greases off of the new chains- they must be perfectly clean before waxing.

I bought a good looking ultrasonic cleaner which is has an outer plastic shell; not so good looking now as the Acetone took a “liking” to it! Inner tub is stainless, so it still functions fine. Apparently you only do the deep cleaning once.

I bought a $30 crockpot to melt the wax in. I chose the Silca super secret wax as it gets good reviews.

Rutager

I’m using 4 chains; more on this later...

So first off, you put mineral spirits in the ultrasonic cleaner and run the chains through, then a run with degreaser, rinse the degreaser off with water and then do a final clean with Acetone. The first chain in the Acetone turned the liquid white- yup, I neglected to think that the plastic basket for holding small parts would get melted by the Acetone, oops!

After all chain were clean, I heated up the wax in the crockpot and submerged chain one. You need to then let the wax cool just to the point of it starting to turn solid then you remove the chain and hang it to dry.

If you pull the chain out hot, the wax will just run out of the inner parts of the chain, if you wait too long too pull it out, you have huge chucks of wax on your chain- no problem, heat it up again and do better. Seems like 148F is the sweet spot.

I built a board with 4 nails in it to hang the chains on to cool.

Why 4 chains? I have always thought that if a person changed out their chain once a week and replaced it with a freshly cleaned one, maybe the gears would last a real long time. Now that I’m retired, I’m testing my theory.

I have two Campy chains and two KMC chains and quick links for them both.

Besides less friction with a waxed chain, the benefit that got my attention was how clean your drivetrain stays. After a week of use and 130 miles, I have zero regrets; looking backing and seeing shiny silver gears and being able to touch your chain without getting your hands filthy is awesome.

Rutager

I could see a good wax being good for the chains, possibly less likely to attract dust/dirt. Probably repel water, and lube the chain.

You are a dedicated biker to care for your bike chain like that....kudos to you.

I'm ashamed to say that I only just oil mine once a year....and I do about 20 miles per day.

What's the real advantage? Less dirt?

I use this and a lot of the local guys also swear by it. https://www.performancebike.com/squirt-long-lasting-wax-based-dry-bike-chain-lube-17oz-sq-dl-500/p1367995?v=404554

When I changed out my chain after Christmas, it was drowned in the purple de-greaser, from Autozone. I switched solution three time to make sure all grease is off. Personally, I think there are some on there still but who cares. After drying off, I applied Squirt lube and ran it through the gears for 1-2 min. wipe up excess, let dry and rode it. Reapplication of squirt every 7-8th ride is all its needed. Chain is super clean unlike oil which attract a ton of dirt. I like oil still if I was competing but a clean chain out weights a bit of lube and dirty chain. I can't tell the differences between them. as long as they are quiet, I am happy.

I wax my chain. Often! :D

There. I said it.
I got tired of greasy chains. I have a second hand dental ultrasonic cleaner, so I douse the chains in it (filled with kerosene), clean, repeat, spray with some carb cleaner to get off the oily kerosene, dab with a bounty quicker picker upper, and drop in the crock pot. I twirl the chain in the steaming wax, pull it out, dowse it in another bounty quicker picker upper, and reinstall. (I use quick links on most bikes- some of my campy stuff has that masterlink thingee).

I started this about a year ago. Most of the bikes are now waxed.
It doesn't take very long. For me- the beauty is a clean cassette, and if a chain drops, I I need to grab it to change a flat, no grease hands.

Does it last as long as other methods? I dunno, (and I don't think it really does), but my cassettes are damn sexy.

For most my riding- gravel- it's just a lot of dust and debri. Sure, I could triflow the heck out of the chain, or whatever ritual of the day, but, I'm in the wax phase. I got off a gravel ride the other day, and dumped the chain in the wax crock pot- didn't even clean it off.

Life is good.

From my basic research, the drivetrain has less friction, so you save a couple watts- not a huge deal for me or most of us I would guess. It stays very clean, which has the double benefits of reducing wear and because you don’t get the grime, you keep saving the watts. Once dirt gets in a normal oil, friction goes up making it slower; think valve lapping compound- oily grit being forced onto moving parts.

The hot waxing is slightly better than drip in because the drip in has carriers that evaporate leaving space in the chain rollers. The hot wax fills all the voids. One video I watched said that using the drip and then after it dries doing a second drip helps in filling up more voids.

