Waxed chains

I see a lot of kerfuffle on the googles and YouTubes about melting wax and dunking a hyper clean chain in it because it’s clean and blah blah blah. I’ve used Squirt and Muc Off dry with good results so what is the actual difference between applying these wax in a liquid emulsion drip lubes from the costly crockpot wax in a bag systems that seem to require a dunking every week if you ride a lot. It would seem to me real difference is the amount of labour and fuss it takes to wax a chain. Wouldn’t a thin liquid that penetrates deep into a chain and evaporates leaving a waxy layer pretty similar? Wouldn’t a melted wax regime leave a thicker layer that simply wears down to the same thing as liquid applied wax in a short ride? It is often said that dirt doesn’t stick to a waxed chain, but in the moon dust we have now everything is coated in that abrasive powder.

The idea is that the internal wear surfaces are the most important. So the full clean and dip gets the oil/grease out of the innermost parts of the chain, and wax into them.

Don't bother with all that fuss yourself though, no need. I bought a pre waxed XTR chain from Silca. It's not much more than a normal XTR chain, totally worth it. I've been topping it up with squirt because I had some, rather than the silca wax, but it's been great. Totally clean and I use squirt on it maybe half as often as I tend to lube with traditional lube.

I will totally keep using the pre waxed chains, great setup.

I been into squirt for the last 5 years or so, I clean the shipping smoo off a new chain by covering it with 3 " of napha (AKA white gas) in the bottom of a spaghetti sauce jar, its completely clean when I pull it out, the naptha evaps super quick, I lube with Squirt and call it good.

I never clean the chain after that, from riding a waxed chain indoors on a trainer I know the wax will flake off on the floor.

I will lube the chain every ride when new but after a few apps I just lube every 3 rides

I don't let squirt freeze cuz it will thicken the consistancey but you can cut it with some water cuz squirt is just aqueous wax in water.

Back before squirt maybe the whole cooking your chain in wax made some sense but nowdays I don't see the point in pulling off a chain to cook it in a wax bath, 

especaily on an e-bike app where i am not concerned with how many watts my chain lube is worth, I just want something that lubes well against wear

I have heard some wanker claim pulling the chain & doing the wax bath is just as fast as dripping Squirt but he was obviously full of poo

Posted by: XXX_er

I been into squirt for the last 5 years or so, I clean the shipping smoo off a new chain by covering it with 3 " of napha (AKA white gas) in the bottom of a spaghetti sauce jar, its completely clean when I pull it out, the naptha evaps super quick, I lube with Squirt and call it good.

I never clean the chain after that, from riding a waxed chain indoors on a trainer I know the wax will flake off on the floor.

I will lube the chain every ride when new but after a few apps I just lube every 3 rides

I don't let squirt freeze cuz it will thicken the consistancey but you can cut it with some water cuz squirt is just aqueous wax in water.

Back before squirt maybe the whole cooking your chain in wax made some sense but nowdays I don't see the point in pulling off a chain to cook it in a wax bath,

especaily on an e-bike app where i am not concerned with how many watts my chain lube is worth, I just want something that lubes well against wear

I have heard some wanker claim pulling the chain & doing the wax bath is just as fast as dripping Squirt but he was obviously full of poo

That’s pretty much my technique too. I use acetone for cleaner because I have a big jug of it for some reason. Last year I used Squirt on the hardtail and Muc off dry on the other bike. Muc Off seemed a bit better in the wet. Both resulted in pretty clean chains. My chains these days seem to not elongate so much as becoming laterally "soft" so cassette wear is minimal. I just put new chains on both bikes and both shift better now despite the chains measuring nearly new in length. I figure a thin liquid penetrates deep into the links as well as hot wax will. And as you say a couple fewer watts means nothing to my pudgy old self. It’s not my chain lube that keeps form keeping up with 30 year olds.

Is the viscosity of melted wax thinner than a drip wax? I’ve waxed a zillion skis and that wax becomes pretty thin. Thinner than Squirt? Not sure. Is the Silca type wax really thin when melted and does it penetrate better than Squit? Or do they penetrate the same?

