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Old 03-25-20, 03:09 PM
  #163  
SethAZ 
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Originally Posted by eduskator
Curious to know if NFS lube attracts more dirt than wax? Most likely, but how much?

Also, there is no need to use an ultrasonic cleaner. A simple wax bath in a 10$ slow cooker does the job as long as its left in there for some time. Flakes can be annoying for sure though.
The chain with the NFS lube attracts more dirt than with wax, but since I'm cleaning my chain with the mineral spirits every ~500 miles or so anyway it's nothing for me to get concerned about. This reminds me of another reason I've given up waxing my chains for now: I had to do it more often. Under my current scheme, I clean the chain I pull off when I swap chains at around the 500-mile mark, and lube the chain I'm putting on the bike with NFS, then I'm done with my chain until it's time to swap again. When I was waxing the nice, silent waxed chain goodness would go away within a couple hundred miles or so, then I'd feel compelled to reapply. So I was waxing my chain every couple weeks or sooner (sometimes every week when I was really laying down the miles). I did it while it was a topic that interested me, but the novelty wore off at some point and I just went back to NFS. NFS is pretty awesome, btw. On a nice clean chain I'll put the 12 drops or whatever I feel like putting on, and it distributes itself nicely, just as advertised. My chains run nice, smooth, and silent for the whole 500 miles until I swap chains.

I haven't mountain biked in several years. When I start mountain biking again I may well go another route, possibly revisiting waxing. I just don't pick up enough actual dirt on my road bike chains to be worth thinking about.

ETA: I used the heated ultrasonic cleaner instead of a crock pot because I happened to already own the ultrasonic cleaner, and it worked. At least it worked up until it broke. Then it didn't work anymore. I could go out and buy a cheap crock pot at Goodwill or something, but since I'm off waxing for now at least I haven't bothered. I do miss the ultrasonic cleaner though. It was useful beyond just cleaning/waxing my chains.

Last edited by SethAZ; 03-25-20 at 03:21 PM. Reason: added a comment
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