It seems that a lot of people will hot wax and then every couple hundred miles will use the drip and after a thousand miles will hot wax again.

I'll tell you one thing, that ultrasonic cleaner can pull some darn stuff off the chain.
Each year our family goes to Hilton Head island, I ride up and down the beach every day.

When I get home, I disassemble the bike, and the SAND that fills the base of the ultrasonic cleaner from the chain alone is huge.

Also- I'm a wattage freak, but I'm not going to dissect wattage over a chain- what I will say, is that with a sharp clean drivetrain, you will FEEL SEXY and psychologically feel faster because of it. It is a mental bonus. It is like a clean car or garage. It will lift your spirits:)

Spray on Chain Wax has been in the motocross industries for decades. dust free, doesn't fling off, and you sure don't have to get Mama mad cooking wax in the kitchen.

really, boil your own wax, that's just silly.



https://www.amazon.com/Maxima-74908-Chain-Wax-Aerosol/dp/B00230IOJ4/ref=asc_df_B00230IOJ4/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312190122371&hvpos=&hvnetw= g&hvrand=3895841395629504611&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt =&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033391&hvt argid=pla-569122842891&th=1

LOL- I've done this. Problem is, I put all the chains in one drawer and can't remember which one is which! :)

I have this solved by having a box for the used chains and once all 4 are used, I’ll hot wax them, rinse and repeat- they might not end up being used in the same order, but will get used the same amount of times.

What I "used" to do back in the day was hammer a finishing nail in the wall.
A nail small enough (narrower than a link pin) so chains would fit over it.

The first chain was unused, it would mount flush against the wall-unstretched. It was never used. It was a control chain. It would dangle to a certain length.
Subsequent chains were mounted outboard of it in order of useage, the longest chains being the most stretched. They were rotated, using the shortest chain (compared to the unused shortest chain) first.

This worked well, until I moved, forgot the order, and 13 years later, I have my retirement savings tied up in jumbled campy chains in a drawer in my garage!!! Arghh!!!

I will never retire now!!!!

I must be really lazy compared to you guys. I remove chain, dip in whatever is available to remove oil, even gasoline. oil it and back it goes. For the past few years, I use that Squirt, done, back on the road. Once the chain starts to wear, depending how many miles I do over the year, it usually goes in the trash after winter followed by new chain installed. Its not worth confusing old chains and whatnot. My teeth are worth way more then the price of a chain.

I was even lazier before! I have the time now, except, the more I’m getting familiar with the waxing, except for the initial deep cleaning, I think overall it will actually be less work- no degreasing and that includes the bike frame and the rims as they won’t be getting lube flung on them anymore. Once a month I will need to re-wax the four chains, but I can be doing other stuff in the shop while The wax is heating up and cooling down.

The unknown, but talked about is how much less wear happens to the gears, I spent about $600 on a new cassette, chainrings and jockey wheels, so if I can extend their life it would be nice.

My 4 chain experiment has to do with my understanding that the chain stretches and that is a big factor in the gears wearing out to match the chain gaps. I own the fancy chain checker and have tried replacing as needed, but I always have ended up with skipping on a new chain; I figure the whole mess will wear the same and together giving 4 times the life of one chain...

I use some sort of hexane solvent with wax stuff on my mountain bike. It’s killer.

And…way less effort. But, you get a ton of less friction.

Nice!

I beat my drive train pretty good and don't really take care of them like you guys. I ride them and put em away wet, literately but we don't have much rain or wetness here. At about mid year, the chain is pulled, soaked and apply Squirt or Triflow ( I am old fashion). The rest of the time a drop of oil on the chain once every month, now Squirt. I have never worn out a cassette and have been using Dura Ace normally for a very time but did use an Ultegra on my 11 spd. I did have some worn out cogs but that's after 4-5 years of beating on the same cog causing shifting a bit rough but that's a lot of miles on the same cog, usually the 17 tooth or 18 tooth. Using SARM now, so we will see how it goes. I have their one piece uber light cassette on there. Fingers and toes crossed.

