rbrides

While I am very diligent and meticulous at cleaning and maintaining my bike I lubricate my chain with the traditional squirt bottle. I have seen the waxing and hot-wax discussions but is seems like overkill to me. I have tried 3-4 various chain lube products and they perform well in my opinion. I don’t want to get into product promotions or brand loyalty on this thread.



But, is there any advantage to waxing bike chains?

GhostRider62

If you have a cheap drivetrain and don't care about a couple of watts? Waste of time.

Expensive drivetrain? Real cost savings.

Expensive would be $400 cassettes and $881 chain ring sets. Cheap would be $40 cassettes and $100 rings in my book

pdlamb

YMMV.

IME, chain waxing didn't extend the life of my chains over oil (wet lube as the youngsters would say), and it was extra hassle to re-wax after every rain or twice as frequently as re-lubing with oil required. So for me, no. Waxing was not worth it.

Crankycrank

I have waxed in the past and ended up not liking it. My experience was pretty much the same as pdlambs in post #3. My best advice is to try it yourself as chain lube discussions can get more contentious than politics and religion with many different views plus different riding conditions and habits which can make a difference as to what works for YOU. I have a specific lube and cleaning routine that is very different than my buddy's and we both dislike each others choice but we're each happy with what we have chosen.

prj71

Thousand threads on this forum concerning chain lube. Just do a search.

cyccommute 

Chains lubrication and chain cleaning are far closer to incantations than science. The elaborate cleaning regimes that many people use have no basis in anything other than the need to make something overly complicated. If you are using more than one step…shaking for about 30 seconds in about 1/2 cup of mineral spirits…you are wasting your time. There’s no need to preface that step with degreasers nor to follow that step with more degreasers, water, alcohol, or unicorn urine. Considering that the chain comes from the factory with a wax based lubricant on it…it’s not “grease”…you could just put the chain into a pot of hot wax and go. Hot wax is a solvent on its own and the soft wax used for the factory lubricant is beneficial to most hard waxes used for chain lubrication.

Riding in rain and lubrication is also rife with bad information. Any rain ride should be followed by chain lubrication, no matter what kind of lubricant you use. Oil isn’t impervious to water, it just happens to flow and mask the problem that the lack of flow by wax doesn’t. In other words, water cause rust and oil just covers up the problem. It doesn’t solve the problem, its the equivalent of turning up the radio so that you don’t hear it.

Longevity of wax isn’t nearly the problem that many people make it out to be, either. A waxed chain is a bit louder, especially to people used to the masking of sound of oil. But once you get used to the sound, a waxed chain goes last for a lot more miles than most people think.

I don’t use hot wax. I tried it in the past and found it to be too much of a hassle. I use solvent wax but I get up to 700 miles between application. I get around 3500 miles per chain which is on a par with what most people report. My chains get cleaned once and never come off the bike again until they are worn out. I don’t have to clean up oily messes all the time and I can touch my chain without looking like the Gulf Coast after the BP oil spill. It’s liberating not to have to clean all the time. Here’s what my fingers look like after rubbing against my drivetrain without special cleaning.

2013-07-26 08.06.29 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

And this is what my drivetrain looks like in the middle of winter without special cleaning

IMG_1155 by Stuart Black, on Flickr
IMG_1153 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Again, I don’t hot wax. But solvent based wax is just as simple as oil and just as effective. It’s just a whole lot cleaner.

Iride01 

When you look through all the other threads and read the posts of those that do and those that don't, then you'll see that both groups have people that swear by their methods, but get shorter chain life than those in the other group. And some that get fantastic life out of their chains in both groups.

So do the method that works for you and you enjoy doing.

I much prefer not have to fiddle with my bike. When I have time for my bike, I'd rather be riding.

SoSmellyAir

Personally, the biggest advantage of immersion waxing is chain and drivetrain cleanliness.

Aardwolf

+1

I hot wax about every 300 miles: just put the chain in the electric pot, set temperature to 92C, leave it for 1 hour.
Using my own cheap wax mix from Amazon.

I really like the fact my bike doesn't shed oil on anything.

rydabent

For those that wax their chain, I have a question. If you think wax is a lube, what other machines that you know of uses wax as a lube??

SoSmellyAir

Motorcycles and chainsaws, which coincidentally also have chains.

base2 

I've used Squirt to good effect.
I've used Molten Speed Wax to good effect.
In all honesty, I think I prefer Molten. Squirt doesn't seem to flake off the chain carrying contaminants away with it as readily. So, the chain & cassette can get a little grimy necessitating a toothbrush scrub every once in a while.

The real pain is the initial clean. But even then, it's not hard. Per Molten: 3 dips in OMS, then some dips in DNA to rinse. It's a bit over-kill but was written as part of the Zero Friction Cyclings experiments test method for data collection. Not because that cleaning method is actually necessary for real life. Experiments need clearly defined, repeatable methods to be valid.

