Teamprovicycle

is this a a good idea i am going to use these ingredients

first recipie : molten speed wax
paraffin lamp oil
xylene or alcohol

second thought was : regular paraffin wax
Teflon particle powder
paraffin oil
91 % alcohol

it can be dipped and squirt depending on the time , let me know your thoughts ?

Doctor Morbius

You forgot Molybdenum disulfide. You need a pinch of Moly to make it premium.

acidfast7

I just use extra virgin olive oil. Worked well on the freewheel (along with a hammer).

Cheap and good.

bakerjw

Just curious why you are home brewing a chain lubricant.

For road cycling, I stay away from lubricants that are oily in nature. The oil tends to grab fine particulates and hold on to them. Paraffin oil is similar to kerosene being an oil distillate. Myself, I'd avoid it even though it does say paraffin. Dipping chains in molten paraffin seems to be very good for lubricating chains.

For road riding, Rock and roll gold is all I use. For mountain and bikepacking, I will use a wet lubricant because I will oftentimes get into water, mud and other wet places. Other than those, I see no need to reinvent the wheel. YMMV.

Edited for clarity.

John_V 

Have you tried Squirt? It's a wax lubricant that saves you all the work of having to melt wax and dip chains. I've been using it since a pro cyclist friend of mine started using it and it works great. Long lasting, smoother shifting and makes pedaling much easier.

If you still want to go through all the headaches of dipping your chain in home brew wax, there are several videos on YouTube that cover the process pretty well.

indyfabz

NFS is far superior to anything you can buy or cook up in your kitchen.

ArmChairRider

The xylene smell never goes away.

CadenceCrazy

I use a combination of the paraffin techniques. First, clean the drive train completely. After cleaning, I place the chain in melted paraffin. For my needs, the melted paraffin works exceptionally well but it eventually needs refreshing. When the drive train gets a little noisy, I use my homemade liquid paraffin concoction. I apply that as needed until the chain starts to pick up road dirt, which takes a long time. When the chain starts looking a little grungy, I redo the melted paraffin. I also use Squirt if I'm on a long trip since a small bottle is easier to pack than a bottle of homemade paraffin.

I highly recommend Squirt and would have have no problem using it all the time. But, like all commercial chain products, Squirt is a little pricey.

DrIsotope

This. I tried and tinkered with various homebrew "paraffin in a bottle" mixtures (as I have 10+ pounds of wax in a jar) and never arrived at one I was happy with-- the amount of solvent required to keep the wax liquid in the bottle made the amount mixed not go very far, or more often just stay in like a chunky-slurry state.

When a chain needs a touch-up in between the normal waxing interval, I just use Squirt. My bottle gets used so infrequently, 4oz lasts over two years. My current paraffin blend for the crockpot is up to ~500 miles between rewaxing under normal conditions, which means each bike only needs the hot wax once a month.

TiHabanero

I have experimented with lubricants for a long time. Swore by wax for a whole summer. Got caught in the rain and found it to be useless. In 20 miles the chain was chirping like a starving bird.
Last summer I mixed up ATF and chain saw bar lube 50/50 and have been using it on my all weather commuter. It has been outstanding for durability. When fresh the shifting is outstanding, however as time goes on it is like any other lube. At 100 miles the shifting is no different from using a standard bike chain lube. No re-lube needed for 300 miles. Not bad in my book. Normally I re-lube at 150 miles.

I use moly additive in the differential of my Moto Guzzi, and thought of an application of it to the mixture I made for bike chains, but not sure if there are any real shear forces to be dealt with. I will continue with the ATF/bar oil combo this summer on all the bikes as it seems to be a good combo.

DrIsotope

Teamprovicycle

i want it more for my racing training bike set up , my commuter get what ever , i used butter once , its a beater , its ok but it doesn't get the treatment i give the race train bike , and on that bike i try to focus on an efficient set up , buying a product every few weeks gets annoying , i do over a 1000 miles a month on this bike i lube and clean almost every ride , but in this winter i got into the wax based lube , because i dont have to clean my entire drive train after a ride i can just wipe it down and apply more an it just flakes off as i ride ..

Wattsup

To bring this thread even more OT.....

I've been having pretty good luck with White Lightning Clean Ride of late. I did a 30 mile, very wet gravel ride on Sunday and made it back with no chirping birds at all. Had excellent shifting the entire ride. Short of an outright downpour, this was a pretty good torture test.

I apply quite liberally the night before.

canklecat

Try some Boeshield T-9 instead of making it from scratch. It's paraffin in solvent. Developed by an aerospace company that had plenty of money and expertise to throw into making an effective lube/surface protection material.

Doesn't cost much. Low odor. Work well on chains, derailleurs, wicks quickly down oxidized cables if there isn't time for an overhaul and cable/housing replacement. Leaves very little residue. Chains clean up quickly and easily. I use it to touch up chains between paraffin dips.

Only downside is it doesn't last long per application. Takes about one application per week if I'm riding 3 or more times a week. Pretty much the same as most dry or paraffin in solvent type lubes, according to most user reports.

In comparison Park CL-1 usually lasts all winter on my hybrid. But CL-1, like most wet lubes, attracts a lot of black gunky debris that can't be easily cleaned just wiping the chain. The chain with Boeshield T-9 wipes cleanly pretty easily. Not as clean as dry paraffin, but not bad either.

MarcusT

I tried the Xylene mix, but it smelled to much, switched to bio chainsaw oil as the carrier with regular wax and paraffin oil and so far so good.

ThermionicScott 

Sounds pointless, but we all need something to occupy us.

downhillmaster

sdmc530

LMAO, this made me spit my coffee.

I do agree though, this is a bunch of fuss. I wax my chains. I simply buy the speed wax stuff and I am good. $22 a bag lasts me a long time and my results are very good. No use messing with this process.....If I do get a bit low on product I will put in a chunk of candle was until the new supply arrives. Simple, effective, done.

rydabent

Simply put wax is NOT a lube.

lmtada

TiHabanero

No doubt this topic is overdone on a monthly basis, however I find it interesting and am constantly tinkering with it. I also make my own rustproofing for the car and it works very well, plus costs a fraction of having it done. Just enjoy tinkering.

lmtada

TiHabanero

My experience in the US Navy led to an understanding of induction pumps and led to a job where I got to tinker with different designs working out of a garage. Eventually a company was formed and it has grown to 25 employees, 12 million annual sales and two spin off companies about half its size. Tinkering works. I thought about bringing my rustproofing formula to market, but there is nothing proprietary about it, thus can be reproduced quite easily by competitors.

frogman

+1 Exactly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

02Giant 

Why contaminate the Molten Speed Wax? Use it on it's own.