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

LarryOz · Mar 24, 2016

I searched through our forum for any posts on these chains.
The MoltenSpeed Wax company that I get my wax from for my chains keeps telling me that I need to ditch my KMC chains for the YBN chains as they are substantially better. https://moltenspeedwax.com/pages/about-ybn-chains
The "titanium: chains they talk about are pricey at $200 a set! Too much for me right now since that would be $400 just for my Vendetta. I think I would rather buy full ceramic bearing if I had that extra cash laying around!
Anyway, I have just purchased a set of YBN Ti-Nitrite however. (https://moltenspeedwax.com/collections/ybn-chains/products/ybn-11-speed-chain-sla101), although I did not pay $70 a set. (I got 4 sets for $130 somewhere else) They are all cleaned and waxed up and ready to go, and I hope to compared them to to my KMC within the next week.

Has anyone already done testing on these chains?

hurri47 · Mar 24, 2016

trplay said:
Never tested the chains but have always wanted to. I eagerly await your review. I love their view on wax. I remember long ago the constant ridicule I received from the BROL guru's on chain waxing. Funny how The Velo magazine test shut most of them up.

Link to Velo magazine test? I would like to be shut up too.

-Dan

Mathew Fy · Mar 24, 2016

hurri47 said:
Link to Velo magazine test?

I Googled "velo chain lube test results", the top hit was the article at lillylube dot com. Also, if you click the LarryOz' moltenspeedwax link then choose "Why wax?" you can see Velo's 2013 and 2014 tests results. I now feel upset I was using White Lightning Epic Ride lube!

ratz · Mar 24, 2016

Once you wax and get your system down; it's really hard to do anything else. For the fast bikes I always have a chain ready to go for a swap in; one on the bike and one in a zip lock bag. This year I'll probably start doing all the other bikes that have master links; just do them overnight.

A $40 sonic cleaner is a good investment for prepping your chains for waxing.

bazzawill · Mar 25, 2016

ratz said:
Once you wax and get your system down; it's really hard to do anything else. For the fast bikes I always have a chain ready to go for a swap in; one on the bike and one in a zip lock bag. This year I'll probably start doing all the other bikes that have master links; just do them overnight.

A $40 sonic cleaner is a good investment for prepping your chains for waxing.

What sort of sonic cleaner do you have?

bazzawill · Mar 25, 2016

YBN titanium is only a small step up from the kmc dlc I was planning on. Interesting thing I found however is YBN state the titanium chain is self lubricating.

ratz · Mar 25, 2016

bazzawill said:
What sort of sonic cleaner do you have?

http://www.amazon.com/LARGE-ULTRASONIC-CLEANER-cleaning-JEWELRY/dp/B00LMF3GTE

add some simple green with 3 parts water; and 10 minutes to totally clean parts.

Big enough for 3 chains or 1 cassette. Chain rings need not apply

1happyreader · Mar 30, 2016

hurri47 said:
Link to Velo magazine test? I would like to be shut up too.

not $Free$ but this might be the report your looking for friction-facts.com .
ok so this pdf is free. gotta get off the computer and ride.
http://www.squirtlube.com/professionals/VeloNews2014-01.pdf

ReklinedRider · Mar 30, 2016

ratz said:
http://www.amazon.com/LARGE-ULTRASONIC-CLEANER-cleaning-JEWELRY/dp/B00LMF3GTE

add some simple green with 3 parts water; and 10 minutes to totally clean parts.

Big enough for 3 chains or 1 cassette. Chain rings need not apply

Sounds way easier than the molten spped wax instructions! Will have to try that

ratz · Mar 30, 2016

ReklinedRider said:
Sounds way easier than the molten spped wax instructions! Will have to try that

The way Squirt Tests out; I'd love to have someone try that and report back with photos of how clean the chain stays.

I can make a video the next time I wax chains; probably next week; it's supper easy.

Tigerpaw · Mar 30, 2016

I've used Squirt. Much prefer my little crock pot and paraffin wax with a mix of dry PTFE.

hurri47 · Mar 31, 2016

I found the 2014 Velo News test - thanks for the hints, guys - and I took away two items:

1. They assume only a couple of hundred miles between waxings! Who am I gonna pay to do that? I'm neither racy nor tattoo-phobic enough to be working that hard myself.

2. A couple of squirt-on lubes tested virtually identical in "efficiency" to the best wax. I'll be looking for one of those when my current bottle of T-9 (not even tested!) is empty. (It makes perfect sense, but "efficiency" strikes me funny as a measure of lube goodness.)

