Waxing the Chain

[hozn]

@Tania 180089 wrote:

This thread makes my head hurt – too many choices/decisions.

I’ve become much better about drive train maintenance. Wipe it down and re-lube (I’m a T-9 girl) every third or fourth ride and then if it’s been in wet (rain, raging creeks, on the back of my car in a thunderstorm) I’ll use some Finish Line citrus degreaser before re-lubing. Every so often I’ll use the park tool chain cleaner thingy that jabberwocky told me I should buy but turning on the hose is just such a pain (the spigot valve is in a tough spot).

I do apply a single drop of lube to each link which makes the SO crazy. Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, turn cranks a little bit, drip, drip, drip.

Rock’n’Roll is so much easier. Spray while turning the cranks backwards a few times … turn backwards a few more times …. wipe it all off … done. It literally takes 20 seconds to lube the chain. And no cleaning ever needed. You pay for it, though — in dollars; that stuff ain’t cheap and I use a lot more than with a drip lubricant. But it’s so worth it in the time it saves me messing with my bike. Especially that part of my bike.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@hozn 180088 wrote:

Are you sure Rock’n’Roll is wax-based? I had heard it was a PTFE lubricant but I’ve never seen it described as wax-based (it is usually contrasted to wax lubricants — but sometimes also contrasted to “other PTFE” lubricants, so I’m not entirely sure what that says).

It’s wax. It probably has some PTFE in the mix tho, too.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@bentbike33 180082 wrote:

So what is the best degreaser for getting rid of the stuff chains are coated with for shipment?

non-diluted simple green if you’re willing to let it soak over night.

[Harry Meatmotor]

Old man yelling at clouds wrote:

The factory lubricant all by itself is usually good for several hundred miles of service if the bike is not ridden in wet or dusty conditions. It is best not to apply any sort of lube to a new chain until it is clearly needed, because any wet lube you can apply will dilute the factory lube.

Yeah, so if you’re interested in getting grit into the rollers in a heartbeat, the factory grease is great. “not ridden in wet or dusty conditions”. As a lubricant, grease is really good at staying put and maintaining a barrier between moving metal parts, but it does very little to keep dirt out; rather, it collects it. So it turns into great lubricity plus sandpaper. It also doesn’t do a good job at moving the teeny tiny bits of metal that come off the chain during use away from the pins and rollers even if you ride in non-dusty non-wet conditions. Nearly 17 people in the entire cycling universe are blessed with those riding conditions all year ’round.

Cleaning off the factory grease side-steps “several hundred miles of service” that will prematurely wear the chain before you apply any chain lube afterwards.

[Harry Meatmotor]

Old man yelling at clouds wrote:

The factory lubricant all by itself is usually good for several hundred miles of service if the bike is not ridden in wet or dusty conditions. It is best not to apply any sort of lube to a new chain until it is clearly needed, because any wet lube you can apply will dilute the factory lube.

Yeah, so if you’re interested in getting grit into the rollers in a heartbeat, the factory grease is great. “not ridden in wet or dusty conditions”. As a lubricant, grease is really good at staying put and maintaining a cushioning barrier between moving metal parts, but it does very little to keep dirt out; rather, it collects it. So it turns into great lubricity plus sandpaper. It also doesn’t do a good job at moving the teeny tiny bits of metal that come off the chain during use away from the pins and rollers even if you ride in non-dusty non-wet conditions. Nearly 17 people in the entire cycling universe are blessed with non-dusty, non-wet conditions all year ’round.

Cleaning off the factory grease side-steps “several hundred miles of service” that will prematurely wear the chain before you apply any chain lube afterwards.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@Tania 180089 wrote:

This thread makes my head hurt – too many choices/decisions.

I’ve become much better about drive train maintenance. Wipe it down and re-lube (I’m a T-9 girl) every third or fourth ride and then if it’s been in wet (rain, raging creeks, on the back of my car in a thunderstorm) I’ll use some Finish Line citrus degreaser before re-lubing. Every so often I’ll use the park tool chain cleaner thingy that jabberwocky told me I should buy but turning on the hose is just such a pain (the spigot valve is in a tough spot).

I do apply a single drop of lube to each link which makes the SO crazy. Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, turn cranks a little bit, drip, drip, drip.

You and Silca NFS or Dumond Tech Pro are a match made in heaven. Boeshield T-9 was developed more as a corrosion inhibitor that ended up being okay as a lubricant. As far as I understand it, Boeing developed Boeshield t-9 to spray on fancy machined aluminum parts for airplanes that to sat on shelves for 6 months in a warehouse before use. Not exactly the same as bike chains, but close.

