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 as it is getting better lubed.
- The lube itself will last at least 2-3 times longer than a normal wet or dry lube.
- The chain does not collect dirt as it cannot stick to chain/sprockets.
- Saving a lot of time in the end as you only need to clean chain when lubing it.
- No oil sticking all over the rear of the bike.
- Cassette and front sprocket will last longer as no dirt is grinding between chain and sprocket.
We have 8 bikes here in the family and all are running waxed chains, on our road bikes that only see dry weather during summertime, we will typically run more than 400 km on 1 lube and our EMTBs will typically run 200 km on a lube in the winter time and 300+ km during summer. For the MTBs I have 2 set of chains so it is easy to always have a clean lubed chain ready when needed. As for chain/Cassette life I have a converted Specialized Enduro with a Bafang mid-drive that is pushing out more than 1500 watts peak and being used to and from work come rain or shine. I have now done more than 2000 km on the chain/cassette and it is still as new and far from 0.5.
Even though the waxing process is a bit more complicated than the usual clean/oil with ordinary oil products one will still save time in the end as you don't have to do the clean/oil after every ride but only when you either take the chain off for lubing with wax or simply change your chain.
There are different ways to especially clean the chain(Extremely important that the chain is absolutely clean) but I'm a lazy guy so I quickly went for the easy solution, a ultrasound cleaner
The process is as follows:
- Clean the chain and it is VERY important that it is 100% clean
- Put the chain into melted paraffin wax mixed with Vaseline oil or paraffin oil
- Take the chain out and let it dry(actually cooling down)
- Break the links loose and mount the chain back on the bike
- Go riding
My setup:
The Ultrasound cleaner is a very handy tool that I use for cleaning lots of different stuff, also cassette etc. The cleaning solution I use is a mixture of water, soda and some concentrated dish washing soap. The exact mixture I use is 3 litres of water together with 1.5 decilitre of soda and 1/2 a decilitre of dish washing soap. Before I put it in the Ultrasound cleaner I usually dip the chain in a glass of petroleum to get the roughest dirt off.
After a rinse with hot water it goes into the cleaner for 1/2 an hour at 60 degrees:
After the ultrasound clean it is very important that the cleaning mixture is rinsed off with hot water and then it is time for the chain to dry. Some people bake it in the oven at 150 degrees C for 20 minutes in order to dry completely. I simply lay it out on top of our heater overnight(60 degrees warm) and its bone dry the next day.
Next step is to dip the chain into the melted wax mixture, the absolutely best tool here is a cheap slow cooker/crock pot where you can regulate the heat with a thermostat. I usually set it to 80 degrees C in order to have the paraffin liquid as thin floating as possible(It usually melt around 55-60 degrees C). Let the chain be fully submersed for at least 20 minutes where you a couple of times tap around on the chain to get all the air bubbles out. the wax you want to use is basically the same as candlelights are made of, many hobby stores sells it in big blocks or pellets ready to melt. It is extremely cheap and a couple of kg will last for years. the mixture of the wax and the paraffin/Vaseline oil is crusial for the lubrication effect as the purpose of the oil is to ad flexibility to the wax so it will not brake off in big flakes and stay sticky. Here is a good video the shows how to achieve the right mixture:
How to mix your own wax lube
For the record my mixture is about 1 part of oil to 10 parts of melted wax but it varies between products so you will have to follow the advice in above video.
Here is what I use for the waxing part:
When you have "boiled" the chain for at least 20 minutes I simply take the chain out with the home made tool seen in above picture and hang it up for drying or should I say cooling down, be careful as the chain/wax will be 80 degrees C when you take it out. Just before the wax on the chain hardens up I wipe the outside of the chain with a rag in order to get excess wax off. the mixture of the wax is a bit like religion and some are even applying Teflon powder(PTFE) for less rolling friction as well as Molybdenum Disulphide(MoS2) for even better lubrication. Also, some are using a slightly different technique when taking the chain out of the liquid wax. They turn off the cooker and wait a few minutes until just before the wax starts to harden, then they put the chain directly into a bucket of cold water in order for the wax to stiffen instantainsly. the purpose of this is to keep as much wax within the rollers where the lubrication is needed. However it is a huge mess and It takes forever to clean essessive wax off the chain afterwards. I tried it onece and then I do it the way I initially decribed and for me it is working just as good.
Here is the final result, a nice clean well lubed chain ready for another 200 km of dirty wet EMTB riding
Karsten
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 as it is getting better lubed.
