Broctoon

Oh yeah, I do! If by "degrease" you mean wipe down my chain and sprockets with a rag. Thanks for the reminder--my bike is overdue for this critical maintenance. BRB...

Okay, that's done. Now, for ways to spend today's remaining 23 hours and 58 minutes...

Paul Barnard

I have been riding and doing my own maintenance for decades. When I become dissatisfied with my current process, that doesn't involve taking the chain off, I'll consider waxing.

Polaris OBark

It wasn't until Shimano started using quicklinks with their chains that I started waxing. Before that, it was simply too much of a hassle.

ls01

Who are you calling people!

ls01

what about your auntie?

ls01

Are too!

ls01

First of all.....Wow!....
ok. If you are having wax flaking off you need to soften the wax. I use parrafin oil , lamp oil. You can use mineral spirits but it evaporates faster than lamp oil when heated. If you watch the Aussie guy, that's what he is doing with the butter knife and his thumb nail. He is testing it to see if it's to hard. You want a consistency that won't crumble. It kinda mooshes out of the way. That way it stays in the rollers and doesn't crumble out of the chain when it's flexed. It's somewhere between solid and liquid. I experimented with adding solids (ptfe etc) and oils. Paraffin is enough. The other things didn't make a difference. In my experience. I've been waxing for 3 or 4 seasons now. I get between 2 and 300 miles between waxing. I rewax when the chain starts to rattle. It's very audible. Wax won't stick to metal if there is oil or grease on it. So it must be removed completely. Then the wax will cling, and stay in the cavities where it needs to be. I get about a year out of a batch of wax, after that it starts to loose its lubricity and doesn't last as long. Plus it's pretty filthy by then anyway. The biggest problem I have with waxing is the quick links. I don't like reusing them.....I do, but I don't like it.

t2p

I miss the old whale oil days

cxwrench

I'm pretty sure you've just repeated the contents of at least 10% of the posts in this thread. I'm also pretty sure everyone knows the process whether they want to or not.

robbyville

I live in an environment where my garage is almost or often above 100 deg for at least 3 mths a year. Will wax solidify enough or will it be pasty?

Camilo

a good reason to refrain from posting an answer to any post with more than 5 responses. It's tough for me, but is almost always the right decision.

SoSmellyAir

How much paraffin oil to add to paraffin wax (weight ratio)?

It has stayed solid through every >100 °F SoCal heat wave so far.

ls01

I test with a butter knife. Dip the blade into the molten wax, let it cool to ambient temp. Push into it with your thumb nail in a scrapping motion. I look for a consistency roughly like peanut butter, maybe a bit more to the solid side.

I add a little and tast the results, add a little and test. Save a little unmelted wax in case you go too far.

ls01

I read 90% of this thread, I might have dozed through some of it, I saw none of the answers include tempering with lamp oil, only mineral spirits. Which I am not a fan of.
. Your not a fan of long threads. I get it, reading is hard.
you know you can just skip to the new part right? You don't have to read the whole thing from start to finish every time.
If you don't want to contribute, then don't. But it is weird to have a forum that's based on communication and then poo poo people who engage with one another.

ls01

Too expensive...what with the price of Wales nowadays. Baby seal oil is where it's at! Hard to get hold of though....

Kapusta

That is what 50% of all people responding to a thread over 1 page are doing.

The other 50% are off-topic. (e.g., your post and my response)

Polaris OBark

Today I had to add more sealant, yet again, to my tubeless tires; the rear one was a bit squishy (12 psi). It got me to thinking that tubeless is a lot more hassle than waxing a chain, and in many cases (like mine) essentially gratuitous.

Yet you don't hear people moaning about how horrible it is, at least the way anti-waxxers cary on here.

Kapusta

Gee, melodramatic much? I must have missed these people who are “moaning” about how “horrible” it is.

If anyone in this thread is “anti” waxing, I must have missed it. Where are these folks telling waxers they should not be waxing? The only people telling others they are wrong for doing what they are doing are some of the waxing evangelist zealots.

I am sorry if some of you can’t handle people choosing to do things differently than you, and don’t get the concept of making one choice while respecting others’. Just because someone choses to drip lube does not make them “anti” wax any more than preferring chocolate makes one anti-vanilla.

And regarding tubeless vs tubes…. say wut? Tons of people run tubes. And if you started a thread staying how they are all mistaken for doing so, I would expect a similar response.

Polaris OBark

The title merely asks why waxing isn't more popular.

The rest is your spin.

Kapusta

And people who don’t wax answered why they don’t.

And if you read the actual OP. He seems to imply these people are wrong in their reasoning. And if there is any doubt of this implication, his follow up responses to those answering the very question he asks in the thread title make it very clear.

The only “spin” here is your mischaracterization of those whose choice of chain lube you disapprove of.

Polaris OBark

I think they are wrong in their reasoning, too.

There is a vast difference between telling somebody they should do something, and suggesting their reasons for not doing something are ill-founded.

If someone says I don't want to wax because I hate wax, or I don't want to wax because I ride in wet conditions frequently, I doubt anyone would challenge either of those.

If someone says they don't want to wax their chain because of the monumental prep effort, the need for organic solvents, and other such reasons that are stated here, it is fair to point out that their reasons shouldn't really be impediments.

The difference is the implication that they would wax their chains if not for the imagined impediments.

Kapusta

And you don’t hesitate to tell them they they are doing it wrong. Even though they never asked for (or likely give a hoot about) your critique of their reasoning.

This thread was just a big troll. The whole point of it was to ask a question in order to get people to respond so the OP could argue with them.

It was a completely disingenuous question because he was uninterested in the answer.

And apparently the trolling scratched some itches for a few others such as yourself. Invite people to share their reasons so that you can call them “moaning” “anti waxers”

Give me a break.

Polaris OBark

yawn

tomato coupe

Yep.

seypat