Not sure what they’re comparing on road vs mountain longevity, but my experience is that a chain lasts a similar number of hours for both. Roadies are the majority of users but where wax really shines is in high contamination environments like MTB. It doesn’t grab the dirt like oil and then doesn’t transport whatever gets on the chain into the interior.
The two big problems are related to water. It doesn’t form a great barrier for the metal, so chains rust if they get wet and don’t dry promptly. And if there’s a high volume of water running over the chain it washes the wax out and leaves it feeling gritty in a few hours of riding. But generally getting splashed by a puddle or riding through a creek doesn’t cause a problem.
It’s as nerdy as gluing tubulars, but instead of being an expensive high skill task that can kill you it’s a dirt easy way to save money on drivetrain wear. And there’s actual controlled testing to support that claim:
[https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/lubetesting/](https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/lubetesting/)
June 14, 2021, 11:59 a.m. - blackhat
Not sure what they’re comparing on road vs mountain longevity, but my experience is that a chain lasts a similar number of hours for both. Roadies are the majority of users but where wax really shines is in high contamination environments like MTB. It doesn’t grab the dirt like oil and then doesn’t transport whatever gets on the chain into the interior. The two big problems are related to water. It doesn’t form a great barrier for the metal, so chains rust if they get wet and don’t dry promptly. And if there’s a high volume of water running over the chain it washes the wax out and leaves it feeling gritty in a few hours of riding. But generally getting splashed by a puddle or riding through a creek doesn’t cause a problem. It’s as nerdy as gluing tubulars, but instead of being an expensive high skill task that can kill you it’s a dirt easy way to save money on drivetrain wear. And there’s actual controlled testing to support that claim: [https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/lubetesting/](https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/lubetesting/)