How to wax a chain and the benefits thereof

[khorn]

I suspect that one man's terrible mud is another mans beautiful summers day.

Im not convinced by waxing, I would be astonished if this survived a fod or south Wales winter, but I also hate doing chain maintenance.

@khorn out of interest, on your muddy rides, how often do you have to find a stick and poke out the mud from the rear triangle and suspension linkages so the back wheel will turn?

We have a lot of mud here but luckily not that much sticky clay mud as our ground is more sandy. I would say that it is not on every ride I have to stop and clean the tire/driveline but it happens quite often especially in the spring period where the snow is melting.

I totally agree that conditions can be so extreme that no lubrication method bacically will work but then again, you are not prohibitet to shift from wax to oil if that is better in the specific condition. For some people it could be beneficial to wax during the summer season and then shift to conventional oil during winter.

Karsten

 

[Couchy]

I like the idea of waxing but, for mine I wash down with the rest of the bike then blow the chain dry. I then use a chain lube/GT85 or tbh whatever is lying around. I'm 500 miles on this chain and it's still absolutely fine. I keep an eye out for deals on chains and always keep a spare, for what they cost I'll happily change it every 1000 miles if needed

 

[billwarwick]

Thought this was the Rachel Riley thread. how did chains get into it?

 

[caterhamnut]

Thought this was the Rachel Riley thread. how did chains get into it?

Apparently they are her 'thing'....

 

[Doomanic]

for what they cost I'll happily change it every 1000 miles if needed

Good luck with that...

 

[Benson]

Struggle to see how waxing would help with this from last weeks forum ride ...

 

[Dax]

Struggle to see how waxing would help with this from last weeks forum ride ...

The mud would wash off your smooth legs more easily?

 

[Benson]

The mud would wash off your smooth legs more easily?

As it does the crack of my arse but I don’t need to dunk that in an ultrasonic cleaner either ?

 

[Dax]

As it does the crack of my arse but I don’t need to dunk that in an ultrasonic cleaner either ?

I'm no expert, but I think you're supposed to use a bidet for that?

 

[Eckythump]

A word to the wise that I learned doing this in the past. I thought I’d clean some other components while the equipment was out....

DO NOT PUT ANYTHING ANODISED IN AN ULTRASONIC CLEANER!!

My nice shiney Hope brakes did not stay shiney for long

Also wrecked a gold KMC chain

 

[Pat2203]

Wait! You think that's been a dirty ride?
There's no mud at all on the mech cage arm, spokes, rim or tyre sidewall.

sorry man but this is what a bike looks like after less than 1km of local winter riding here. View attachment 10496 Sorry I don't have any drive side or mech pics but you can imagine how manky it gets after 10km+ of the same thrown at it.

What’s the front mud guard called?

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

I hope Rach likes beans on toast

Yeah she does.

 

[Gary]

What’s the front mud guard called?

Crud XL Fender Review - EMTB Forums

 

[StuckintheSpokes]

Would you recommend doing this on the cassette and chainring?

 

[nicklej]

Thought I’d ask in a chain topic:

what is the best chain for an Ebike?

And would you recommend doing this on the cassette and chainring?

Please use the search function. There's plenty of info on here about that as well as reviews online

 

[R120]

Interesting topic this - I find that in the winter I am cleaning and lubing my chain after every ride, but that's pretty much because I am having to do a deep clean after any sort of riding, and the derailleur/jockey wheels take up most of the cleaning time - they tend to look like this after most rides, and even a jet wash wouldn't get the muck out, you need to get in there with brushes.

 

[khorn]

Interesting topic this - I find that in the winter I am cleaning and lubing my chain after every ride, but that's pretty much because I am having to do a deep clean after any sort of riding, and the derailleur/jockey wheels take up most of the cleaning time - they tend to look like this after most rides, and even a jet wash wouldn't get the muck out, you need to get in there with brushes.

View attachment 10744

From my experience in conditions like the one you show where you for sure have used wet lube, every small grain of dirt is sticking to all the surfaces that have been in contact with oil. When you hose/jet wash it down, you are not removing all of the tiny grains and as a matter of fact with a jet washer you can end up pushing some of the dirt further into the tiny corners. With wax dirt simply do not stick to the lubed areas and another important thing, the wax does not get tossed all over cassette/jockey wheels etc thus making the dirt easier to wash off. Again, nothing is perfect and I would say based on the picture above, I would also have to run over the parts with a soft brush to remove the last bits and pieces.

When using wax this time of the year it is important that chain and cassette have an anti-rust coating as you will not have this thin film of oil preventing the parts from rusting. I have found the KMC anti-rust coating very effective as well as my black coated Sunrace cassette.

