My adventures in chain waxing: goals, reviews, suggestions...

[DaveS]

A microwave will not heat a mixture of naphtha and paraffin. Naphtha is non-polar and does not get hot when placed in a microwave. Neither does mineral spirits.

[aosjimzaw]

My microwave must be as blatantly ignorant as I am then, as it was turning the stuff into hot watery liquid nonetheless. Sort of like Einstein's hornet

[uraqt]

@DaveS

I hunted a few seach pages and I couldn't find your exact ..and chance you could share the specifics and details?

Thanks
C

[DaveS]

My microwave must be as blatantly ignorant as I am then, as it was turning the stuff into hot watery liquid nonetheless. Sort of like Einstein's hornet

No, whatever crap you're using isn't naphtha or mineral spirits. Probably some water base junk.

[MikeD]

I just finished a bottle of squirt and I ordered Smoove because it's supposed to last longer between applications, but since I read this thread I cancelled the Smoove and ordered Banana Slip. My doubt now is if it's worthy stripping the squirt rests or not bother and apply Banana Slip on top. What do you think?

I'd remove it. The Tungsten disulfide is supposed to fill in the surface roughness in the chain and I would think the old lube would interfere with that.

I just ordered BS too, but didn't see that it doesn't last near as long as Smoove between applications. Ugh... I'm a Smoove fan. It's better than Squirt, which I also used.

[nachetetm]

I just finished a bottle of squirt and I ordered Smoove because it's supposed to last longer between applications, but since I read this thread I cancelled the Smoove and ordered Banana Slip. My doubt now is if it's worthy stripping the squirt rests or not bother and apply Banana Slip on top. What do you think?

I'd remove it. The Tungsten disulfide is supposed to fill in the surface roughness in the chain and I would think the old lube would interfere with that.

I just ordered BS too, but didn't see that it doesn't last near as long as Smoove between applications. Ugh... I'm a Smoove fan. It's better than Squirt, which I also used.

What made me switch was the cleanliness of BS. If I need to apply as frequently as squirt but I get a cleaner chain I think it will be worthy

[nachetetm]

I just finished a bottle of squirt and I ordered Smoove because it's supposed to last longer between applications, but since I read this thread I cancelled the Smoove and ordered Banana Slip. My doubt now is if it's worthy stripping the squirt rests or not bother and apply Banana Slip on top. What do you think?

I'd remove it. The Tungsten disulfide is supposed to fill in the surface roughness in the chain and I would think the old lube would interfere with that.

I just ordered BS too, but didn't see that it doesn't last near as long as Smoove between applications. Ugh... I'm a Smoove fan. It's better than Squirt, which I also used.

What made me switch was the cleanliness of BS. If I need to apply as frequently as squirt but I get a cleaner chain I think it will be worthy.

[Titanium22]

Tru tension sent me this.

We would recommend the Race Lube for the big rides you have ahead of you, great idea. In terms of the the mileage, our Race lubes are designed to create a completely dry surface finish which will last for up to 150km. We would say that this can massively differ dependant on riding environment, road conditions, riding style and general user application/chain maintenance.

All Weather Lube is a wax based emulsion, fully bio degradable and long lasting but has no solvent-based carriers in it. It sets within 5 minutes.

Race Lube is a crystal based wax, which sets harder. However this means it contains a solvent based carrier as this means it gets the penetration in the pins.. It must be applied over night to ride with the next.

I have bought but not tried yet, the all weather lube. My thinking was its super clean, and if I do a super long ride ride (300km) or cycling holiday, I can take a tiny bottle with me, and reapply at a cafe stop, as its ready to use in 5 minutes. With the race lube, or hot wax I can't do this. All weather lube, also supposed to be ok in all weathers, so wont wash off like wax?

[robertbb]

Zero Friction Cycling has some info on the Tungsten All Weather:

https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/prod ... ther-lube/

As a "new generation Wax Emulsion Lubricant" it appears to do better than squirt and smoove...

[jacobeh]

I just finished a bottle of squirt and I ordered Smoove because it's supposed to last longer between applications, but since I read this thread I cancelled the Smoove and ordered Banana Slip. My doubt now is if it's worthy stripping the squirt rests or not bother and apply Banana Slip on top. What do you think?

I'd remove it. The Tungsten disulfide is supposed to fill in the surface roughness in the chain and I would think the old lube would interfere with that.

I just ordered BS too, but didn't see that it doesn't last near as long as Smoove between applications. Ugh... I'm a Smoove fan. It's better than Squirt, which I also used.

They write this on the ZFC site:

DO NOT APPLY DIRECTLY OVER FACTORY GREASE OR EXISTING DRIP LUBE (*exceptions – it may be applied directly over Smoove / Squirt/ UFO Drip / Tru-Tension Tungsten Race lube, and of course Mspeedwax).

