Immersive waxing / it should be more popular
 

Immersive waxing.

It's the best thing.

• It so drastically reduces drive train friction across the duration of the application that it saves watts compared to other methods.
• It minimises chain, cassette and chain ring wear and costs so little per application that it offers a significant return on investment.
• It is easy and requires less work than any other method when defined as 'total time spent minding the chain or drivetrain'.
• The wax is as hard and dry as a candle and leaves the entire bike clean to handle, always.
• Two or more chains in rotation provide convenience, even for wet weather, and further increase drivetrain lifespans.

So then, you go faster, save money, save time, have no mess, and are always ready to go.
There we have benefits for all the boy racers, retrogrouches, MAMILs, show offs, and compulsive riders.

Some people assume the set up is difficult or expensive to purchase, but it is not.
Other people think oil or toxic solvent based lubes work better, but they are still asleep.
Few people think the wax emulsion drips they use are the same thing, but they are not.
Many people think it is more time consuming than what they are used to, but it is the opposite.

So what's going on?

Shops not wanting to sell fewer bottles of gunky lube and replacement drivetrain components I understand, but among people interested enough to sign up to a cycling forum, this should be so popular.

Let's talk about it.

How popular is it? How popular should it be?

I've been waxing for a few years. While I'll agree that it's much lower maintenance overall, the work is heavily front-loaded and I can see that dissuading a lot of people.

Not only the cleaning, but the exposure to solvents, not to mention proper disposal of same, are the kind of thing that reduce my interest in trying it.

Wait ... wut?

Apart from cleaning the packaging grease off of the chain, what solvents would you need to expose yourself to? Even in the initial grease removal, you can get away with using a paper towel, and let the molten wax do the rest. Worst thing you "have" to do is clean it off with mineral spirits, which is comparatively safe and eco-friendly. But even that is over-kill. The payback is never having to use anything other than wax itself in the chain's lifetime, and the rest of the drivetrain remains pristine. It also lasts longer, so fewer chains, cassettes, etc in the landfill.

It would be nice if it was popular enough to be a choice a cycling newbie can easily become aware of. So they can have a fast bike and the chance to preserve the as new condition of their recent purchase.

Then people can still make a choice as to whether the process is for them, ideally not based on misconceptions.

You do know you don't dump mineral spirits down the drain, yes?

Yes. I have a septic tank, so I wouldn't do that even if I could. But you are missing the point: You don't need to use any other solvent. Ever.

Melted wax is all the solvent you need. It is easy to dispose of, because it is non-toxic and solid at room temp.

One application of drip wax lube lasts longer than hot melt wax.

At least Rex Black Diamond does.

The resistance to drivetrain wear of a drip wax lube is almost as good as hot melt wax.

At least Effetto Mariposa Flower power wax is.

I don't put baby wipes into the London sewer system, either.

If that's the threshold, there's a lot of stuff that falls short... like changing your own flats or even putting *any* lube on their chain. *shrug* When it comes to bike maintenance, a lot of people lack the desire and/or the inclination to do the work themselves and a waxing regimen isn't something that lends itself to being done by the LBS.

The people who sell the wax say different.

I can't speak to the products you use, but I do not miss using Squirt, which required a lot of attention to achieve sufficient penetration (heating it up slightly due to the viscosity, working the links to massage it in), and inevitably ended up as a gunky grey goo on all moving parts. It also did not last very long between applications, and I did not get any particularly good chain life out of it. Some wax drips penetrate better and set harder, but these often use volatile carriers. A good drip on wax solution can probably work well as hot wax chain top up when going on epic level rides, unless you just carry a spare hot waxed chain.

The other thing, in my case, is that I have more bikes than I can conveniently clean chains for and wax, and my previous experience with wax - admittedly a drip type - resulted in a squeaky chain in considerably less time than I've ever experienced with wet lube. The answer to the OP's question is basically that the activation energy is too high for the claimed benefits. If the chain manufacturers started selling pre-waxed chains instead of coating them in sticky goo, it might change people's minds.

Isn't immersive waxing what Thetis did to Achilles when he was a baby? Look how that turned out ...

We can certainly keep this limited to new cyclists who are interested in their equipment and its performance.

The people who package my wax say that you use it to seal jar lids. They call it canning wax. It is completely safe. You can eat it. It will pass right through you.

If you put toxic stuff in it like Cd or Mo or other heavy metals, obviously that will make it toxic. But there is no need to do that (unless you pay for somebodies bogus magic potion).

The MSDS says it is paraffin, slack wax (a paraffin precursor) and water.

You can purchase prepped and pre-waxed chains to make a start without ever having to do the initial solvent clean yourself. I don't live in your country so can't give you any links. But since you have a lot of chains already, you could simply clean all of your chains in one big bucket one single time and then batch wax them henceforth without ever having to solvent clean them again.

You can just hose down your bike with water with the chain off, no more drivetrain degreasing. There is no way this will not save you considerable time in the long run since you will not have to clean these chains or drivetrains at all before re-waxing. Wiping them down with a rag to remove dust is an optional step. And if you catch wet weather just pour some boiling water on the dirty chain before putting it in the wax pot.

Drip type wax does not compare, it has real penetration issues if you do not go above and beyond getting it into the rollers, it does not last as long, and gunks up. I tried a few of them for a few thousand kms beforehand.

Siegfried did similar to himself, with a similar outcome.

I've been thinking about trying the wax method for a while. I think it's be interesting at least on my "good" bike. Correctly or not, those two points above are why I haven't yet.

The regular paper strips work fine.

Just try it. If it isn't for you, it is easy enough to go back to what you are doing now.

Every time I read waxing instructions, I get as far as step 2 and,,,, no thanks, I'd be done already.

Likewise, I considered it lightly every few months whilst on drip wax but didn't go ahead for the longest time. Then once I did it was immediately one of those "should've done this right away" things.