-Dan

Zzzorse · Mar 31, 2016

What Velo News said was,

"Longevity of a wax treatment is better than most expect -- we've ridden many hundreds of dry miles on a
single application."

I waxed two chains at once, keeping the spare waxed chain sealed in a polyethylene bag. As others have said, the process is remarkably easy.

ratz · Mar 31, 2016

hurri47 said:
I found the 2014 Velo News test - thanks for the hints, guys - and I took away two items:

1. They assume only a couple of hundred miles between waxings! Who am I gonna pay to do that? I'm neither racy nor tattoo-phobic enough to be working that hard myself.

2. A couple of squirt-on lubes tested virtually identical in "efficiency" to the best wax. I'll be looking for one of those when my current bottle of T-9 (not even tested!) is empty. (It makes perfect sense, but "efficiency" strikes me funny as a measure of lube goodness.)

-Dan

When your as fast as larry 2.5 watts is meaningless. If you are as slow as I am that's like 10%

Seriously though the reason I do it is cleanliness hauling bikes on and off the trainers and the cars. If not for that; I'd have bottle of squirt in the garage; or just good old WD40 applied before each ride which work remarkably well and is dirt cheap.

Biggest risk of waxing is falling asleep with the crock pot going and finding the garage completely full of parrifin wax smoke.... which is ummmmmmm flammable.

LarryOz · Mar 31, 2016

Zzzorse said:
"Longevity of a wax treatment is better than most expect -- we've ridden many hundreds of dry miles on a
single application."

I ride many miles indoors, and I can say I can probably go about 1000 miles between waxing.
Re-waxing is just so easy - plug the crock pot in - let it heat up, dip-it, let it dry, bend each link to break the wax, good to go another 1000!
I also did it because of the cleanliness of it. Taking the bike on and off the training so much and doing all other varieties of front wheel changes for testing. I just got tired of the constant grease everywhere.
I do also keep "extra", and "race" chains sealed in a ziplock baggie, just in case.

JOSEPHWEISSERT · Mar 31, 2016

hurri47 said:
I found the 2014 Velo News test - thanks for the hints, guys - and I took away two items:

1. They assume only a couple of hundred miles between waxings! Who am I gonna pay to do that? I'm neither racy nor tattoo-phobic enough to be working that hard myself.

2. A couple of squirt-on lubes tested virtually identical in "efficiency" to the best wax. I'll be looking for one of those when my current bottle of T-9 (not even tested!) is empty. (It makes perfect sense, but "efficiency" strikes me funny as a measure of lube goodness.)

-Dan

My opinion of waxing after experiencing it and after being skeptical:
1) it's clean
2) it's inexpensive
3) it's really easy
4) it works amazingly well.

hurri47 · Apr 1, 2016

JOSEPHWEISSERT said:
My opinion of waxing after experiencing it and after being skeptical:
1) it's clean
2) it's inexpensive
3) it's really easy
4) it works amazingly well.

I appreciate everyone's input on this. My last thought on the subject:

If I'm ever going to experiment with waxing, it will be on my Silvio rather than one of my RWD bikes (for, I think, obvious reasons).

-Dan

MrSteve · Apr 1, 2016

Waxing chains is a real time consumer for me.
Removing the white waxy residue with a toothbrush from all of those crannies and buffing the side plates inside and out
by hand takes me forever.
Sure, the waxed chain gleams in the sun, but it's just not for me.
Happy April 01....

Emeljay · Apr 1, 2016

To have a clean chain

http://sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html

Then use MrSteves polishing technique for maxi shine!

ReklinedRider · Apr 1, 2016

MrSteve said:
Waxing chains is a real time consumer for me.
Removing the white waxy residue with a toothbrush from all of those crannies and buffing the side plates inside and out
by hand takes me forever.
Sure, the waxed chain gleams in the sun, but it's just not for me.
Happy April 01....

Ha! Good one. Happy AFD

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

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler

Well-Known Member

GRU

Wielder of the Rubber Mallet

Guru

Guru

Wielder of the Rubber Mallet

zen/child method

Zen MBB Master

Wielder of the Rubber Mallet

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Zen MBB Master

Wielder of the Rubber Mallet

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler

Zen MBB Master

Well-Known Member

Zen MBB Master

WiskersBlowinInTheWind

Zen MBB Master