Posted by: Kenny

The idea is that the internal wear surfaces are the most important. So the full clean and dip gets the oil/grease out of the innermost parts of the chain, and wax into them.

Don't bother with all that fuss yourself though, no need. I bought a pre waxed XTR chain from Silca. It's not much more than a normal XTR chain, totally worth it. I've been topping it up with squirt because I had some, rather than the silca wax, but it's been great. Totally clean and I use squirt on it maybe half as often as I tend to lube with traditional lube.

I will totally keep using the pre waxed chains, great setup.

Can you talk more about this? Link to the model of Silca chain you bought? Does it work well in wet BC winter?

I discovered naptha cuz I had a can of it in the shed

After I froze the bottle of squirt at probably -20 it was definatley thicker so I e-mailed Squirt, the engineer got back to me same day telling me to just cut it with some water so IME you can make Squirt as thin as you want by just adding a little water

I experimented with dripping it on surfaces indoors also trying to make a chunk, it didn't want to be a chunk of squirt but the water evaps in a couple hrs

Squirt is easy to get at a lot of internet bikestores usually, its one of the things along with ODI grips that I buy to pad a mail order for free shipping so now I got bottles of the stuff and too many grips

Posted by: craw

Posted by: Kenny

The idea is that the internal wear surfaces are the most important. So the full clean and dip gets the oil/grease out of the innermost parts of the chain, and wax into them.

Don't bother with all that fuss yourself though, no need. I bought a pre waxed XTR chain from Silca. It's not much more than a normal XTR chain, totally worth it. I've been topping it up with squirt because I had some, rather than the silca wax, but it's been great. Totally clean and I use squirt on it maybe half as often as I tend to lube with traditional lube.

I will totally keep using the pre waxed chains, great setup.

Can you talk more about this? Link to the model of Silca chain you bought? Does it work well in wet BC winter?

Here’s a link to Silca: https://silca.cc/en-ca/collections/chain-lube-wax/products/pre-waxed-race-chain?variant=39821760397410

wow they are pretty much charging > double the price , of a 93 $ stock eagle chain for their prep, if you happen to be a very good racer i can see it, I talk to a guy on-line who wrenches for road & XC atheletes and he does this kind of pre-prep for his customers

he sez they are now doing the preprep in the TDF cuz its time and money so they get spancered to run it which is the money part and they just swap the pre-preped chain out which ( they may have been getting a new chain every stage anyhow ? ) so thats time part of prep

Posted by: XXX_er

wow they are pretty much charging > double the price , of a 93 $ stock eagle chain for their prep, if you happen to be a very good racer i can see it, I talk to a guy on-line who wrenches for road & XC atheletes and he does this kind of pre-prep for his customers

he sez they are now doing the preprep in the TDF cuz its time and money so they get spancered to run it which is the money part and they just swap the pre-preped chain out which ( they may have been getting a new chain every stage anyhow ? ) so thats time part of prep

That's some Rapha/white shoe/ceramicspeed/roadie level pricing for something of dubious value especially in the wet.

It doesnt make any sense to me in my app but for the pro's who are looking for every watt they can get so the bike has to be fast but also if a TDF team gets spancer money or they get pre waxed chains from Muckoff or Silica or whomever/ whatever or any money from anybody then the money also works,

So every night the TDF mechanics have a bunch of work to do on a bunch of bikes, also wash the cars, the bus, get food and rest yadayada so swapping waxed chains has to work from a time perspective cuz they don't have time to do the crockpot thing on 12 bikes

from my perspective the only reason I wax chains is cuz the technology of Squirt has made the dripping squirt on my chain no more hassle than the dripping of a petro product was on my chain, the napha degreasing is no effort and I guess I should say I DO like the clean chain

I will do squirt but no way I would ever remove a chain to do the crockpot thing

edit: once i have a chain degreased I only run Squirt, petro lube never ever gets near it

Posted by: craw

Posted by: XXX_er

wow they are pretty much charging > double the price , of a 93 $ stock eagle chain for their prep, if you happen to be a very good racer i can see it, I talk to a guy on-line who wrenches for road & XC atheletes and he does this kind of pre-prep for his customers

he sez they are now doing the preprep in the TDF cuz its time and money so they get spancered to run it which is the money part and they just swap the pre-preped chain out which ( they may have been getting a new chain every stage anyhow ? ) so thats time part of prep

That's some Rapha/white shoe/ceramicspeed/roadie level pricing for something of dubious value especially in the wet.

