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

[coresare]

Out of boredom I dived into the whole hot wax thing last week. Completely degreased / cleaned the chain (was using Squirt prior). Melted the Molten Speed Wax in a pot over the stove to 200F, brought the pot to the garage, and then swished the chain in there for maybe 10 minutes. I really don't know why a crock pot is suggested so much. If I had to wait an hour for the wax to melt I wouldn't bother. I bought a small electric burner to heat the pot in the garage next time I do it so I don't have to bring it inside the house. I will use this burner to boil water next time also. Here are my initial thoughts.

-It's actually kind of a pain in the ass. I understand the initial setup / learning what to do makes it tougher at first and the next time is much easier. As I understand it when it's time to rewax, I will just need to dip the chain in some boiling water and swish it around and then redip it into the hotwax again. This next rewax should be much easier.

-BUT here's still why it's a pain in the ass. The wax gets into every hole such as at the roller holes and on the KMC chain the little slits on the plates. I have a little bit of OCD so I poked the wax out of every roller hole and even cleaned the slits. I know most people don't care about the wax inside the roller holes though. Second, you will get wax flakes all over your chainstay and other places. You hear people say it's dry and you can just brush it off, but it really isn't. You cant simply blow on it or brush it away with a brush. Some of it will stick a little so you will need to brush the majority off with a brush then use a cloth with a mild cleaner (I like to use Meguiar's quick detailer) and wipe it down. I went and cleaned every part on the bike that had some wax flakes on it. I suppose after you bring the chain out of the hot wax, you can wipe the outside down with a cloth right away so you don't get as much wax flakes scattered around the drivetrain.

-After waxing it's stiff. You need to manually break the initial bond of all the links and it takes a good 30-45 minutes of riding before it fully breaks in. So after waxing you gotta hear the noisy chain for a bit.

-Even after it breaks in, it's a little noiser. In the small chainring I cant tell a difference in noise, but you can definitely hear that it's more noisy in the big chainring.

-Im a bit of a germaphobe and also wonder about the carcinogenic possibilities of touching the chain since there is ptfe powder mixed in. After you touch the chain, you will grab your handlebars, rub your face... so on.

So is it worth it? Dunno, I've bought 2 bags of this stuff so I'm going to be stuck using it for a long long time. I find it hard to believe it is the most efficient in terms of friction because when you articulate the links, it feels heavy due to the wax in there even after going for a ride. If the next time I relube it is as simple as swishing in boiling water, dipping it in hot wax, hang dry (This time i'll wipe the excess off the outside when it first comes out of the hot wax and also see if my OCD allows me to forget about the wax in every *@#%$ roller hole) I might keep doing it. Time will tell. I will also need to see how much more clean my cassette / chainrings / jockey wheels stay.

[TobinHatesYou]

The wax flakes on my chainstay brush off pretty easily.

To me, nothing articulates more freely than a worn-in waxed chain that has been just taken off the bike.

[pdlpsher1]

I break the links when the chain is still warm just after waxing. It's much easier than when the chain has cooled to room temperature.

[kode54]

To prevent the wax flakiness, I add a tablespoon on lamp oil (or paraffin oil) into the pot. 2 tablespoons for my winter use since the colder it is outside...worse for wax flexibility.

[aosjimzaw]

I feel / felt the same as coresare and others that have highlighted how annoying bathing chains can be.
To what's been said, I'll add a few more things: getting chain out of the pot without having it twist into itself multiple times; and when it happens trying to untwist without dripping too much wax out of the chain--and not letting it drip ON YOU! Then.. just leaving it in the pot for like half an hour.. dunno: did you have to buy expensive units that can regulate temps? Because I got cheap chinese ones that would just keep on heating until past water boiling point (they're supposed to cook rice, not chains). So it either doesn't properly work or you need to buy, what? 100€ crockpots for something completely different than they're designed? Then, flaking. Yes, it just won't brush off that easily (not that I cared much unlike coresare, but it's one more hassle to consider. same if you add paraffin: one more hassle.