Wax is better because it doesn't attract dirt. I use a mixture of solid paraffin and lamp oil. I got some PTFE powder and add a bit if that. For cleaning I have a multi-step process:
1 - kerosene to get the old wax off
2 - citrus cleaner
3 - laundry soap and water
4 - alcohol to get the water out
5 - blow dry and put in the sun to get the remaining water out

I've been waxing for a few years and won't go back.
Couple of tips-forget the ultrasonic, its really not needed.
A couple baths in fresh oms in a mason jar or similar to clean factory stuff off is better.
I "never" clean a chain after the initial prep-after 300 mi or so, I throw it in a cold crockpot, turn it on, and come back a couple hours later or the next day. You want the chain to be as warm as the wax for best adhesion. I use a bent coathanger inserted in chain prior to dunking to get it in and out.
The gunk and dirt comes off and settles to bottom. Throw the wax away after it gets too dirty, a few dozen uses.
Avoid KMC chains if you wax, they use a surface coating that the wax doesn't adhere to.
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wax-instructions/ - site is filled with useful stuff.

I ride singlespeed all winter in the pnw woods. Golden rule is clean and lube chain before entering house, otherwise chain is rusted the next morning.

By far my best chain lube experience is a ‘cleaner lube’, it cleans and lubes at the same time. Hose chain down with lube, cycle chain 3-5 cycles then wipe it all off with a blue shop towel. Takes about… 90 seconds. Chain is kept shiny and spotless.

Downside is you need to bring lube on longer rides. 30 miles on dusty dry trails, 8 miles if youre litarally riding up a creek. 50-80 miles of dry road riding.

Brands to try: rock n roll extreme, or gold. One ball. The r&r extreme has a pint on amazon for a good price.

Waxing sucks. Never ever will i do that again. Tons of prep but doesnt work in mud. The cleaner lubes are wax in solvents, solvents clean then dries leaving wax.

I would agree that in extreme conditions, especially wet, wax isn’t going to be a good choice.

I used to commute to work practically year round in MN. Lots of salt and snow. I would have a spray can of the cheapest lube at work and at home and just hit the drivetrain at each location. At the end of the winter season, I would just replace all the gears and chain. I was running lower end components, so I could almost replace the whole crankset, cassette, rear derailleur and chain for about $100 using NOS off of eBay.

3rd chain update.

I have been riding several days a week and going about 150-190 miles each week and then after my Sunday ride switching the chain.

We had rain yesterday and overnight and the roads and trails were very wet and by the time I got home, both me and my bike were filthy. Chain was still clean, no oily film on my rims, spokes and chainstay! Quick hose spray and wipe with a microfiber cloth was all it took to have a clean bike again.

Removed the quick link, wiped any moisture off the chain and put it in my used chain box.

The one slight pain is putting the quick link on when I put the fresh chain on- takes several tries as even a slight film of wax on the chain doesn’t allow the link the seat in the slot fully. I suspect I will get better as time goes.

Rutager

Install the quick link. Don't try to tighten with your hand. Squeeze your rear brake, Push on pedal with your foot and it will pop in nice and easy. No effort.

I have the special Park quick link pliers, which work great, the wax just interferes sometimes and the pins don’t go far enough into the slots to engage.

I will try your way sometime as it would be good to know how to do it if I was somewhere and didn’t have the tool. Thanks.

Here's a pic of the crap that came off my frankenbike chain in the ultrasonic. It had about 400 miles? not much on it including a trip to washington dc and gravel. The cup is kerosene and has settled for three days. The chain didn't look that dirty.
The chain is all waxed and sexy now!

Enjoy!!!:D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1688346323.JPG

Nice!

Well, I went through a month and changed my chain every Sunday; doing between 130 and 185 miles per week.

Today I put all the used chains into a pot of water and boiled off the old wax. I’ve heard that you can also just wipe any surface dirt off and re-wax, but I think a quick boil will make it less likely to contaminate the wax pot.

My biggest lesson learned through this process was that instead of being a cheapskate and buying a $30 crockpot, I should have spent the extra $50 and got the instapot. They heat up in minutes and temp can be controlled. The crockpot takes about an hour and then you have to babysit it during cooling to get the chain out at the right coolness.

I’m absolutely loving the clean driveline. I haven’t ridden in a downpour yet, so can’t say if the wax will hold up, but it should.

lol- I think mine was an "instapot" I got it from my bike shop friend, who bought one, but never used it. I went in and inquired about chain wax, and he had the whole shebang ready as he never got around to it. I had the ultrasonic as a hand me down from a dental office, and it has been a godsend. That chain was relatively clean btw.

And the instapot is "instant". The chain / wax/ everything is scalding hot and I'm grabbing the chain like a hot tamale for minutes afterwards!

