gregf83 

I tried chain wax this weekend. Spent $2 buying a crockpot on VarageSale, waxed a couple of chains and went for a ride yesterday. Chain was squeaking after about two hours and so far I'm not impressed. I might give it another try and wipe off less wax when I remove the chain but I had heard riders were getting far more life than one ride.

hhnngg1

I've got at least 5 hours on my current wax chain. Zero squeak. It actually sounds noisier than lube intially while it's on the bike stand, but once I ride for about 20 mins, it seems to move the paraffin enough such that all the sound is gone when I ride.

Maybe it's possible you need to dunk your chain longer, or maybe it had residual lube/debris on it that impeded some paraffin flow? Or next time move the chain around while it's in the paraffin sufficiently that it gets in where it needs to go, although it's hard for me to believe the paraffin doesn't flow into everywhere.

Squeaking on one single ride is really not normal as per all the internet forum reports of waxed chain use.

hhnngg1

Correction - easiest is ZERO bike maintenance.

Yes, you could ride your bike for quite awhile with zero lube, zero wrenching, zero replacements of busted up parts. Heck, I rode my entry level bike for 5 years with barely even lubing the chain!

But if you're talking equal comparison, we're talking a well waxxed chain vs a CORRECTLY lubed chain. Not comparing to a zero maintenance situation, in which I'd argue the fastest is to not lube at all and just ride the stock chain with its preapplied factory lubricant coating and claim it's the most convenient.

Crockpot = $15 on Amazon, Paraffin = $10-$15 for 3lbs on Amazon. Masterlink $5-10. Not a fortune.

To correctly Lube chains: degreaser or similar ($5-10), chain cleaning machine ($25), lube ($8-12). Doesn't cost significantly less.

Nobody who waxes doubles their crockpot for food use and wax chain use. What were you thinking?

GeneO 

You can get a Wipperman commex link that is reusable. .

trailangel

Chains don't need to be degreased before adding lube.

DrIsotope

This is what I'm afraid of.

I average about 16 hours of riding per week. I'll more than likely hit 5 hours in the saddle just today.

+1000. I don't remove my chain to clean it, period. One drop per roller every 500-600 miles, wipe chain down as needed. Discard chain when worn, repeat process.

But cleaner + quieter does sound pretty good.

hhnngg1

Man, if you wrench your bike, you have no idea how awesome it is to not even have to TOUCH the degreaser. It takes minor bike maintenance/repair from an annoyingly dirty process to a pleasure, because you're not constantly worried about what's gonna happen to your clothes, hands or surfaces the moment that dirty chain touches it.

I've got a fairly large pile chain-blackened of old t-shirts and rags in the corner of my garage that I'm going to finally throw out since I haven't needed them once since going waxed.

corrado33

I don't know what you're talking about. I rarely have to wash my hands after working on my bike unless I'm working with the chain, and then it's only a minute at the sink to get the crap off, no big deal.

It's like you're afraid of getting your hands dirty.

If you're saying that your lube only lasts on the orders of single hours to 10s of hours on the bike, that's AWFUL. My typical "Epic Lube" lasts many hundreds and hundreds of miles on my road bikes before it'll start to squeak.

And sure, you may only spend <3 minutes actually messing with your chain, but how long does it take to clean the crock pot of all the wax in there? I once spilt a candle making kit on my kitchen counter when I was a kid. 15 years later we're still finding wax splatter in places. It's hard to clean. It takes me comparatively much less time to lube my chain than it does you. Once every few months I'll completely remove the chain and put it in the jewelry cleaner with degreaser, but most of the time I simply wipe it down and apply a drop of lube to every link bushing (~105 of them). It takes me less than 2 minutes, and there's no sitting around waiting for the highly flammable wax to heat up and melt. (You do know if you forget about it it can and will autoignite right?)

And seriously, how often do you get chainring tattoos? It may happen to me once every couple of months but jeeze, do you lean your bike against you or something?

hhnngg1

I recently installed new FD/RD/ chain on my bike. Man, after all the adjustments, I went through nearly a whole gallon of concentrated degreaser, and a whole giant pile of bike rags. Plus my fingernails were black for the whole week. Sucked! It's why I went wax in the first place.