Karsten

 

[Gary]

@khorn I'm not sure where you're getting the idea lube is causing mud to stick to anything other than the chain, jockeywheel teeth, chainring and sprockets?
You've seen how I lube my chain (and remove any excess lube) and you've seen how muddy our entire bikes get during a ride.


Oh.. and BTW I use a bucket of hot water with detergent in and a brush to clean the bike and a hot water hose to wet/remove the worst of the mud after the ride and rinse the soapy water off after.
it's then lubed (wiping off any excess) and the frame wiped down with a dry towel/GT85 and left to dry completely indoors.
ie. No lube is getting "tossed" anywhere. Far from it.

 

[khorn]

I'm not sure where you're getting the idea lube is causing mud to stick to anything other than the chain, jockeywheel teeth, chainring and sprockets?
You've seen how I lube my chain (and remove any excess lube) and you've seen how muddy our entire bikes get during a ride.


Oh.. and BTW I use a bucket of hot water with detergent in and a brush to clean the bike and a hot water hose to wet/remove the worst of the mud after the ride and rinse the soapy water off after.

Gary it is not that I’m inventing a new idea here..... it’s obvious that this is not for you but the 1000s of other riders cannot be wrong or can they?

Btw are you talking out of experience or do you just have another opinion based on your assumptions?

If you say that dirt does not stick to wet oil then you are wrong. If you say that absolutely no oil fly off your chain then I will claim that you did not put enough oil on it in the first place.

Let’s just agree to disagree and please stop being so dam negative!!!

Karsten

 

[Gary]

experience

This.
I'm not new to the idea at all. Many friends I ride with swear by and have been waxing their chains for years. But mainly on commuters that are not cleaned after every ride and fatbikes (used primarily in sand and on/near salt water beaches)

If you say that dirt does not stick to wet oil then you are wrong.

There is no "wet oil" present for mud to stick to anywhere other than on the drivetrain parts I mentioned earlier.
"oil" is not flying off my chain. As said. It's lubed, wiped down and allowed to dry (usually overnight) before being ridden again.
If you're "oiling" a chain so much it filngs off everywhere you're putting far too much lube on it. it's not a motorbike and only the moving parts (rollers) actually need to be lubricated.
Using your logic our disc rotors would also be contaminated from all that oil flying off you are telling us about aswell don't you think?

Don't take any discussion from me personally or negatively. I'm simply being realistic.

 

[R120]

I was making the point that I don't think waxing the chain would make any difference to the maintenance work on the bike post ride, interestingly I am currently using Muc Off dry lube as a mouse or some other critter has decided to eat though my bottle of wet lube.

I am interested in the summer months though.

 

[Frankieboy]

@Gary ,

@khorn very kindly took time out to explain his chain waxing process at the request of myself and several others. To date you have had little to say on the subject of a constructive nature.

I’ve read a couple of your reviews and was impressed with their balance. Perhaps you could start a separate post extolling the benefits of alternative chain maintenance techniques. That way readers with little experience in this area, such as myself, can gain a more balanced view of the options available and draw our own conclusions.

 

[Gary]

@Frankieboy
If you read through my comments here I think you'll find "balance" is exactly what my input has added. I'm not against chain waxing as lubrication at all I just find it hard to stomach when someone claims it will save me time over my own drivetrain and chain cleaning/re-lubing routine or makes wild claims that it will keep the rest of my bike mud free in the conditions I ride.
What exactly would you like me to cover that I haven't already here? Cleaning a drivetrain on the bike is not difficult (I have gone into my full bike cleaning routine in detail in previous threads here) and as you can see from the short instagram video I posted here re-lubing is a very simple and quick process.
Thanks for the constructive feedback on my reviews. Please bear in mind this is an open discussion on the forum rather than a front page article/review.

 

[Wiltshire Warrior]

I suspect that one man's terrible mud is another mans beautiful summers day.

Im not convinced by waxing, I would be astonished if this survived a fod or south Wales winter, but I also hate doing chain maintenance.

@khorn out of interest, on your muddy rides, how often do you have to find a stick and poke out the mud from the rear triangle and suspension linkages so the back wheel will turn?

Yeah ... and how many times has your front wheel jammed solid and would not move forwards or backwards (front mud hugger on a Magic Mary)

 

[Gary]

@Frankieboy
Cleaning advice...? the bike not me personally :) - EMTB Forums
+ everything I've said on this thread should satisfy your needs

 

[Frankieboy]

Having purchased the stuff detailed at the start of this post by @khorn I’ve been waxing my chains for the last 6 months or so. Initially I wasn’t convinced; it seemed to be a lot of faffing about. However, I didn’t want to jump to any rash conclusions and have stuck with it.

