canklecat

I've been reusing the KMC Missing Links several times -- probably more often than KMC recommends. So far, so good.

I carry a spare new Missing Link just in case something gets lost during a ride. My front derailleur is really picky about adjustments and shifts and I drop the chain more often than I'd care to admit. So I'm always worried part of the Missing Link really will go missing. Hasn't happened yet, but I carry a spare just in case.

sch

Candles can be made of a variety of waxy substances, paraffin being only one of them. Paraffin is a high
carbon (C20++ or so) alkane from petroleum sources. Vegetable waxes and beeswax may also be in
candles. Lubricity can vary.

HillRider

In that case I expect you never brush your teeth. Just about every brand of toothpaste has a fluoride in it.

Velo Mule

I saw some toothpaste labeled as Contains No Fluoride, and I thought I might be seeing it wrong. It was right. There are some people that are looking to get toothpaste w/o Fluoride.

Now we are off topic.

I am glad that I came across this thread because I waxed my chain decades ago and it worked great, however, I didn't keep up with it because I needed to push the rivet out each time I re-waxed my chain.

Now with the missing link type of master links for derailleurs and small crock pots. I am going to have to try this again. I also like the idea of keeping two chains so that you take one chain off, put it into the wax bath and put the other one on.

Metaluna

For those of you interested in comparing performance of various lubes, I found this link to be pretty interesting. Their tests take contamination into account and they test for both efficiency and chain wear. It’s not clear how much cross-chaining they do though, in case that’s an issue.

https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/lubetesting/

Surprisingly, Squirt fares pretty poorly. On the other hand, if you’ve ever put some on the chain and watched it just sit there for hours without really penetrating the links very much, maybe it isn’t that surprising after all. Paraffin seems to be the gold standard for both efficiency and chain wear, as long as you reapply frequently enough.

DrIsotope

My favorite bit is down about 20 pages into the detailed test on the Molten Speed Wax, where it takes ~600km of running in for the wax to get "down" to the level of lubrication of fresh wet lube. Below 300km, nothing even comes close.

And I don't even care about the wattage-- it's just really nice to have a clean drivetrain, that never needs to be degreased. I clean the chain once, when it comes out of the factory packaging. The Shimano 11-speed chain on my Cervelo just hit 3,600 miles, and is barely at 0.25% wear. I got 4,500 out of the 11-speed chain on my 1X, and only changed it because I went to a new cassette-- the chain still had life in it. Note: I buy cheap chains. $30 or less for 11-speed. I'm looking forward to seeing how long the new X1 chain lasts, having a miniscule 785 miles on it so far.

trailangel

I believe it's Phil Wood Tenacious oil that wins in the wear dept... although loses in efficiency. With Chain-L close on it's heals.
It's a trade-off

jkretsch

I've tried wax, Finish Line Teflon Dry lube, and Squirt. I didn't like Squirt because it left a waxy build-up all over the drivetrain, jockey wheels, chainrings, cassette that was difficult to remove. I didn't like paraffin wax because it didn't seem to last very long and it was relatively noisy. So I settled on Finish Line Dry lube. It's not the cleanest but it's not bad and it's definitely easier to clean off than Squirt. It also lasts a really long time and you don't need to remove the chain to apply it. All that being said, I'm actually thinking about giving paraffin wax another try but this time I might try mixing in some paraffin oil to increase the durability.

Cyclist0108

I came to the same conclusion with Squirt. I've switched now to just using molten paraffin, and two chains with quick-links.

It turns out Squirt is a mixture of water and "slack wax", which is a precursor in the synthesis of paraffin (it has additional oils in it, which is what I think gives the gooey snot-like build-up).

Racing Dan

An easier approach is to only melt just enough wax in a small pot to swirl the chain around in and then discard the contaminated leftover, rather than melting a big 1 lbs block every time.

DrIsotope

Using my trusty Little Dipper, I only use about 3oz of wax, which I top off as needed. Every other waxing (so perhaps twice a month) I pop the "puck" of wax out of the pot, and shave the contaminant-filled bottom off of it, which is nothing but metal and dirt. Easy and clean. Fire the pot back up, and it's nice clean wax again. I got well over a year out of a pound of wax, then bought a 10lb brick on sale at the crafts store-- so I've got wax for a good while.

I've been constantly tinkering with additives in the wax-- paraffin oil, teflon powder, molybdenum, etc-- and nothing really seems to alter the longevity or performance. The paraffin oil makes the wax less flaxy, but doesn't seem to actually last any longer. I've been trying to make my own "touch up" wax using the melted paraffin, paraffin oil, and white gas, but getting the mixture correct has proven difficult. I think I'm still going too heavy on the wax, because it stays fairly chunky even when well mixed. Easy to mess around with, I have a giant block of wax, and a gallon each of oil and white gas.

Cyclist0108

Don't start a fire.

DrIsotope

Hey, don't think I didn't look it up before I started putting things that burn in a thing that gets hot.

Paraffin flashes at 390ºF and boils at 698ºF-- the paraffin oil flashes at a lower 329ºF. Crockpot only gets to 230ºF.

I had thought about buying a temperature-adjustable crockpot, as you only need to get the wax to ~130º for it to be workable, but the hotter Little Dipper is above 212ºF, so it will get any and all water out of the chain.

WizardOfBoz

No, it's not. Don't say idiotic stuff about things you don't know anything about and that you haven't researched.

PTFE is polytetrafluorotethylene. Teflon(R) is Dupont's (now Chemours) registered trademark for PTFE. PTFE has superb low friction, chemical resistance, and electrical properties. Because of these properties, PTFE is present in just about every mechanical or electrical device of any complexity that is now on the market. It is the key component, to use a bike-relevant example, of GoreTex(R) and other waterproof and vapor-permeable fabrics.

Why would you say something that's just plain not true? Without knowing? I mean, for goodness sake, it takes 15 seconds to google this.

There is a move to ban PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) which is a kind of soap that is chemically similar (but with molecules that are thousands of times smaller) than PTFE. PFOA has historically been used to manufacture PTFE.

TiHabanero

I waxed my chain for a summer and gave it up after being out in the rain. It simply did not hold up in that condition. Now I use standard lubricants and put up with the mess. Lately been experimenting with ATF and bar chain oil. Very messy, super slick when first applied and shifting was unbelievably superb, the best I have ever experienced. Once dirty, however, it shifted just like a dirty chain. Only took two days to get to that point. Back to the drawing board.

sdmc530

XXLHardrock

Cyclist0108

White gas is a bit more like ether in that respect.

gregf83 

I wax for 6 months in the summer and then switch to oil for the winter.

DrIsotope

Yeah, but white gas doesn't go anywhere near the crockpot. No need.

Even at that, white gas doesn't auto-flash until 419ºF. The white gas is only here because I can't get the real good stuff in California. Hell, we can't even get mineral spirits here.

Cyclist0108

That's weird. I bought mineral spirits in Santa Crud, and this is one of the most chemophobic places I've ever lived. I even have had people start screaming at me when I tell them I teach chemistry.

White gas is the best thing I have ever used to clean my drive-train.

DrIsotope

VEry possible that it's a SCAQMD thing. They took away mineral spirits, (real) paint thinner, naphtha, toulene, xylene, and others I can't recall off hand. Lacquer thinner is the "eco-friendly" kind where you have to use twice as much, negating the eco-friendliness a little, I think.

We can buy a can of "Painter's Solvent" which isn't really very good for anything.