Chain WAXing (yes it's that easy) - and other mysteries of this art!

[RojoRacing]

Ho Ho I did this with one of my bikes... it's pretty old. The drive chain is as quiet as a mouse until I put any power on it then the cassette slips ... The sprockets on the cassette are worn out. Slightly irritated as the plan was to sell the bike without having to update anything. So if you have an old bike... don't clean the chain so well. LOL. Terrible thing to say.

Did you put on at least 20 miles on the freshly waxed chain? If not put some easy miles on it to work the wax into the tight spots. After 20-30 miles there is no reason the wax wold cause your chain and cassette to skip any more than with chain lube.

 

[super slim]

Nice instructional video!

I really liked the bit about varying the amount of Paraffin oil so the resultant chain coating just smears, instead of flaking off, AND that it is an AUSSIE!!

 

[Markopolo]

And a good way to clean your chain is with a $3 can of starting fluid or ether, it'll strip everything off in about a minute and good to clean the cassette and anything else. Don't get any on the rims or disc as it usually carries an upper cylinder lubricant, not dry as in brake cleaner. Do not go the extra mile and use a flame!

 

[cpml123]

In case anyone is interested, probikekit is having cybe Mon discount. KMC chains seem to be a good deal at $31.49 for x-10EL Ti-N.
https://www.probikekit.com/brands/kmc.list?search=kmc

I haven't taken the plunge to try chain waxing. Just sharing good buys.

 

[bret]

I replaced my chain with a waxed one: http://cruzbike.com/forum/threads/refurbishing-a-quest.11763/#post-142037

Note for Aussies - https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/ sells Molten Speed Wax locally (Adelaide, I think).

I haven't ridden a long ways yet, but the noises come from the freewheel, the tires, or a slight rub in the brake. Nothing from the drivetrain.

 

[super slim]

I replaced my chain with a waxed one: http://cruzbike.com/forum/threads/refurbishing-a-quest.11763/#post-142037

Note for Aussies - https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/ sells Molten Speed Wax locally (Adelaide, I think).

I haven't ridden a long ways yet, but the noises come from the freewheel, the tires, or a slight rub in the brake. Nothing from the drivetrain.

53,000 km trials on a Tacx Neo for friction testing over long distances under different conditions!!!

https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/lubetesting/
Results show that Molten Speed Wax is very good!

Is only one pound of wax required to fully submerge a single chain?

 

[bazzawill]

53,000 km trials on a Tacx Neo for friction testing over long distances under different conditions!!!

https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/lubetesting/
Results show that Molten Speed Wax is very good!

Is only pound of wax required to fully submerge a single chain?

Wow great Aussie science

I really should have spent more time cleaning my YBN titanium before waxing / renewing my wax

 

[bladderhead]

I did it. On both my bikes. I used ordinary candle wax. Someone said that candle wax is brittle so you should dilute it with paraffin oil to make it softer. I did not have any of that, so I put in a load of vaseline.

I followed the chain cleaning instructions on the Molten website and tried to get a clean drivetrain. Difficult cleaning the insides of the chain guide tubes on the Grashopper. For the Silvio I wanted to replace the derailleur pulleys, then I had some sort of bling attack and bought Ceramic Speed Ti ones. They do go round faster than the original Tacx ones. I got a red KMC chain. Component version of N+1 disease. At that point I decided I should clean the whole bike. What a day!

The wax made the Silvio's chain so stiff it would hardly bend. Really hard to feed it through the derailleur. I had to pull it really hard to shut the masterlink. Do not know what that will do for friction, but at least I have banished the black gunge.

 

[RojoRacing]

I did it. On both my bikes. I used ordinary candle wax. Someone said that candle wax is brittle so you should dilute it with paraffin oil to make it softer. I did not have any of that, so I put in a load of vaseline.

I followed the chain cleaning instructions on the Molten website and tried to get a clean drivetrain. Difficult cleaning the insides of the chain guide tubes on the Grashopper. For the Silvio I wanted to replace the derailleur pulleys, then I had some sort of bling attack and bought Ceramic Speed Ti ones. They do go round faster than the original Tacx ones. I got a red KMC chain. Component version of N+1 disease. At that point I decided I should clean the whole bike. What a day!

The wax made the Silvio's chain so stiff it would hardly bend. Really hard to feed it through the derailleur. I had to pull it really hard to shut the masterlink. Do not know what that will do for friction, but at least I have banished the black gunge.

Take your waxed chain and pull it back and forth over a piece of plastic pipe or something around 1" diameter and round. This will break everything free initially so your don't have to deal with a super stiff chain the during install.

 

[DavidCH]

titanium chain

How many watts do you save with that?
I just watched a video saying if you swap out your quick release skewer for the likes of some pinhead aero skewers you can save the likes of 1 watt.

 

[benphyr]

Take your waxed chain and pull it back and forth over a piece of plastic pipe or something around 1" diameter and round. This will break everything free initially so you don't have to deal with a super stiff chain the during install.

Or an (old) broom handle.

 

[bladderhead]

Next time I will pull it round something. Maybe I should make the wax softer, or put moly in it.

Somewhere on the internet someone said that the Yaban Ti chain has hardly any Ti in it, because Ti is really light, but this chain weighs the same as a Sram one. Or something.

Does wax weigh more than Profi dry-lube?

 

[cpml123]

I got tired of greasy chain and finally tried this. I used the ultra sonic cleaner to clean the chain that's about 100mi new. 20 min and all clean. Unbelievable. I then waxed the chain and hung it up. This is all in between teaching my 16 yo physics homework. I also wiped the cassette and chain rings clean with a little car brake cleaner.

Will break the chain tomorrow and put it back.

 

[bladderhead]

You need to clean the pulleys as well. What wax did you use?

 

[snilard]

You need to clean the pulleys as well. What wax did you use?

Molten.

 

[cpml123]

You need to clean the pulleys as well. What wax did you use?

Yes I wiped the 2 pulleys as well. Good catch. I used the Molten wax.

 

[RojoRacing]

"Need to break the chain"? Please say you have a quick link for your chain and not a shimano press link.

 

[cpml123]

"Need to break the chain"? Please say you have a quick link for your chain and not a shimano press link.

I meant loosening the chain links after wax has solidified.
.

 

[bazzawill]

How many watts do you save with that?
I just watched a video saying if you swap out your quick release skewer for the likes of some pinhead aero skewers you can save the likes of 1 watt.

http://www.yaban.com/index.php?option=product&lang=en&task=pageinfo&id=369&belongid=368&index=0

 

[benphyr]

I commute. I have not recently cleaned the drivetrain. I just cleaned my whole drivetrain: chain, cogs, jockey wheels, chainrings. I have been waxing my chain for a while now, the last several times with just dipping the chain and without cleaning anything else. Here are pictures of the front and back of the old washcloth that I used to clean everything, all sides of the gears.


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Previously, it would have been this much gunk just to clean between 1 set of gears or just the chain.

Waxing = good.

By-the-way I use a tiny rice cooker ($5 rice cooker) and decided to start with paraffin candles before springing for molten speed wax and haven't used up my candles yet so it is just paraffin candles and maybe a little paraffin oil, with a quick link and an old coat hanger to hook the chain out and an old broom stick to loosen the links. When I take the chain out I run it down a rag several times quickly to remove excess on the outside of the chain. I did this first to remove any excess debris still in the chain but now just to remove any excess wax.