Is “drip” wax a gateway drug to real wax?
 

mods, please delete. posted twice trying to fix title.

is “drip” wax a gateway drug to real wax?
 

switched to one of those overpriced drip wax “lubricants.” I’m amazed how much cleaner everything is after a hundred miles or so. sounds/feels a tiny bit smoother too, although I doubt it’s the 5 watts (or whatever) I was promised.

is this a sign that I’d like immersion wax even more, or am I getting most of the benefits without most of the hassle?

No

Yes

no

yes

Depends

Depends

I think that's the correct answer to 99% of BF inquiries

Yeah, see other thread. As my kids would say, "you're not wrong."

My kids say I'm always wrong.

Yeah, that's part of the package. Usually.

I don’t know. I moved to one of the drip based waxes (Squirt) about a year and a half ago. I’ve been riding off and on since I was a kid and I remember people waxing their chains in the ‘80’s but it never interested me. I took note and started wading my way through one of the recent waxing threads and although I find it interesting I still don’t see myself as adopting the practice.

i live in the heat of palm desert with temps regularly well over 100 and I’ve noticed that my wax based lube doesn’t exactly solidify during the summer so I would assume that if I did immersive wax in a garage that is regularly above 100 that I may end up with a bit more mess.

either way, so far I’m pretty happy with the performance and cleanliness of the drip wax.

merged duplicate threads

I started using squirt and I guess you could say it was a gateway to hot wax since I started doing that. For a while. I eventually got tired of having to pull the chain off every hundred miles or so. I slowly started migrating back to squirt and honestly, for my conditions, I think its better than hot wax. For one thing, If I'm in a hurry I can apply it in thirty seconds. It actually seems to go longer intervals before it starts making noise. I attribute this to it being a more liquid product, I think it can kind of flow back into where it needs to go, instead of just getting squished out. My use is some paved roads, gravel roads, and mostly dusty mountain bike trails. I rarely ride in the wet.

If you have a "drip," depends will be helpful.

Going drip I guess is somewhat of a gateway in that it gets you used to doing the OMS/Alcohol baths for stripping new chains of factory grease.

No, actually put me off waxing. I tried Squirt and had to replace the chain after 2000 miles.

I honestly don't want to pull or swap the chain every other week to wax it.

this is exactly what i felt like while swishing the chain around in OMS…

there’s no way i’m taking the chain off every 100 miles… that’s more than once a week. the drip seems to last at least that long, but it just takes a minute to apply more.

I've been using them for a handful of years and I have not succumbed to waxing my chain. If you'll check back on me later to see if I've gone over to the other side and need an intervention and/or re-hab, I'd appreciate it!.

i touched my chain today and didn’t feel dirty and guilty afterwards ! pretty chuffed.

I get several hundred miles off a good wax but I don't crank out the big watts like you guys .... not sure if that makes a difference. But it is hard to fault wax-based drips for convenience.

Removing the chain is quick and easy if you have a Quick Link and one of these: Amazon.com : Super B 2-in-1 Master Link Pliers (The Trident) : Sports & Outdoors
​​​​​​
Don't go all Breaking Bad with the OMS. Submerge chain in OMS in a clean pasta sauce jar. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Leave on top of laundry machine while washing a load.

Same here! My solidly double digit power output ensures that my wax lasts > 200 miles. And that is with food grade paraffin without any additives.

Once I have gone through the trouble of cleaning the chain, immersion waxing is actually easier than applying any lubricant roller by roller.