I want to bash hassles down AND retain waxed chains!

Out on my second ride on Banana tungsten stuff, it kept impressing me. I think I might have found my training wax solution. It kept nicely silent for the whole 280km that I rode on it, and shifting is still perfect. I can feel it got dry-ish as articulatory metallic sounds got a bit louder, but of course that's unavoidable and indeed a sign telling you it's time to reapply. Reapplication was easy, fast and hassle free. I found it leaves a bit of gunk on jockey wheels--nowhere as much and as goopey as Squirt: a decent amount that I can stand/live with. Like Bananaslip a lot.

[TobinHatesYou]

I have a large slow cooker that I put several kg of wax in. I have 5 swisher tools for 5 chains so the chains don't tangle on themselves. I put all the chains in the pot, turn it on and then leave for several hours. Because there is so much wax in the pot, it never gets more than a few degrees past 100C. After a few hours, I come back, turn off the slow cooker and swish the chains around. I then let the pot cool to about 50C before pulling the the chains out one by one, wiping them down with an old rag to remove excess surface wax. I also have a sieve/colander that is the size of the vessel so contaminants can filter to the bottom while the chains stay suspended by the sieve. I then hang them on my garage door track/rail over some old newspapers or paper grocery bags.

I don't find it that annoying and it beats relubing with drip lube every week.

[jacobeh]

Out on my second ride on Banana tungsten stuff, it kept impressing me. I think I might have found my training wax solution. It kept nicely silent for the whole 280km that I rode on it, and shifting is still perfect. I can feel it got dry-ish as articulatory metallic sounds got a bit louder, but of course that's unavoidable and indeed a sign telling you it's time to reapply. Reapplication was easy, fast and hassle free. I found it leaves a bit of gunk on jockey wheels--nowhere as much and as goopey as Squirt: a decent amount that I can stand/live with. Like Bananaslip a lot.

This sounds interesting - I'm currently using Smoove and am pretty happy with it, but am always looking for something new and better

On their web page they also have a BANANASLIP TUNGSTEN RACE LUBE - do you know what the difference is with that and the one you're using (beside the 50% extra cost!)

[aosjimzaw]

No, I got the All Weather for the simple reason Amazon was carrying this but not the Race on Prime policy. Sadly, I went checking again just to see if I missed anything, and found out now both are on Amazon, but price arose from 11€ to 17€ (and that is in the span of a week, meh). Bananaslip website says the Racing lasts 300km, while it doesn't specify any km ballpark about the All Weather. Wonder now if the Race is even better. I deem the 250km+ of the All Weather quite good

[Lakal]

ZFC released a test of the all weather tungsten lube.
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-c ... r-v1.2.pdf

[jacobeh]

Very impressive, sounds like all weather for the gravel bike and race for the road bike

[ToileySiphon]

Out of boredom I dived into the whole hot wax thing last week. Completely degreased / cleaned the chain (was using Squirt prior). Melted the Molten Speed Wax in a pot over the stove to 200F, brought the pot to the garage, and then swished the chain in there for maybe 10 minutes. I really don't know why a crock pot is suggested so much. If I had to wait an hour for the wax to melt I wouldn't bother. I bought a small electric burner to heat the pot in the garage next time I do it so I don't have to bring it inside the house. I will use this burner to boil water next time also. Here are my initial thoughts.

-It's actually kind of a pain in the ass. I understand the initial setup / learning what to do makes it tougher at first and the next time is much easier. As I understand it when it's time to rewax, I will just need to dip the chain in some boiling water and swish it around and then redip it into the hotwax again. This next rewax should be much easier.

-BUT here's still why it's a pain in the ass. The wax gets into every hole such as at the roller holes and on the KMC chain the little slits on the plates. I have a little bit of OCD so I poked the wax out of every roller hole and even cleaned the slits. I know most people don't care about the wax inside the roller holes though. Second, you will get wax flakes all over your chainstay and other places. You hear people say it's dry and you can just brush it off, but it really isn't. You cant simply blow on it or brush it away with a brush. Some of it will stick a little so you will need to brush the majority off with a brush then use a cloth with a mild cleaner (I like to use Meguiar's quick detailer) and wipe it down. I went and cleaned every part on the bike that had some wax flakes on it. I suppose after you bring the chain out of the hot wax, you can wipe the outside down with a cloth right away so you don't get as much wax flakes scattered around the drivetrain.

