masi61

Can you share some details on what the “pro shop waxing system” entails? I have imagined ways to make waxing better but they are just ideas, nothing I have actually tried. Heated ultrasonics (the bigger the better) are involved but would require that a container of liquified wax be suspended somehow in a powerful heated ultrasonic water bath. My theory here is that the ultrasonic (if implemented well) would eliminate all doubt about wax penetration deeper into the chain thus ensuring the longest wax life possible.

pdlamb

The first thing I thought after reading this was, "Oh, another snake oil salesman." The second was, "Snake oil is probably completely miscible with paraffin and other oils and waxes."

I guess that makes me both a skeptic and a nerd. I'll take those labels!

Dan Burkhart 

I was only half way paying attention to what they were talking about, because I wasn't really a pat of the conversation. The rep kept saying all the info is on the Silca web site, but frankly, I was not interested enough to look it up.
I'm only working a couple of days a week in the shop and just for a few more weeks until the seasonal crush is over. Hoping it all blows over, and maybe they will just bring in some home brew kits for DIYers.

Kontact 

Use whatever wax you want, but I don't get why anyone would buy equipment more expensive than a sauce pan and the hot plate.

cyccommute 

It’s fine if you want to not contaminant the wax but you don’t need to do the cleaning that some suggest is needed. They do that level of cleaning because they think the wax won’t stick to the chain otherwise, which is incorrect.

That could be true. However, I don’t see the advantage of water emulsified wax lubricants over solvent wax lubricants. Solvents evaporate and leave wax behind. Emulsifiers really aren’t needed nor does a water based system provide any advantages over solvents. There should be something of a cost difference as well since emulsifiers are more expensive than a nonpolar solvent.

It is naphtha but “naphtha” is more of a designation for the class of saturated hydrocarbons you find in most all of these kinds of solvents. Again, they are part of the homologous series called aliphatic hydrocarbons. The term “naphtha” is more of procedural name for the part of a distillation fraction that comes from petroleum usually identified by its boiling range. “Naphtha” is usually used as cracking or reforming stock to run into a catalyst unit in a refinery to make gasoline. It is sometimes used to make other, more valuable compounds as well. Oil companies make little money on gasoline and would much rather make more expensive compounds that they can sell for more per unit volume.

As for naming, well, as a fresh faced chemist straight out of chemistry school back in the 80s, I ran head long into the buzz saw that is nomenclature in the lab. You can use the IUPAC naming system but most people are going to look at you funny if you do that. A common compound in wood chemistry is 1-hydroxy-2-methoxybenzene under the IUPAC system. If you call it that, people around you have to think about how to put the molecule together. But tell them that the compound is guaiacol and everyone around you knows what it is. It’s short hand which comes in handy at times.

Ah, “biodegradability”. Nearly everything on the planet has some organism that eats it. That includes petroleum which some bacteria consumes. Life does a very good job of utilizing any energy source it can find. Ethanol is very biodegradable, it just has toxic byproducts…aldehydes…when consumed. About the only material that life on earth has not figured out how to utilize is lignin which is a biopolymer found in terrestrial plants. It accounts for roughly 20% of all plant matter and there is not a single organism that utilizes it as a primary food supply. There are some fungi that can digest it along with cellulose but none of them actually utilize it as a primary food. Nature’s solution to the problem is to bury it, and bury it deep…it’s the primary material that makes up coal.

And, yes, it certainly is confusing. It’s not if you spend years studying the basics and then years studying the details but not many people go to those lengths. Those of us who do go to those lengths often don’t do a good job of being able to translate to the rest of the population.

squirtdad

interesting, I am such a DIY guy (even if I don't wax chains) that I have never considered shop chain waxing being a thing, but can see it if there is an efficent way to take chain off, clean and then wax like the cool people

lionkok

What is the best wax?

Eric F 

If you aren't using a 316SS mirror-polished melting cauldron, the flow of the wax will be irregularly turbulent, and won't achieve maximum penetration. I can totally tell what kind of equipment you used just by looking at your chain as I ride by you at 30+mph (wax is fast!).

Eric F 

Is a quick-link not efficient enough?

pdlamb

Best wax is my proprietary secret formula; send me $2,000 in unmarked non-sequential $20 bills and I'll send you 500 grams.

Second best is Gulf canning wax with a few tablespoons of a lighter oil such (so it doesn't all crack and fall off when you put it on the bike) and maybe some powdered Teflon or graphite if you want to try some. Or whatever else you feel like putting in there.

