Originally Posted by
scarlson
ehcoplex good to know about beeswax and the silca lube. I am often wanting more adhesion. What do you think about putting in some of that fluorcarbon/teflon ski wax? I'd been using candles. No chain wear detected until I let it run out of wax and rode it those 60 miles...
I know there are some chain wax products that contain teflon (or the like), and some folks add it to their formula, but teflon is pretty nasty from an environmental perspective, so I don't use it. I can't remember where I read about adding beeswax to make it stickier, but as a sometime beekeeper it appealed to me- and seems to work. For sure, waxing isn't for everyone, but I find there's something kinda 'zen' about it. It's sort of like doing the laundry. And 'investing' in a rotating stock of chains makes it all more efficient.
I got a small bucket of 'pure' paraffin wax (it's in a kind of powdered form) and a bag of beeswax pellets from Amazon I think. I expect it'll last me a number of years.
But yeah, get caught in heavy rain and it'll start squeaking pretty quick. When that happens I either put some of the Silca stuff on the chain right after or swap the chain out. If I were going to do long distances in iffy weather I'd bring a bottle of the Silca lube with me.