- The lube itself will last at least 2-3 times longer than a normal wet or dry lube.
- The chain does not collect dirt as it cannot stick to chain/sprockets.
- Saving a lot of time in the end as you only need to clean chain when lubing it.
- No oil sticking all over the rear of the bike.
- Cassette and front sprocket will last longer as no dirt is grinding between chain and sprocket.
We have 8 bikes here in the family and all are running waxed chains, on our road bikes that only see dry weather during summertime, we will typically run more than 400 km on 1 lube and our EMTBs will typically run 200 km on a lube in the winter time and 300+ km during summer. For the MTBs I have 2 set of chains so it is easy to always have a clean lubed chain ready when needed. As for chain/Cassette life I have a converted Specialized Enduro with a Bafang mid-drive that is pushing out more than 1500 watts peak and being used to and from work come rain or shine. I have now done more than 2000 km on the chain/cassette and it is still as new and far from 0.5.
Even though the waxing process is a bit more complicated than the usual clean/oil with ordinary oil products one will still save time in the end as you don't have to do the clean/oil after every ride but only when you either take the chain off for lubing with wax or simply change your chain.
There are different ways to especially clean the chain(Extremely important that the chain is absolutely clean) but I'm a lazy guy so I quickly went for the easy solution, a ultrasound cleaner
The process is as follows:
- Clean the chain and it is VERY important that it is 100% clean
- Put the chain into melted paraffin wax mixed with Vaseline oil or paraffin oil
- Take the chain out and let it dry(actually cooling down)
- Break the links loose and mount the chain back on the bike
- Go riding
My setup:
The Ultrasound cleaner is a very handy tool that I use for cleaning lots of different stuff, also cassette etc. The cleaning solution I use is a mixture of water, soda and some concentrated dish washing soap. The exact mixture I use is 3 litres of water together with 1.5 decilitre of soda and 1/2 a decilitre of dish washing soap. Before I put it in the Ultrasound cleaner I usually dip the chain in a glass of petroleum to get the roughest dirt off.
After a rinse with hot water it goes into the cleaner for 1/2 an hour at 60 degrees:
After the ultrasound clean it is very important that the cleaning mixture is rinsed off with hot water and then it is time for the chain to dry. Some people bake it in the oven at 150 degrees C for 20 minutes in order to dry completely. I simply lay it out on top of our heater overnight(60 degrees warm) and its bone dry the next day.
Next step is to dip the chain into the melted wax mixture, the absolutely best tool here is a cheap slow cooker/crock pot where you can regulate the heat with a thermostat. I usually set it to 80 degrees C in order to have the paraffin liquid as thin floating as possible(It usually melt around 55-60 degrees C). Let the chain be fully submersed for at least 20 minutes where you a couple of times tap around on the chain to get all the air bubbles out. the wax you want to use is basically the same as candlelights are made of, many hobby stores sells it in big blocks or pellets ready to melt. It is extremely cheap and a couple of kg will last for years. the mixture of the wax and the paraffin/Vaseline oil is crusial for the lubrication effect as the purpose of the oil is to ad flexibility to the wax so it will not brake off in big flakes and stay sticky. Here is a good video the shows how to achieve the right mixture:
How to mix your own wax lube
For the record my mixture is about 1 part of oil to 10 parts of melted wax but it varies between products so you will have to follow the advice in above video.
Here is what I use for the waxing part:
When you have "boiled" the chain for at least 20 minutes I simply take the chain out with the home made tool seen in above picture and hang it up for drying or should I say cooling down, be careful as the chain/wax will be 80 degrees C when you take it out. Just before the wax on the chain hardens up I wipe the outside of the chain with a rag in order to get excess wax off. the mixture of the wax is a bit like religion and some are even applying Teflon powder(PTFE) for less rolling friction as well as Molybdenum Disulphide(MoS2) for even better lubrication. Also, some are using a slightly different technique when taking the chain out of the liquid wax. They turn off the cooker and wait a few minutes until just before the wax starts to harden, then they put the chain directly into a bucket of cold water in order for the wax to stiffen instantainsly. the purpose of this is to keep as much wax within the rollers where the lubrication is needed. However it is a huge mess and It takes forever to clean essessive wax off the chain afterwards. I tried it onece and then I do it the way I initially decribed and for me it is working just as good.
Here is the final result, a nice clean well lubed chain ready for another 200 km of dirty wet EMTB riding
Karsten