I never clean the crock pot with wax. I just leave the wax in there and reuse it. I've taken the wax out as a big hunk before, but all the black stuff settles to the bottom and there's really not much of it so I just ignore it. (Others recommend doing so on the forums.)

I'd say the risk of igniting your paraffin with a slow cooker is really low (I don't even think the low setting ever gets it close to ignition point), but sure, there's a risk any time you turn on a heating appliance, so sure you can't just forget about it. The paraffin fumes are more of a concern, honestly, as i've heated it for an hour just to see what happens and the only thing was a lot of paraffin fumes (not good). Hence, I've cut it back to 15-20' of melt at which point there is essentially no smell, and likely minimal fumes.

I'm not denying that there are lubes that last nearly forever. I rode a single application of 'wet' condition lube on my first bike for nearly 5 years without a single chain clean and maybe one half-baked reapplication. Wax def won't do that, but it'll def last more than a single ride (!) As you know, the longer lasting the lube, the dirtier it gets , and those wet lubes are magnets for road crud - makes chain cleaning almost pointless as it'll be black with the black crud getting back up and in the rollers in <5 mins of riding.

I do it for the cleanliness. Even if it took 2x as long, I'd still do it. LOVE having no mess, no chain tattoos, and no dirty hands. I didn't care so AT ALL about this when I wasn't adjusting my bike as much and replacing parts (I just rode that dirty bike for 5 years!), but now that I'm doing that, it's a big deal to me.

kingston 

I'm a both/and kind of guy as opposed to an either/or. I have a bunch of bikes. I wax the chain on a few and use regular chain oil on the others because one method is not better than the other. They’re just different e.g. disk vs. rim, carbon vs. steel, triple vs. double, etc. and which is better depends on your application. The costs are almost certainly higher with wax than regular chain lube. You can get a quart of ProGold Prolink for thirty-five bucks that will last the rest of your life. With wax you need a crock pot, wax, mineral spirits, denatured alcohol, PTFE and MoS2 which will set you back at least fifty bucks if not more and won’t last forever. However, there’s a real case for waxing if you like having a clean drive-train, which I do.

I use wax on my fixed gear that I ride somewhere between 50 &150 miles a week in mostly dry conditions from around March to October. Wax seems to last 500-800 miles before the chain starts to squeak. I also add PTFE and MoS2 to my wax according to the Friction Facts UltraFast chain lube formula so that may prolong the life. I have no idea, as I have never used just plain wax. I have two 8 speed KMC chains that I rotate so I always have one ready when the chain starts to squeak. A waxed chain is perfect for this application.

I also use wax on my foul weather bike which is a 3 speed that I primarily ride in the rain and in the winter. It also uses two 8 speed KMC chains that I replace every couple of rides. I like using a waxed chain on this bike because I like having a clean chain. It’s hard to keep a rain/winter bike clean, and I’m pretty sure throwing the chain in the pot is easier than the alternative, but who knows.

I have a new Athena 11 speed group and an old steel race frame that I’m planning to build to use as my fair-weather weekend ride bike. I’ll also try waxing the chains on that one. I’m planning to use two KMC 11 speed chains and re-use the missing link when I wax the chain. I’ll carry an extra one in my bag in case they break. I’ll report back and let everyone know how that goes. Assuming I can reuse the missing link at least a couple of times, I think wax will be perfect for this bike too. If the links only last one time, I’ll probably go back to regular lube.

I use lube on all of my other bikes with no plans to convert any to wax because I use those bikes for off-road and/or multi-day rides where I don’t think waxing would work as well. I also use regular lube on my wife’s bike and all of my kids’ bikes.

kingston 

Sounds like you didn't clean your chain properly

corrado33

According to the OP you don't need to ever clean your chain if you use wax, the wax bath will take care of that for you they said.

kingston 

You have to clean it before you wax it for the first time. After that you just throw it in the wax.

hhnngg1

It's recommended you start with a clean chain, as theoretically the residual lube/grit on the chain could inhibit the paraffin from getting in there, but there are plenty of good reports of just throwing a dirty chain in the wax bath with no cleaning.