I've been secretly wondering if I could run a pump through the tank, through a filter (oil filter, perhaps hydraulic filter) to get the crap out and recycle the clean kerosene. Lately, I use clean kerosene, dump it into a secondary can, and then use it to start fires on the back 40. It would be nice to not go through so much though. Another project for next week! :)

I think you should be able to just pour it through a filter screen and get a few uses out of the kerosene.

From my understanding, you should only need to chemically clean the chain once and since the drivetrain is supposed to last a real long time, there shouldn’t be a lot of solvent needed, well, unless you have a large fleet or are doing it as a business.

Silca is making a special new chain cleaning fluid that is supposed to be environmentally “safe”.

I don't understand . I have a bent coathanger that the chain is threaded onto in a couple spots, and the other end sits on the lip of the crockpot. In 10 years of waxing I've never "waited for the crock to cool"- I pull the chain out, let it drip for 30 sec, then hang to completely solidify. Never a need to allow it to cool.
I do try to put the chain in on top of cold wax, or if not to leave it in for 30 min so its the same temp as the wax.
Wax works ok in the wet, but I'd likely rewax at first opportunity. It doesn't do well with wet and road grit.

Hi Greg,

I’m not an expert by any means, but the different online/YouTube stuff I have seen suggest that taking the chain out just before it starts to go back to solid leaves more wax inside the rollers. Taking them out very hot allows more of the wax to flow out.

I don’t know if it makes a difference, but makes sense to my tiny brain. I put them in around 170F for a few minutes, swirl a bit then turn the crockpot off and with my IR thermometer take them out around 150F. Seems like about 145F the chain slots get clogged up with the wax as it has gotten too cold.

Rutager

I got a sample of this stuff at a trade show once upon a time; I found it to be the best lube I have ever used on my recumbent chains:

https://www.royalpurple.com/product/max-chain/

I clean a bunch of things with the ultrasonic. Your idea inspires me to just set a funnel on top of a tube, into a filter, into a catching can, to get clean cleaner fast.

I'm always struggling with the line of silt at the base of the cleaner, which smudges everything I put in. Sure, I can dump out the cleaner, and wipe down the ultrasonic tub, but what a waste of cleaner.

This gets worse based on a video I watched which states the ultrasonic cleaner needs to be full of liquid not to damage it.
True? False? I don't know.

Lately, I fill the ultrasonic with something, but put the item to be cleaned in something like a big gulp cup and kerosene to save on kerosene, and dip that into the bath.

Also, the "fleet" equation comes into play. My gravel bike will get a run through the wax tomorrow AM. No cleaning at all. Straight wax. My MTB needs the chain and drivetrain run through the ultrasonic before a waxing. My trashcan bike has a chain so clean I could eat off it.

I wonder if you used an automobile fuel filter and poured it through your funnel tube setup; maybe a clear one to see when to change?

My ultrasonic cleaner has a minimum fill line marked on the side.

Finally “got” to ride in a good hard rain for about 15 minutes. Such a good feeling not to have n oily film over the ri s, spokes and chain stays.

A quick rinse with hose and wipe down with a microfiber cloth brought it all back to pretty- no degreaser or mess.

After regular rides, I do a quick wipe down with a Silca cleaning cloth before hanging the bike back up.

Here’s the uncleaned bike:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691357811.jpg

Coffee filters?

Thank you for starting this thread and posting all your updates, Rutager. And for all others who offered their input.

I like the idea of the Ultrasonic cleaner!

Here's a YT video I just ran across showing a method without the US cleaner.

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U24Hvho1zSE" title="Say Goodbye to Dirty Bike Chains FOREVER!" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm way too fuggin' lazy to wax my chain. And on a gravel bike? Ha!

But I do have an ultrasonic trick: Put the chain or cogs into sandwich sized tupperware and fill with solvent to cover the parts, put that in the (EMPTY) ultrasonic and then fill the ultra tank with water till the two liquids are at the same level. It keeps the tank clean and it reduces the amount of cleaner.

Good tip.

I’m positive that the total time involved in waxing the chain is much less than keeping a liquid lubed chain driveline and bike clean- just so much greasy slop all over the rear wheel and bike. Which means either a lot of time degreasing or riding a filthy bike that is slowly grinding all of your expensive gears with a dirt paste!

I have over 4200 miles on this bike and it's never seen any chain lube or chain waxing.:)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1691718704.jpg