-After waxing it's stiff. You need to manually break the initial bond of all the links and it takes a good 30-45 minutes of riding before it fully breaks in. So after waxing you gotta hear the noisy chain for a bit.

-Even after it breaks in, it's a little noiser. In the small chainring I cant tell a difference in noise, but you can definitely hear that it's more noisy in the big chainring.

-Im a bit of a germaphobe and also wonder about the carcinogenic possibilities of touching the chain since there is ptfe powder mixed in. After you touch the chain, you will grab your handlebars, rub your face... so on.

So is it worth it? Dunno, I've bought 2 bags of this stuff so I'm going to be stuck using it for a long long time. I find it hard to believe it is the most efficient in terms of friction because when you articulate the links, it feels heavy due to the wax in there even after going for a ride. If the next time I relube it is as simple as swishing in boiling water, dipping it in hot wax, hang dry (This time i'll wipe the excess off the outside when it first comes out of the hot wax and also see if my OCD allows me to forget about the wax in every *@#%$ roller hole) I might keep doing it. Time will tell. I will also need to see how much more clean my cassette / chainrings / jockey wheels stay.

I think you might have messed up when agitating the chain for 10 minutes after taking the pot of the heat. In that time, wax will have cooled done significantly. This will lead to way more build up on the chain and more flakes all over the place.

When the temp reaches 200F, you just need to agitate the chain for 60 tops. The was is still super liquid and won't stick to the outside as much.

Envoyé de mon SM-A530W en utilisant Tapatalk

[MikeD]

ZFC released a test of the all weather tungsten lube.
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-c ... r-v1.2.pdf

I just ordered some. I hope it lasts as long as Smoove between applications.

The new Silca wax with Tungsten disulfide added in a package that you can put the chain in and submerge in boiling water seems interesting as well; seemingly better than Molten Speed Wax because of the convenience and better additives.

[TobinHatesYou]

ZFC released a test of the all weather tungsten lube.
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-c ... r-v1.2.pdf

I just ordered some. I hope it lasts as long as Smoove between applications.

The review you just quoted says it doesn’t last anywhere near as long as Smoove or even Squirt, but it also doesn’t gunk up pulleys as quickly either. In that case it’s great as an an every-day dry conditions lube, but it’s going to need frequent reapplication. Say you get 300km with Smoove, you’d probably get 200km on Tru Tension All-Weather.

[MikeD]

ZFC released a test of the all weather tungsten lube.
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-c ... r-v1.2.pdf

I just ordered some. I hope it lasts as long as Smoove between applications.

The review you just quoted says it doesn’t last anywhere near as long as Smoove or even Squirt, but it also doesn’t gunk up pulleys as quickly either. In that case it’s great as an an every-day dry conditions lube, but it’s going to need frequent reapplication. Say you get 300km with Smoove, you’d probably get 200km on Tru Tension All-Weather.

Thanks, I didn't see that. Those ZFC articles suffer from verbal diarrhea and could be more concisely written and summarized.

[BdaGhisallo]

ZFC released a test of the all weather tungsten lube.
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-c ... r-v1.2.pdf

I just ordered some. I hope it lasts as long as Smoove between applications.

The new Silca wax with Tungsten disulfide added in a package that you can put the chain in and submerge in boiling water seems interesting as well; seemingly better than Molten Speed Wax because of the convenience and better additives.

I would imagine that getting a hot freshly waxed chain out of a glorified ziploc bag is going to be a bit trickier than pulling one out of a slow cooker.

The slow cooker method is really not at all difficult. Make yourself a swisher tool (as MSW show on their site) and it's a piece of cake. And with small 1.5 qt slow cookers selling for such little money, it's a no brainer.