Hot Chain Waxing

[aviserated]

Is Hot Chain Waxing the best way to lube our chains. Everything I see on YouTube says it works best and attracts way less abrassive dirt than wet lubes.

 

[Doomanic]

I do it and got 2250 miles out of a chain.

 

[Woodyboy]

I do it and got 2250 miles out of a chain.

How often are you doing it please?

 

[aviserated]

My Sram 11 tooth cog and chain lasted 900 miles (6 months) using wet purple extreme lube, but that lube turns to a black dirty mess very quickly. I am hoping ptfe and hot wax works lots better.

 

[Doomanic]

I use Putolene Hot wax in a cheap deep fat fryer and do it whenever it needs doing. Not overly helpful, I know, but that's how it is. If the bike is dirty enough to need a wash, the chain gets re-waxed. In the summer, if i run my finger along the top of the plates and they don't get a pair of black lines on them I re-wax.

Process is simple; hose off chain to remove any loose dirt/grit/ leaves/grass/whatever and remove chain. Place chain on top of cold wax and switch fryer on. Go and wash bike. By the time the bike is washed, the wax has melted and the chain is well soaked. Remove chain from wax and give the basket a good shake to rmove as much excess wax as possible. Hang chain up to cool and wipe excess off sideplates.

Don't drop a wet chain into hot wax at 190 deg. Ever.

 

[VWsurfbum]

I use Putolene Hot wax in a cheap deep fat fryer and do it whenever it needs doing. Not overly helpful, I know, but that's how it is. If the bike is dirty enough to need a wash, the chain gets re-waxed. In the summer, if i run my finger along the top of the plates and they don't get a pair of black lines on them I re-wax.

Process is simple; hose off chain to remove any loose dirt/grit/ leaves/grass/whatever and remove chain. Place chain on top of cold wax and switch fryer on. Go and wash bike. By the time the bike is washed, the wax has melted and the chain is well soaked. Remove chain from wax and give the basket a good shake to rmove as much excess wax as possible. Hang chain up to cool and wipe excess off sideplates.

Don't drop a wet chain into hot wax at 190 deg. Ever.

you should film this process, i'm curious on how much wax stays on the chain etc. (also the dropping the wet chain into hot wax )

 

[aviserated]

There's lots of YouTube videos on waxing your chain. Some use a crockpot, but I use an old pot on top of stove set on medium low heat.

 

[L666GTB]

Just started doing mine this week. Never tried it before. @Slapbassmunky recommended it in another thread on here.

£12 slow cooker from Argos
£8 paraffin wax from eBay
Bit of 80/90 GL5 Gearbox oil from Work.

Even if I used a normal lube in between waxing that should help.
It’s getting some lube under the rollers that’s important to me. Especially as my commute ends in a sand/gritty area.

Lots of threads on here about it.
One guide here:

How to wax a chain and the benefits thereof

Hello All By popular demand I will try to write a "How to wax a chain" guide - There are many different guides on the big Internet and most of them are good but some a bit too scientific for my experience. The benefits are numerous and just to name a few of them: - The chain will last longer...

www.emtbforums.com

 

[roboticinvesting]

I used to do it and found it worked. However, the lazy part of me took over and now I just use a lube. However, I also make sure to clean my bike after every ride and re-lube it. That helps keep things nice and clean, which to me was the best part of the waxing process. The chain and whole drivetrain stayed clean even after some wet and muddy rides. However, the additional "effort" (which is not a crazy amount, it is more about time) got in the way so I stopped.

 

[pampmyride]

Done the waxing for a while now both P Bike & now E bike. I use putoline in winter and the candle wax homebrew ( added PTFE?) for summer. Candle wax give a clean looking chain, and grease free to the touch, but not as durable as putoline in the Surrey Hills wet grit... The bonus ia a quiet transmission + longevity. Quick & cheap to do once set-up. Tried the Revolubes drip on lube recently - but that saw a part worn chain finally die. Not really a conclusive test though.

 

[Charliektm400exc]

I’m just about to start using wax. Mainly after reading information from Zero Friction Cycling who backs it up with science and measurements.
you can get some information here.

https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Waxing-FAQ-v1.3a.pdf

 

[Akelu]

Waxing your chain is great if you ride mainly dry weather. It's much faster than keeping a chain clean and lubing it, once you have the process down and wax multiple chains at once.

 

[urastus]

Even if I used a normal lube in between waxing that should help.

I don't think so . Your normal lube will prevent the wax adhering to the chain. In fact before you ever start waxing you have to remove all oil / oil based lube from the chain and cluster.

