Originally Posted by
mconlonx
I've not had good luck with wax-based lubes or hot wax dipping in coastal New England, with ocean salt in the air and where they mercilessly salt the roads in winter. Constant battle against rust. Heavy, sticky oil seems to work best for me, but I'm slightly negligent when it comes to regular chain lube maintenance...
Everyone in all states is using more salt on the roads. 20 years ago, when my father was plowing snow on Colorado passes, they used sand with about 20% salt. Now they use liquid deicers and they use the liquid deicers more heavily in cities here. My bikes are crusted with salt after a winter ride but I still use wax based lubricants without problems. You can use what you wish but the wax based lubricants work very well for me during the winter.
My only problem with them is applying them. They don't go on easily when it is cold since the solution is saturated and tends to precipitate when it hits a cold chain. That's not a huge problem for me since I keep my bike inside at work and just lubricant when it needs it there.
Originally Posted by
dr_lha
Shimano's factory lube is a grease. Never heard of any manufacturers waxing their chains at the factory.
You need to learn the difference between grease and wax. Grease is a mixture of an oil with surfactants that emulsify the oil and keep it semisolid. A wax is a longer chain molecule of the same kind as the oil but because of it's longer chain length and higher molecular weight is a semisolid. Both feel "greasy" but for very different reasons. At higher molecular weight, a wax can be come "hard" which is what most people would call "paraffin" although that name can be applied to the soft waxes as well.
I've handled chains from all kinds of manufacturers and they all use similar stuff. It's not "grease" but a soft wax. "Grease" isn't easy to apply hot. Wax is. Shimano's representatives may have called the lubricant "grease" in some articles but if you were to talk to their chemist, they would call it wax.