I did it with my first chain and it worked fine, although it did turn the wax kind of black in the crockpot. (The wax on the chain still looks white)

If you start with a clean or new chain though, there's minimal crud in the wax on the next dip.

IrishBrewer

Those things are damn expensive for an 11-speed. Anyone know where to get them for a reasonable price? I know they're better than the KMC quick links because they're reusable but a few bucks vs around $25 is kind of hard to swallow. Makes you want to take a chance on reusing the KMC links on a well maintained chain.

himespau 

Honestly, I don't mind cleaning the chain, that's not a big deal. The winner for me would be not having to clean the cassette and the jockey wheels on the derailleur. That's the job that I hate with a passion. I suppose I could just clean the chain more frequently and there would be less junk to transfer to the other parts.

hhnngg1

The thing I hate about cleaning the chain is that I clean the heck out of it with degreaser, brushes, and a chain cleaning tool, and it looks super clean to the eye.

Then I touch it with my palm, and yep, chain tattoo. I know it doesn't have a significant impact on the ride or chain durability, but it drives me nuts!

gregf83 

No, I cleaned them well but it turns out it wasn't the chain that was squeaking. I removed the chain and it still seemed to have plenty of wax but put on a freshly waxed chain and it still squeaked. I think it may have been the jockey wheels. Added a little oil and didn't hear any more squeaks on today's ride so I'll keep at it for a while. If I can go a week (~14 hrs) between chain swaps I'll be happy.

redlude97

+1. Lube with Chain-L. Ignore for another 1000+miles rain or shine mud etc. When a squeak starts wipe exterior and re oil. Less than 5 mins per application. Wipe clean before and after next ride if you want a clean looking chain.

davidad

I quit cooking my chain in a Fry Daddy 20 years ago. It had to be recooked about every 300 miles or when it rained. When the black wear particles came to the outside of the chain it became black.
I began removing my chain and cleaning it in an old Ragu jar with mineral spirits. The chains lasted about 5 to 6k miles.
The next step was an ultrasonic cleaner with a Simple Green and water mix. I service my chains every 800 to 900 miles. They now last over 12k miles.
My lube is a 4 to 1 mix of mineral spirits to chain saw bar oil.

RubeRad

A crock pot for your wax can probably be got for $5 at a salvation army. And I bet 10lb of wax is more than a lifetime supply (obviously, the unused wax just lives in the crock-pot full time). So maybe in the long run (2 lifetimes?) wax can be cheaper than buying a bottle of lube every couple years?

BUT, long-lasting oil-based lube is much cheaper and quicker in the not-quite-so-long run. But it is dirty, and if you don't like that, and it's worth your extra time and money to use wax (more but not gonna break anybody's bank), go for it!

I've been nursing a single bottle of chain-L for 3-4 years now. I commute about 2K miles/year, and I rotate chains every 6 mo (birthday (summer) and Christmas). Although it is not strictly necessary to completely degrease the chain before re-lubing, when I rotate, the old chain gets swished in a jar of diluted simple green, then baked dry at about 200deg, then coiled flat into the ziploc bag with chain-L residue in it from last time, maybe add another tsp. I flip the chain in the ziploc whenever I notice it (less than monthly) so the chain-L seeps everywhere. When it's swap time again, it goes onto the bike, and the other one goes in the oilbag.

RubeRad

YOu could even leave the spare chain(s) in there too! They'd be perfectly protected inside the solid wax, just half an hour before you want to rotate chains, plug the crockpot in.

KD5NRH

Depends on whether you're casting your chain in freshwater or saltwater.

GeneO 

They do last and don't require any tool to remove or put them on. It doesn't take many power-links or equivalent non-reusable links to add up to $25.

I am currently using Boeshield. It is wax mixed with solvent. The solvent carries the wax into the roller/pin then evaporates, leaving behind the wax. No heating necessary.

springs

I've been re-using 11 speed KMC links for a couple years now with no problems. Maybe use one for 6 months before replacing. And I agree with everything hhnngg1 says. For me waxing is easier, less time-consuming, and much cleaner. I get at least several hundred miles per waxing.