 

[Ducman71]

Waxing your chain is great if you ride mainly dry weather.

Agreed. I just started how waxing my chain recently, Southern California where the trail conditions are typically dry and hard packed. The initial degreasing of the drivetrain was a bit of a hassle, but things stay so clean now. I prepped two chains, so whenever I hose off the bike now, I'll just pull off the chain and throw on the other one that is ready to go. I'll probably convert my other MTBs to wax as well because it really does make ongoing cleaning and maintenance so much easier. I don't see a reason to swap over my road bikes to wax though, as those drivetrains stay quite clean as is with just normal lube and infrequent wipe downs (again, dry conditions).

 

[Davemtb]

I get 4000km from my sram 12 speed chains. I’ll never apply oil to any chain again.
Ultrasonic clean in turps, then wax. The wax should have a little oil added until you can just smear the wax. This makes wax last on the chain longer and extends time between waxing.
I clean and wax chain every 200-250km. Once set up and get into routine it’s doesn’t take long and is easy.

 

[Velo Mangler]

I began waxing chains in the mid 70"s on GP race bikes. As technology progressed with Ultrasonic cleaners I used the regular cleaning fluid then hung the chains to dry. The next step is to use alcohol in a stainless bowl inside the ultrasonic cleaner. Some times I did this 2 to 3 times. This removes most of dirt in between the rollers. Hang again until dry . Then I use and still use parafin wax that we buy at walmart.
I use a hot plate with a stainless bowl melt the wax at medium temp coil the chain in slowly and wait about 5 min.. I install the chain when it is hot. then I run it thru the gears. This also lubes the cassette. We raced the whole GNCC circuit for the last 3 years and only used two KMC EMTB chains per year including practice. This was in the pro class with super results no failures. On my personal Levo I raced and rode the complete series with practice an fun rides on one KMC chain. I wax the chains every 100 miles. Hope this helps! P.S. I also clean the cassette as well each time .

 

[aviserated]

To clean and remove old wax from chain you can boil in water with a little detergent added. Agitate chain to shake loose dirt and old wax. Compressed air works good to dry chain or you can hang to dry before rewaxing.

 

[revord]

I wax all my chains and I also use a wax based lube such as 'Squirt' in between full waxing. Never use an oil based lube on a waxed chain.

 

[urastus]

I wax all my chains and I also use a wax based lube such as 'Squirt' in between full waxing. Never use an oil based lube on a waxed chain.

I bought some squirt - it doesn't appear to get into the rollers. It's because of this that I started hot waxing.

Re cleaning; I'm not sure if this is greatly needed with hot waxing. I put the chain into a wire sifter then pour hot water (boiled from a jug) over the chain along the rollers and tops of the side plates both sides - even then I think I'm being a bit "over the top". This is only to keep the hot wax relatively clean, because I have teflon powder in the mix and when I agitate the wax mix I don't want any dirt agitated with it. Other folk just put their chains in the hot wax - over time they are left with some dirt that settles on the bottom of their hot wax. It's never much because wax doesn't seem to hold much dirt at all.

 

[Slapbassmunky]

I don't think so . Your normal lube will prevent the wax adhering to the chain. In fact before you ever start waxing you have to remove all oil / oil based lube from the chain and cluster.

The brand new XT chain I put in my wax pot yesterday would disagree with your statement somewhat.

 

[Akelu]

The brand new XT chain I put in my wax pot yesterday would disagree with your statement somewhat.

If you didnt strip the chain of its factory grease first, then your wax application isn't going to last nearly as long because it won't be able to adhere to it as well. It may look fine at first, but you will find that it will start making those 'dry chain' noises much sooner, and even after multiple hot waxes it still probably won't last nearly as long as if you stripped it first.

Also i would recommend using the deore chain instead of xt, because the XT has a sil-tec coating which again is going to work against the wax adhering to the chain.

 

[Slapbassmunky]

If you didnt strip the chain of its factory grease first, then your wax application isn't going to last nearly as long because it won't be able to adhere to it as well. It may look fine at first, but you will find that it will start making those 'dry chain' noises much sooner, and even after multiple hot waxes it still probably won't last nearly as long as if you stripped it first.

Also i would recommend using the deore chain instead of xt, because the XT has a sil-tec coating which again is going to work against the wax adhering to the chain.

The chain will be back in the pot within two rides anyway, I'm not aiming for marathon distances, if the factory grease stays between the rollers for longer then in my book that's a good thing. Generally I've found that cheaper deore/nx level chains are 0.75 at 5-600 off road miles. My last XT one had 1000 off road miles and had just hit 0.5 wear. YMMV, literally ?