I’ll also add that in the realm of lubricants there are two main camps: wet lube and dry lube. wet lube is generally oil-based and attracts dirt (but not water), but has marginally better lubrication and cushioning properties. Dry lube is generally wax-based and tends to shed dirt (but captures water), and has similar lubricity and cushioning properties compared to oil-based lubricants. Generally…

Ultimately, cleanliness is next to Godliness with regards to chain longevity.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@Brett L. 180078 wrote:

That lead me to some interesting articles! It really makes me want to check out the parrafin wax route, if only as a trial basis. Any experience with a pre-mixed one like Molten Speed Wax versus a “homemade” recipe of parrafin plus additives?

I did years ago, but after R’n’R showed up, “long form” chain waxing is (imho) not worth it unless you’re looking for marginal gains in friction reduction. Both methods, or a hybrid of the two (immaculately clean new chain plus soak in R’n’R) gives great results for longevity. I’m gonna sound snooty, but Silca NFS is absolutely the fastest/smoothest feeling lube I’ve used. Beats the pants off R’n’R Gold. But zero longevity unless you into the “daily chain wipe” protocol. IOW, race bikes? Silca or homemade wax. Daily driver? R’n’R gold or blue.

[Harry Meatmotor]

BTT with some anecdotal evidence for the wax-curious. A little while ago I bought this, and this.

TL;DR — It’s probably only good for “race” bikes, or the “weekend-only while it’s sunny” kind of riding.

I took a brand-spanking new KMC X11SL DLC chain, degreased it with simple green, dipped it in 90% alcohol, then into a 250 degree oven for an hour, then finally wiped down with a lint-free cloth. I then dropped the chain into the hot wax, stirred it around for about 30 seconds, then pulled it back out and let it hang to set. After breaking loose all the links, I installed it on my Allez Sprint.

Pros: Almost 100% clean – nearly zero black residue on the entire drivetrain. After 4 or 5 50+ mile rides, you can run your hand along the chain, and it’s almost completely clean, even after a few wet-ish rides (not riding in the rain but riding on rain soaked roads). To re-wax the chain (which, obviously, requires removal from the bike) takes about 10 minutes, not counting the time to re-melt the wax.

Cons: The chain gets fairly noisy pretty quickly; within about 100 miles.

I’m keeping close tabs on chain wear using a Rohloff wear indicator. Right now I’ve only got ~375-400 miles on the chain and it still measures like new which is not surprising and says little about anything. It seems like I’ll settle into re-waxing the chain every 2 to 3 weeks depending on mileage, which is only a bit more often than I was re-lubing with Silca NFS last racing season. The new Speedwax formulation does seem to last a bit longer than my old home-brew method from nearly 20 years ago.

Oddly enough, I had good/decent wear results using NFS on my race bike last year, but when we tried it on my GF’s 1x CX race bike, it ate the chain in less than 800 miles. Like, completely worn out per Rohloff chain wear indicator. So, perhaps the moral of the story with NFS is don’t mix it with dirt and/or repeated bike washing. We’ll be going back to R’n’R Gold on the CX bikes next season.

[Tania]

@Harry Meatmotor 189430 wrote:

Cons: The chain gets fairly noisy pretty quickly; within about 100 miles.

Squirt always seems to be on hand at NICA races (kinda like how Stans is at mtb/gravel races) so I’ve been using it on my never-been-outside-cheap-and-basically-a-POS-from-Performance-sell-off trainer bike and I’ve noticed that the chain noise disappears each time I reapply and comes back fairly quickly.

[Harry Meatmotor]

It seems like most of the noise is from the plates and the chainring teeth especially in cross chaining situations, not the typical dry-chain roller-rattle. I’m okay with it as long as I don’t start seeing roller/pin wear. My instinct tells me once the wax gets in between the rollers and the pins, there isn’t an easy way for it to get out/worn off. Which is a good thing. I’m kind of tempted to take my cassette and clean the bejeesus out of it then dip it in the wax just to see if that helps without mucking up the shifting.

[Brett L.]

Ceramic speed released a “study” not too long ago indicating that a noisy chain isn’t necessarily slower. Seems like their UFO wax also can be a bit noisy. I think you’re assessment is probably correct; the noise is from the plates rather than pins and rollers, and as long as the pins don’t wear, the chain won’t really stretch (hypothetically).

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[dkel]

[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=He7TnoCM7fo[/video]

[mstone]

@Brett L. 189470 wrote:

Ceramic speed released a “study” not too long ago indicating that a noisy chain isn’t necessarily slower. Seems like their UFO wax also can be a bit noisy.

Who cares how fast it is if it drives you nuts before you get there?

[Brett L.]

@mstone 189486 wrote:

Who cares how fast it is if it drives you nuts before you get there?

Even better if it drives your competitors nuts and they drop back!

[Author]

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