My adventures in chain waxing: goals, reviews, suggestions...

[gSporco]

How many dry miles are you all getting out of chains in between waxing or topping off with liquid wax. I am running a waxed setup on Sram AXS and its super quiet and I often forget to check my chain, because it is always clean, noise free and shifts very well.

Is it uncommon to get 1000 miles before a re-wax or a top off in dry conditions with no bike washes in between? Because thats where I am at, and I guess I need to rewax it, even though its noise free and shifts excellent.

I think I need to set a monthly calendar reminder from now on to rotate chains or something..

[wooglins]

How many dry miles are you all getting out of chains in between waxing or topping off with liquid wax. I am running a waxed setup on Sram AXS and its super quiet and I often forget to check my chain, because it is always clean, noise free and shifts very well.

Is it uncommon to get 1000 miles before a re-wax or a top off in dry conditions with no bike washes in between? Because thats where I am at, and I guess I need to rewax it, even though its noise free and shifts excellent.

I think I need to set a monthly calendar reminder from now on to rotate chains or something..

I have about 5000 miles on my bike since I started waxing. I am certain there are stretches of 500 miles that I go at least without doing anything. Its probably been closer to 1000 before.

This thread has me thinking a similar thing as you.

[MikeD]

How many dry miles are you all getting out of chains in between waxing or topping off with liquid wax. I am running a waxed setup on Sram AXS and its super quiet and I often forget to check my chain, because it is always clean, noise free and shifts very well.

Is it uncommon to get 1000 miles before a re-wax or a top off in dry conditions with no bike washes in between? Because thats where I am at, and I guess I need to rewax it, even though its noise free and shifts excellent.

I think I need to set a monthly calendar reminder from now on to rotate chains or something..

1000 miles? Unheard of. What's your secret formula/method? The reason I don't wax is that it doesn't last long enough.

[MikeD]

I always measure my chain before cleaning and relubing, as I don't want to waste my time on a worn out chain. Any small amount of lube that is remaining in the chain has no effect on the elongation measurement.

This is pretty false with solid lubes like wax or a ridiculous amount of clumped solid powder as in Oz's PTFE usage. Even pouring boiling water over a waxed chain doesn't get all the wax out from inside the rollers, just the contaminated exterior.

If you don't believe me, do the following:

1) Wax dip your chain.
2) Ride 300mi/500km
3) Remove your chain, thread it over a swisher tool or bunch it up.
4) Pour half a kettle's worth of boiling water over one side, flip the chain and repeat with the rest of the boiling water.
5) Let the chain cool back to ambient.
6) Try to articulate the chain.
7) It will feel stiff because there's still lots of solid wax that has melted and "reset" taking up space in between the rollers.

If your chain is squeaking that means there's little to no lube at the chain pins and that would be a good time to measure for wear.

[Maddie]

In dry conditions, 600km is about the max I can get out of one waxing

[gSporco]

How many dry miles are you all getting out of chains in between waxing or topping off with liquid wax. I am running a waxed setup on Sram AXS and its super quiet and I often forget to check my chain, because it is always clean, noise free and shifts very well.

Is it uncommon to get 1000 miles before a re-wax or a top off in dry conditions with no bike washes in between? Because thats where I am at, and I guess I need to rewax it, even though its noise free and shifts excellent.

I think I need to set a monthly calendar reminder from now on to rotate chains or something..

1000 miles? Unheard of. What's your secret formula/method? The reason I don't wax is that it doesn't last long enough.

Super clean chain to start with, Pure Paraffin Wax bath, let cool, crack off excess, install, ride for 10 minutes or so until all the flakes fly off and the chain shifts smoothly, then apply SILCA Super Secret Chain Lube.. Thats is, 1000 dry miles and its buttery.. But I am going to swap to my fresh chain now, and redo the other one.. I guess Ill redo it every 500 miles or so now.. Will just need to remind myself

[TobinHatesYou]

If your chain is squeaking that means there's little to no lube at the chain pins and that would be a good time to measure for wear.

Who said anything about squeaking?

[MikeD]

If your chain is squeaking that means there's little to no lube at the chain pins and that would be a good time to measure for wear.

Who said anything about squeaking?

I did. That's when I decide to measure the chain and relube if it's still good. I think most people do that. You got a better idea?

[pdlpsher1]

My re-wax frequency is on average 280 miles or 450 km, less on my gravel bike. But I feel like I could go double the distance without any harmful effects. I just like to play it safe.

