Tawraste666

Waxing is great if you like the clean look but it does require some attention.
If its been raining I take the chain off after the ride and dry it indoors as if left on the cassette rust spots can form on both components.
I commute every day and it rains a lot where I live.
That said, a motorbike fan recently recommended ACF-50 so I'm trying that out on some new components (cassette, nuts bolts) to see how I get on.
I don't mind the faff as I am constantly doing something with the bike anyway.

Racing Dan

Your experience closely resembles my observations with hard wax. It wears off quickly and the chain turns noisy and may rust if it gets wet. Ive had better luck with a much softer wax intended for MC chains, but Its still a faff, for not much benefit. Thus, I only hot wax when the chain gets really dirty and I remove it from the bike for cleaning in solvent, a few times a year. In between I top up with what ever oil is at hand. Usually engine oil and a microfiber rag. The price of the chains Im running is low enough to think of them as consumables. Even if I could double or triple their useful life its hardly worth it considering the labour and/or expensive lubes that might achieve that. - Heck, just the wine and beer I drank this weekend was more than one new chain, to put it into perspective.

richosti

Yeah dude, wax is not great for rain. I had the same problem and decided to go back to wet lube for my wet weather bike..

mprince

Regardless of lubricant type, after a ride in the rain the chain is at least getting a wipe-down and reapplication of lube. Even an oiled chain will rust after a soaking in rain.

Jeff Neese

I just use original-recipe WD40 to clean and lube my chain about every 100-150 miles. I've never had a rusty chain in over 50 years, several hundred thousand miles, and countless bicycles.

Andrew R Stewart 

This! I don't care which lube one uses but I do care that it is used well enough to not have problems like a rusted chain. Some of us can get so high on out hogs and preach about their god lube. Andy

Wattsup

I've seen tests which purport to show drip-on waxes don't get into the rollers very easily, if at all. I've read on the same sites that waxed chains wear MUCH more slowly than wet oiled chains. I myself use hot Gulf Wax. I ride mostly gravel, sandy gravel, packed dirt. The chain stays clean. I might rewax every 100 miles or so. If the trail was wet, I'd rewax (or slap on a another waxed chain) after 30 miles or each ride. If I rode in the rain a lot, I'd just use oil and be done with it.

cyccommute 

I disagree with those “tests”. Just from a physical chemistry stand point, if an oil based lubricant gets into the rollers, a solvent wax lubricant will do the same. Both are solutions of lubricant and solvent with about 75% solvent. Even WD-40 is about the same proportion. The solvent will penetrate into any place that hot wax will and carry whatever is dissolved with it. The solvent evaporates and leaves the lubricant behind.

I also dispute the idea that wax will make a chain wear MUCH more slowly. No lubricant significantly increase chain life over another. If there were, we would all be using it instead of the hundreds of different lubricants that we do. We also wouldn’t be having all these discussions about which lubricant is best.

Russ Roth

Why paraffin and not a softer wax like beeswax? Was almost wondering if the cutting board finish I use wouldn't be better, its a mix of beeswax and mineral or coconut oil (I make two different ones for the organic vs doesn't care crowds) that dries solid but with a real slick feel to it, at just over 100 degrees it starts to liquefy so might not be the best based on temps but being as soft as it is I'd bet it'd soak into the chain well and not easily flake off. Been thinking of trying it on the track bikes since they don't get as much use and mostly skip the wet use.

Wattsup

In your first paragraph, you present theory. The other guy actually tests. One difference is the with the wax, the chain is heated up to 200°F. Maybe that makes a difference? Either way you’re guessing versus his testing.

Your second paragraph is clearly incorrect. Otherwise we’d all be driving the best cars have the best air conditioners the best refrigerators, per Consumer Reports.

cyccommute 

How about a link to the tests you are talking about? While I’ve not rigorously tested chain lubricant…detailed data gathering, multi variant experiments, dependent and independent variable testings, replicates, etc…I’m not inexperienced with solvent waxes. I’ve been using them for 20+ years with similar results to what other people report with other types of lubricants. I haven’t noticed anything that would indicate that the lubricant isn’t penetrating.

I am also a chemist with a fairly long career as a bench chemist. I know how solvents and solutions work. There is nothing in a solvent based wax solution that would prevent penetration of the solvent into the rollers and, more importantly, into the spaces between the pins and plates, which is more important. The wax is in solution as is an oil based lubricant. Hot wax only gets into the same spaces because it is liquid. I might believe someone saying that the solvent wax lubricants don’t penetrate if they can explain why?

Wax also melts at significantly lower temperatures than 200°F.

We don’t generally go looking for the worst of anything, either. Can you point to a chain lubricant that give far better chain durability than another? Or one that gives considerably poorer chain durability? With the exception of a few outliers, I’ve not seen one.

icemilkcoffee 

Yes, but just melting is not good enough. You want it to be as hot as possible to get the viscosity as low as possible.

Tawraste666

Dirt and crap doesn't stick to wax to the same extent as oil which is why wax and chains that get cleaned regularly result in longer life.
Over the last 18 months I have been measuring both my waxed chains and they have not worn a bit.
Previously I would ride a chain and cogs to death and then simply replace the lot after each winter - until my tech got old and the price went up.
The way these chains and cogs are looking now I expect a couple more years out of them. I average 5000 miles a year.

cyccommute 

I’ve been told by many that the melt point is all that is needed.

And, if you are going to go by viscosity, solvents have you beat by a whole lot. Viscosity of paraffin at 100°C is 2.88 mPa.s while the viscosity of mineral spirits is around 1 mPa.s. The lubricant is going to change that slightly but not by much.

philbob57

I've been waxing my chains since the early '80s, and one of the warnings I read then was not to let the wax burst into flame, because the smoke was very difficult to clean up. I also have an association of a bad smell, so I may have had to deal with a wax fire.... I just can't remember...! IOW, it's better to get it liquid than to putz around at the limit.