[nachetetm]

I just finished a bottle of squirt and I ordered Smoove because it's supposed to last longer between applications, but since I read this thread I cancelled the Smoove and ordered Banana Slip. My doubt now is if it's worthy stripping the squirt rests or not bother and apply Banana Slip on top. What do you think?

I'd remove it. The Tungsten disulfide is supposed to fill in the surface roughness in the chain and I would think the old lube would interfere with that.

I just ordered BS too, but didn't see that it doesn't last near as long as Smoove between applications. Ugh... I'm a Smoove fan. It's better than Squirt, which I also used.

They write this on the ZFC site:

DO NOT APPLY DIRECTLY OVER FACTORY GREASE OR EXISTING DRIP LUBE (*exceptions – it may be applied directly over Smoove / Squirt/ UFO Drip / Tru-Tension Tungsten Race lube, and of course Mspeedwax).

Perfect! Because according to ZFC, the time it takes for wax lubes to make a coating over a clean chain is the most wearing stage...

[MarkoP]

Tru tension sent me this.

We would recommend the Race Lube for the big rides you have ahead of you, great idea. In terms of the the mileage, our Race lubes are designed to create a completely dry surface finish which will last for up to 150km. We would say that this can massively differ dependant on riding environment, road conditions, riding style and general user application/chain maintenance.

All Weather Lube is a wax based emulsion, fully bio degradable and long lasting but has no solvent-based carriers in it. It sets within 5 minutes.

Race Lube is a crystal based wax, which sets harder. However this means it contains a solvent based carrier as this means it gets the penetration in the pins.. It must be applied over night to ride with the next.

I have bought but not tried yet, the all weather lube. My thinking was its super clean, and if I do a super long ride ride (300km) or cycling holiday, I can take a tiny bottle with me, and reapply at a cafe stop, as its ready to use in 5 minutes. With the race lube, or hot wax I can't do this. All weather lube, also supposed to be ok in all weathers, so wont wash off like wax?

Thanks for sharing this. I have the all weather lube enroute. I've been using Finish Line Dry Lube on my Addict that I only ride in dry weather. I clean my chain often with Citrus Orange and relube after as I'm super anal about keeping the chain clean. Looking forward to the Banana Slip all weather.

[elzilcho]

I swapped to wax as an experiment during the lockdown and I won't be going back to chain lube. The setup can seem tedious but I've found a routine that works for me. I cleaned the chains and cassettes with mineral spirits, soaking the chains over night and scrubbing the cassettes with a brush. Initially I followed Ozcycle's idea of adding some powdered PTFE but have since seen suggestions that it doesn't really help, either way it was simple to drop parafin in to a small slow cooker and soak the chains for 15-20 minutes, then hang to dry. I found that wiping off the outside of the chains before they are cooled helps a lot to minimize the wax flakes on the bike. I have two chains in rotatoin for each bike (MTB and gravel/road). Each chain has been getting 250-500 miles, variable due to wet conditions. I've found the cleaniness of a waxed chain to be a big selling point for me, and joke with my friends when they're dealing with squeky chains and oil every ride. Sure, if you're attentitive to cleaing and lubing you may not have those issues, but I think you're spending more time with that than you would with wax and still have an oil covered chain in the event you need to touch it.

[coresare]

I swapped to wax as an experiment during the lockdown and I won't be going back to chain lube. The setup can seem tedious but I've found a routine that works for me. I cleaned the chains and cassettes with mineral spirits, soaking the chains over night and scrubbing the cassettes with a brush. Initially I followed Ozcycle's idea of adding some powdered PTFE but have since seen suggestions that it doesn't really help, either way it was simple to drop parafin in to a small slow cooker and soak the chains for 15-20 minutes, then hang to dry. I found that wiping off the outside of the chains before they are cooled helps a lot to minimize the wax flakes on the bike. I have two chains in rotatoin for each bike (MTB and gravel/road). Each chain has been getting 250-500 miles, variable due to wet conditions. I've found the cleaniness of a waxed chain to be a big selling point for me, and joke with my friends when they're dealing with squeky chains and oil every ride. Sure, if you're attentitive to cleaing and lubing you may not have those issues, but I think you're spending more time with that than you would with wax and still have an oil covered chain in the event you need to touch it.

You don't find the drivetrain noisier with hot wax? Namely in the big chainring.

[TobinHatesYou]

You don't find the drivetrain noisier with hot wax? Namely in the big chainring.

I only find hot-melt wax particuarly noisy in the largest cog. Worse if I'm in the big chainring, but still somewhat loud in the small ring. When I'm in the middle of the cassette, hot-melt wax is silent enough while in either chainring.