My waxed chains show no significant wear even after 6,000 miles. But of course I never strip the chain completely free of wax. So who knows what the true wear is. I don't think anyone measures chains that are 100% free of wax. We might be fooling ourselves thinking that the chain is not worn but when in fact it's worn. But I guess it doesn't matter since the components think the chain is still new as the wax fills up the wear tolerances.

I discard the chain after 6,000 miles because there's a different type of 'wear' that I cannot measure but I can visually observe. The pic. below shows an old chain vs. a new chain. The old chain has lost its lateral rigidity. When chains get too laterally loose shifting quality will suffer. So I think it's a good idea to replace the chain even when the elongation test shows no measurable wear.

[TobinHatesYou]

If your chain is squeaking that means there's little to no lube at the chain pins and that would be a good time to measure for wear.

Who said anything about squeaking?

I did. That's when I decide to measure the chain and relube if it's still good. I think most people do that. You got a better idea?

I don’t let it get to the point of squeaking. If I experience a weird shift on a ride and it hasn’t been 300mi/500km/1week, then I swap to a freshly waxed chain.

My point stands, unless you thoroughly melt and flush the wax out from inside the rollers (multiple passes,) the wax stays in there, affecting any measurement.

[darrydonds]

Interesting.

If "lateral rigidity" changed, I would think there would be a measurable elongation as well. I wonder why it wasn't so, based on your account. Did you verify lateral rigidity for both sides?

I discard the chain after 6,000 miles because there's a different type of 'wear' that I cannot measure but I can visually observe. The pic. below shows an old chain vs. a new chain. The old chain has lost its lateral rigidity. When chains get too laterally loose shifting quality will suffer. So I think it's a good idea to replace the chain even when the elongation test shows no measurable wear.

[pdlpsher1]

Interesting.

If "lateral rigidity" changed, I would think there would be a measurable elongation as well. I wonder why it wasn't so, based on your account. Did you verify lateral rigidity for both sides?

There was measurable elongation but less than 0.5%. But after 6,000 miles I was looking for a reason to retire the chain. And when I compared the old chain vs. a new chain I found the reason. Could I have kept using the chain? Of course I could. But I felt I got my money's worth and it was just time to move on to new chains. My message here is to let people know that elongation is not the only thing that affects the performance of the chain. My feeling is that the lateral rigidity or lack thereof is due to wear on the mating surfaces between the inner and outer plates. The mating surfaces come under friction because the chainline is never perfect in real-world riding conditions. And of course the small elongation would also contribute to the loss of lateral rigidity.

[cocohardi]

Super clean chain to start with, Pure Paraffin Wax bath, let cool, crack off excess, install, ride for 10 minutes or so until all the flakes fly off and the chain shifts smoothly, then apply SILCA Super Secret Chain Lube.. Thats is, 1000 dry miles and its buttery.. But I am going to swap to my fresh chain now, and redo the other one.. I guess Ill redo it every 500 miles or so now.. Will just need to remind myself

That is wild... I am getting nowhere close to that, I've been having some issues with chain waxing. Going away from squirt because of the aforementioned stickiness, I started waxing my chain in food-grade paraffin last year. I decided to leave out the additives to save the environment a bit.

Two issues I'm having: first of all, my chains don't last a week. I ride approximately 350km weekly, bit less in winter. Chains would get squeeky after maybe 150-180km. On a wet ride I can hear it during! Reading through all experiences above, I wonder how some of you seem to get 500km or even way more out of your chains? I might look in to initial waxing and topping up with Silcas, but I think I'm doing something wrong.

My second issue: the wax seems to get dirty and gritty quite quick.

Now I realise how this looks: the chains weren't cleaned properly to start with. However, I clean my chains exactly like OZ Cycle is showing on his Youtube channel. Since I'm based in Europe, the stuff he cleans with had to be researched a bit. I ended up with gasoline for the first bath, spiritus for the second and isopropyl alcohol for the third. I have dedicated containers, 2 for each bath-type (I double up on treatments). I used three new dura ace chains. Still, I can't seem to get it right. After initial cleaning and waxing, then riding, for a re-wax I'd take off the chain and rinse it out with boiling water to get out dirt, exactly as mentioned above.

My question: what am I doing wrong and how can I do it right?