Any comprehensive cleaning with degreaser in a chain cleaning tool followed by a fresh water rinse & thorough drying ought to be "good-enough" to get going with wax IRL.

With Squirt drip-wax the key is proper penetration. Per the instructions on the bottle: Run the chain backwards for a bit, then re-apply to ensure it gets inside the chain, then let the water evaporate from the emulsion. This is something ZFC did not do. He mis-used it used as if were a drip-on oil lube. Unsurprisingly, the test results show abysmal results for this compelling MSW competitor. But published test-method is published test-method so I hardly fault him for that. This is why all proper lab reports have a discussions & analysis section to identify problems & suggestions for continuing research before the conclusion.

icemilkcoffee 

The advantage of waxing is not that it lubricates better than oil. It doesn't. Nor does it last longer than oil. The advantage is that it is clean. It doesn't leave a black mark on your pants or socks and it doesn't leave a black chain ring tattoo on your calf if you accidentally touch the chain ring. It doesn't splash or drip oil all over your chain stay neither.

SkinGriz

I was using a foresters stihl 261c.

I did not see where to add wax. I did see where to add bar and chain oil.

Kontact 

It takes 15 minutes, most of which is the wax melting.

A lifetime supply if wax is $30.

What time and expense?

Kontact 

Parafin wax is the lowest watt eating chain lubricant in every test I've seen.

Kontact 

What makes you think there are many devices that operate at the low power and temps of bicycles, yet have open drivetrains?

SkinGriz

I would like to try wax one day.

If a wax is applied wet and it’s solvents evaporate, I bet it’s just clear Thomson’s in a different container.

SoSmellyAir

How does the factory lubricant make paraffin wax better?

asgelle

"Is chain waxing worth the time and expense?"

It is absolutely worth my time and money. It is absolutely not worth my brother-in-law's time or money. Who are you?

Friction and chain wear for many lubricants has been measured and well documented.

Kontact 

Rust resistance - especially in the package.

elcruxio

I wax my chains. It's a lot less work, but it requires a system to be less work. Building up that system is somewhat expensive (not really) and tedious, but once I got mine done it cut my workload to a fraction of what it was.

The system requires a slow cooker, some sort of chain sorting system so you don't mix chains between bikes, multiple chains per bike, connex quick links and some tools (hooks made of spokes, pliers, quick link pliers etc.)

I have three bikes in active rotation, four in the defrosted months. My wife has three bikes in active rotation and I maintain all of them. Before I'd be cleaning and lubing a chain almost every day or spend hours doing them all at once. Quite often I'd get word of a squeaky chain after my wife got home from work and I'd have time to address it somewhere around 9pm. Had to be done the same day, because the wife needs the bike for work the next day. So I'd be faffing about with a chain cleaner or endless rags, heavy duty detergents or solvents, drying the chain, lubing the chain, wiping it down forever until the rag comes off showing some semblance of cleanliness. And repeat in two days for the same bike even with wettest of lubes as oils don't do well with salt slush.

Also, chain cleaners suck. They suck even if you put gasoline in them.

With waxing if I get word that a chain is making noise, I go in the shed, take a chain off the ready peg, swap it and put the used chain in the waxing queue. Once a month or two (or three it would seem) I pop all the used chains in the slow cooker, let them sit in the wax for a while, lift them out and sort to the correct pegs after they've cooled. During the wait times I can adjust brakes or what have you.

I developed a wax that survives water and salt pretty well so it'll go a week of commuting on salted wet roads before the need to swap. Or 20 hours of wet mountain biking. Tests are ongoing but it seems really promising.

The advantages of waxing to me are
1) less workload
2) cleanliness (this is huge when you have a toddler who is obsessed with drivetrains)
3) less wear apparently
4) no more chain suck
5) no more sticky chains wrapping themselves around front derailleurs
6) no more chain cleaning
7) less chain friction apparently

Cons
1) immersion waxing is difficult on tour. Still working that one out but perhaps a double boiler...
2) surface rust. The outside of the chain can get rusty. Luckily it's what's on the inside that counts. My testing has shown that a completely orange chain can be pristine on the inside as the wax stays put there.

With one bike waxing is meh. With a lot of bikes, definitely an improvement.

icemilkcoffee 

You don't really need a slow cooker. You can do it over your stove too.
Also- you don't really need to slow-cook the chain every time. After the first time, I just use drip wax. I think it's just as good. Just make sure the drip wax is not too cold. Warm the bottle up in hot water if needs be. If you want to be thorough, you can take the chain off, immerse it in drip wax inside a zip lock bag, and put the zip lock bag somewhere warm so it can penetrate the chain.

smd4

Why would either of those things happen on a properly lubricated chain?? If either happened--especially "splashing and dripping oil," you're definitely doing it wrong.

Kontact 

You are working way too hard. Wax displaces other lubricants. Melt on stovetop, let chain drip/cool, put back on bike. Do it for that bike when it needs it. No sorting.