We have 3 Ebikes between me and the wife, so as soon as the first starts to creek I change them all at the same time. I’ve always run two chains so have cleaned / waxed chains ready to go.

We’re getting 100 - 150 miles between cleaning / waxing cycle, I’m sure riding conditions will influence this but not sure how yet. Regardless of contamination, mud or dust, cleaning the drive train is as simple as rinsing it down with a garden hose.

Having now gone through several cleaning cycles I’ve got the hang of things and I’m comfortable with the process. Consequently I’m getting it done about as quickly as I can. The amount of time it takes in comparison to wet / dry lubing and the associated cleaning isn’t that important to me, but having done plenty of the latter in the past I’d say there’s not much in it.

I’ve been diligently measuring chain stretch using a vernier, all are currently less than 0.1%, each chain having done 200 - 300 miles, so perhaps nothing surprising there.

Perceived advantages;
Virtually nothing sticks to the chain
It is very easy to clean, both after rides and during a cleaning cycle
The chain needs to be cleaned less frequently
It is not as messy as wet / dry lubing
The stock of wax / oil will last for years
No expensive degreasing chemicals (Use a small squirt of washing up liquid & a desert spoon of washing powder)

Perceived disadvantages;
Relatively high start up cost, £60 - £70
Takes a few cleaning cycles to get the hang of the process

Knowing what I now know, would I do it all again if I had to start from scratch? Yes, but only because the overall process is cleaner in my experience. Quite simply I dislike the mess wet / dry lubes create and the consequent cleaning process.

 

[MitchF]

I can see the appeal but in reality I couldn't be arsed puting that much effort into cooking for a date with Rachel Riley nevermind lubing a bike chain.

Can we talk more about Rachel ??

 

[Gary]

I never kiss and tell

 

[khorn]

Having purchased the stuff detailed at the start of this post by @khorn I’ve been waxing my chains for the last 6 months or so. Initially I wasn’t convinced; it seemed to be a lot of faffing about. However, I didn’t want to jump to any rash conclusions and have stuck with it.

We have 3 Ebikes between me and the wife, so as soon as the first starts to creek I change them all at the same time. I’ve always run two chains so have cleaned / waxed chains ready to go.

We’re getting 100 - 150 miles between cleaning / waxing cycle, I’m sure riding conditions will influence this but not sure how yet. Regardless of contamination, mud or dust, cleaning the drive train is as simple as rinsing it down with a garden hose.

Having now gone through several cleaning cycles I’ve got the hang of things and I’m comfortable with the process. Consequently I’m getting it done about as quickly as I can. The amount of time it takes in comparison to wet / dry lubing and the associated cleaning isn’t that important to me, but having done plenty of the latter in the past I’d say there’s not much in it.

I’ve been diligently measuring chain stretch using a vernier, all are currently less than 0.1%, each chain having done 200 - 300 miles, so perhaps nothing surprising there.

Perceived advantages;
Virtually nothing sticks to the chain
It is very easy to clean, both after rides and during a cleaning cycle
The chain needs to be cleaned less frequently
It is not as messy as wet / dry lubing
The stock of wax / oil will last for years
No expensive degreasing chemicals (Use a small squirt of washing up liquid & a desert spoon of washing powder)

Perceived disadvantages;
Relatively high start up cost, £60 - £70
Takes a few cleaning cycles to get the hang of the process

Knowing what I now know, would I do it all again if I had to start from scratch? Yes, but only because the overall process is cleaner in my experience. Quite simply I dislike the mess wet / dry lubes create and the consequent cleaning process.

Glad to hear that it is working out for you, listen to the sound of your chain up against your sprockets and you will learn when it’s time to re-wax the chain. Right now my conditions are dryish and I get around 200-230 km between waxing. In between I do nothing but hosing down the driveline and blow it dry afterwards.

I’m now 850 km on each chain and no measurable wear on any of them and I’m a big guy pushing a lot of watts through the chain.

Good luck

Karsten

 

[Mikerb]

I had never heard of this process so interesting to read. I can understand it perhaps being appealing to those with high weekly mileages but not convinced it is for me. I ride woodland trails where the surfaces are mainly a light sandy soil beneath the leaf mould or pine needle mat that tends to cover them for much of the year, so thick claggy mud is rare. If the wax treatment is so good it makes me wonder why chains are not wax treated from new.
My cleaning routine is bike on work stand and both wheels removed, removal of crud from the mech with a stiff brush, MUCoff everywhere agitated with a soft brush then bucket of warm fresh water and sponge. Towel dried, then wiped over using GT40. Any paint chips or rim strikes touched up. Then cassette and mech stiff brushed using degreaser and chain cleaned using a chain bath and degreaser. Everything then lubed . Battery connector cleaned with contact cleaner and lint free cloth. Then the bike is left until the next ride.