SoSmellyAir

Yes. You can even speed up the process by drinking it (at reasonable concentrations and in reasonable amounts).

GhostRider62

Silca's $165 SILCA HOT WAX se X goes 500 miles intervals, saves another half watt or so they say, and chains last almost 20,000 miles.

Let's say you ride 300 miles per week. Is the lower maintenance time (essentially doubles the life of the lube) worth the added cost.

bikeleo

1. Plug in Moms old crock pot let wax melt.
B. put chain in wax, let soak.
4.Take chain out of wax, let cool.
7,8,9. loosen chain, put on bike.
D. ride bike.

shelbyfv

Which wax do you use and how often do you do this? Mileage or elapsed time?

drlogik 

Bergman's Formula for Chains:

I first tried this a number of years ago. It's advisable to do this in your garage or a shed:

1. 1 quart of Naptha or Coleman Fuel
2. 3/4 bar of Gulf Wax (not 3 or 4 bars but 3/4 of one bar)
3. Shave Gulf Wax into the Naptha (helps it dissolve faster)
4. Let dissolve
5. Pour off into a 1 quart Mason jar
6. Pour the remainder off into an empty squirt bottle
7. Clean a new chain thoroughly of the factory oil with solvent.
8. Go out to the garage or a shed
9. Pour mixture into a metal pie pan (or other suitable solvent-proof container - those small paint buckets at Home Depot are ideal) and let chain sit in it for 24 hours (or more) with aluminum foil over the pan - agitate slightly every 6 hours or so
10. Pull the chain out and hang dry and install on bike

If it's cool in the garage or shed the mixture may congeal. If it does, add more naptha.
This stuff soaks into the rollers and links better than melted wax in my opinion, and you don't have a chain that stands straight out and needs to be worked so hard before it's put on the bike.

I've been doing this on one bike for about a year now with good results, have a clean-running chain, no chain tattoos and for lubing I just drizzle the stuff in the squirt bottle over the rollers every 500 miles or so.


--

mackgoo

I started this thread in hopes of it's specific intent may lend it to just as asked an exchange of ideas on waxing chains. Yes I did start a thread on RBR because I'm thinking likely not all participants on RBR are here. I am also sharing my experience on another thread of same stated topic.

Just waxed the other day.

Turned on the pot exercised went for a ride.

When I get back from the ride I turn off the pot.



Wax ready to go.




Chain before cleaning after 250 miles.



Chain ready for clean. Boil a kettle of water. Pour the water over the chain.



After cleaning.



Drop it in. Swish for 15-20 seconds and let it sit for 15 minutes and pull it out.



Waxed and ready to go.

SoSmellyAir

What is RBR?

Instead of the boiling water rinse step, I would immerse the chain in odorless mineral spirits and agitate it for a minute.

Germany_chris

Road Bike Review

HillRider

Apparently chain waxing is now all the rage in the Pro Peloton. I was watching videos on the recently concluded Giro and some of the commentators mentioned several teams that wax lubed their chains. They didn't give any specifics but implied it was "the new hotness".

mackgoo

290 miles after that last wax and I re waxed yesterday. Same process, same experience. Took less than 10 minutes.

delbiker1 

I will wax my chains no more, forever.

tyrion

Found an old crock pot and am now entering this rabbit hole.

Recipes
Ozcycle: 1 part PTFE to 10 parts paraffin
Friction Facts: 1lb paraffin, 5g PTFE, and 1g molybdenum disulfide (MoS2).

I don't care about the efficiency that much, I just want the cleanliness (being about to touch the drivetrain without getting gunk on hands). I also care about the longevity of the lube (don't want to do the procedure every week).

PTFE is an environmental concern, isn't it? Molybdenum disulfide seems somewhat less of an environmental concern. I wonder if either of those substances make the wax job more long lasting - if so maybe f--- the environment.

If just straight paraffin gets me 90% of the way there without the added substances, I'll probably go that route.

Josh Poertner (Silca) talking about chain wax and lube:

You Tube

Kontact 

Adding nonstick particulate to your wax will only make it shed faster, if you care about longevity. Straight paraffin will stick and flow better, and is already a superior lubricant.

maddog34

PTFE is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS commonly described as persistent organic pollutants or "forever chemicals". Only since the start of the 21st century has the environmental impact and toxicity to human and mammalian life been studied in depth.
Seriously... it's Cancerous .. have you ever experienced Cancer? You probably will... from Teflon or any number of other nasty chemicals.

personally, I have skin cancer.... three types!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene

tyrion

I think I'll just go with the straight paraffin.