azza_333

After and immersive wax treatment on a chain has worn off after a few 100km, can I simply switch to using a wet lube on the chain, or would some sort of specific cleaning in-between the change be required?

And before everyone brings it up I am well aware that switching from wet lube back to wax will require an intensive clean.

Cyclist0108

I've used Squirt brand chain lube on top of a waxed chain to refresh it, and more recently Demondtech Lite. Squirt is basically a solution of water, slack wax, and paraffin, so in many ways it is ideal. If you want something less dry, Demondtech works, but you need to spend some time wiping off the excess. Less is more with that stuff. In both cases, going back to wax is simple. For Squirt, you don't really have to do anything apart from wiping the chain off to remove dust, and dumping it back in melted paraffin. In the case of Demondtech, a quick cleaning in mineral spirits was more than adequate. If you don't mind getting your wax dirty, you can probably skip that, too.

I've been to Perth once, but the only biking I got to do there was on a rental on Rottnest Island off Fremantle.

cyccommute 

Shouldn’t be a problem. You can think of wax as being solid oil. It is has the same molecular structure as oil but with a longer molecular chain. Oil based chain lubricants usually have some kind of solvent in them which will dissolve the wax. It’s not terribly efficient but it shouldn’t cause any problems.

The idea that a chain has to be clean and sterile before you wax it is puzzling to me. Going back to the molecular chain argument above, mineral spirits, mineral oil, and wax are part what we chemist call an “analogous series”. Mineral spirits are molecules with chains of 5 to about 20 carbons. Mineral oil is from 15 to about 35 carbons in the chain while wax…which gives the name “paraffin” to the whole series…has C20 to C50 chains. Once you melt the wax, it’s going to have similar properties to the other compounds, most specifically, it will dissolve oils like mineral spirits. The heat needed to melt the wax will speed up dissolution. When the wax is allowed to solidify, the oil will stay dissolved. There’s no problem with doing this over and over. The oil will make the wax a little soft but that’s not a negative because most of the waxes used for waxing chain are a bit brittle.

Maelochs

Squirt. People say you do best toughing up the waxed chain with Squirt.

I have tried using a different wax-based tough-up and it seems okay.

Maelochs

I suggest cleaning the chain excellently before re-waxing .... not just oil, but all the gunk stuck in the oil.

pdlamb

Wet lube over wax is fine. Any wax remaining in the chain will be surrounded by oil and eventually dissolve.

I'm with cyccommute on cleaning before re-waxing. Wipe the chain off well, lay it on top of your wax, and heat it. Gunk will end up at the bottom of the wax block when it cools, after you've pulled the chain out, where you can either ignore it or turn the block over and scrape it off.