[gSporco]

Super clean chain to start with, Pure Paraffin Wax bath, let cool, crack off excess, install, ride for 10 minutes or so until all the flakes fly off and the chain shifts smoothly, then apply SILCA Super Secret Chain Lube.. Thats is, 1000 dry miles and its buttery.. But I am going to swap to my fresh chain now, and redo the other one.. I guess Ill redo it every 500 miles or so now.. Will just need to remind myself

That is wild... I am getting nowhere close to that, I've been having some issues with chain waxing. Going away from squirt because of the aforementioned stickiness, I started waxing my chain in food-grade paraffin last year. I decided to leave out the additives to save the environment a bit.

Two issues I'm having: first of all, my chains don't last a week. I ride approximately 350km weekly, bit less in winter. Chains would get squeeky after maybe 150-180km. On a wet ride I can hear it during! Reading through all experiences above, I wonder how some of you seem to get 500km or even way more out of your chains? I might look in to initial waxing and topping up with Silcas, but I think I'm doing something wrong.

My second issue: the wax seems to get dirty and gritty quite quick.

Now I realise how this looks: the chains weren't cleaned properly to start with. However, I clean my chains exactly like OZ Cycle is showing on his Youtube channel. Since I'm based in Europe, the stuff he cleans with had to be researched a bit. I ended up with gasoline for the first bath, spiritus for the second and isopropyl alcohol for the third. I have dedicated containers, 2 for each bath-type (I double up on treatments). I used three new dura ace chains. Still, I can't seem to get it right. After initial cleaning and waxing, then riding, for a re-wax I'd take off the chain and rinse it out with boiling water to get out dirt, exactly as mentioned above.

My question: what am I doing wrong and how can I do it right?

I am no expert, but I have had success.. Maybe @TobinHatesYou can chime in, but here is my 2 cents.

I found, cleaning/ prepping a chain that was previously used with oil based lube was very very difficult to clean. It took me 3 days to get the liquids not to look murky.. SO I since only use new chains, and I do about 6 baths, and 3 of them are overnight to let the solvents dissolve everything.

New chain procedure for me is:
1. Mineral Spirit Bath, agitate for 60 seconds, leave overnight
2. Fresh Mineral Bath, Agitate for 60 seconds, leave overnight
3. Fresh Mineral Bath, Agitate for 60 seconds, wait a few hours
4. Acetone bath, agitate 60 seconds wait over night
5. Acetone bath, agitate 60 seconds wait a few hours
6. Hang and dry chain with towel
7. Heat my wax
8. If chain is bone dry, put it in the wax bath and agitate for 5 min
9. Lift chain up and drip, wait 30 seconds, you will see it start to harden
10. Dip it again agitate, and then remove the chain and let dry while dripping
11. Once cooled down and hardened, I break all the links and remove excess hardened wax where possible, but I don't go crazy
12. Install the chain, and pedal in the stand for a bit and clean off some flakes
13. Go for a ride, pedal for a couple minutes before shifting, and after 10 min you are good to go

[darrydonds]

That is wild... I am getting nowhere close to that, I've been having some issues with chain waxing. Going away from squirt because of the aforementioned stickiness, I started waxing my chain in food-grade paraffin last year. I decided to leave out the additives to save the environment a bit.

Two issues I'm having: first of all, my chains don't last a week. I ride approximately 350km weekly, bit less in winter. Chains would get squeeky after maybe 150-180km. On a wet ride I can hear it during! Reading through all experiences above, I wonder how some of you seem to get 500km or even way more out of your chains? I might look in to initial waxing and topping up with Silcas, but I think I'm doing something wrong.

My second issue: the wax seems to get dirty and gritty quite quick.

Now I realise how this looks: the chains weren't cleaned properly to start with. However, I clean my chains exactly like OZ Cycle is showing on his Youtube channel. Since I'm based in Europe, the stuff he cleans with had to be researched a bit. I ended up with gasoline for the first bath, spiritus for the second and isopropyl alcohol for the third. I have dedicated containers, 2 for each bath-type (I double up on treatments). I used three new dura ace chains. Still, I can't seem to get it right. After initial cleaning and waxing, then riding, for a re-wax I'd take off the chain and rinse it out with boiling water to get out dirt, exactly as mentioned above.

My question: what am I doing wrong and how can I do it right?

Not saying that is the reason but Oz's chain cleaning regimen is: gasoline, degreaser and methylated spirit (aka denatured alcohol, methyl hydrate).

Isopropyl alcohol is not the same as methylated spirit, is it?