At the pro level maintenance involves replacing stuff. New tires for each stage, in the days of cable actuated brakes and drivetrains, new cables and housings daily. Chains came on a large roll and replaced each stage. Those costs pale in comparison to wages, team busses etc. they don’t risk failures. Parts are free. To the teams. The manufacturing cost is way less than retail. I read that about half the teams were reported to have been using waxed chains. Pre waxed would make sense for those riders. It’s why you don’t see many mechanical failures in big races.

Posted by: XXX_er

I discovered naptha cuz I had a can of it in the shed

After I froze the bottle of squirt at probably -20 it was definatley thicker so I e-mailed Squirt, the engineer got back to me same day telling me to just cut it with some water so IME you can make Squirt as thin as you want by just adding a little water

I experimented with dripping it on surfaces indoors also trying to make a chunk, it didn't want to be a chunk of squirt but the water evaps in a couple hrs

Squirt is easy to get at a lot of internet bikestores usually, its one of the things along with ODI grips that I buy to pad a mail order for free shipping so now I got bottles of the stuff and too many grips

One YouTube er uses naphtha/white gas/coleman fuel mixed with paraffin wax shavings as his chain wax lube to refresh his full immersion waxed chain. But I still don’t know if there is a real difference between taking a cleaned chain, dousing it with Squirt or something similar and going through the expense and hassle of full immersion in melted wax.  Personally I think it’s a load of crap to encourage us to spend more money.

The chemicals to strip it cost money, and time is money, plus mess and wife aggravation as I cook chains in crock pots lol.

It's awesome to be just... Clean.. right off the bat. No grease anywhere. It is literally luxurious. Worth it to me but some people also probably find the stripping and re-waxing process therapeutic as well, so to each their own.

I also use way less lube vs conventional, so the cost overall to me isn't so crazy once those things are considered, over the life of the chain.

I put mine on beginning of April and have put about 600k on it and have re lubed it three times (by re lube I mean put a drop of squirt on each link and then back pedal like a madman for a bit)

"" Squirt Chain Lube is a bio-degradable wax based lubricant designed for bicycle chain lubrication in all weather conditions. Preparation and application are crucial to achieving the maximum benefits out of Squirt Chain Lube’s unique wax formula. Please read and follow the instructions below to achieve the best results and efficiency. Factory grease, old lube or oil are sticky and prevent Squirt Chain Lube from penetrating into the cavities between the chain pins, rollers and plates where it is needed to do its lubricating job. Other lubes and factory grease can also have a chemical reaction with the waxes in Squirt Chain Lube, limiting their efficiency and leaving a black residue.

We advise degreasing a new, out of the box, chain completely.  
There are various ways to degrease depending on the stickiness of the factory grease, old chain lube or oil, but soaking the chain in a container with a degreaser or mineral spirits should work.  
After degreasing it is imperative to clean off all degreaser thoroughly, and rinse properly a few times.  
Allow the chain to dry completely.  
Apply Squirt Chain Lube to the rollers on the inside of the chain.

MOUNTAIN BIKE:

Apply Squirt Chain Lube liberally to the chain. Don't wipe it off, and let it dry completely before your ride.  
Never degrease again, just use a dry brush once in a while.  
Even when you wash the bike, don't degrease the chain. Let it dry, apply a new coat, and allow the wax to build up in the links, and you will have better shifting, no chain suck, and much longer drive train life. ""

Its all on the squirt site ^^ so IME I squirtthe chain and leave overnight, don't  lube the chain an then wash the bike or you just wash the squirt off

I still get a kick out of the guy who told me pulling the chain off to hotpot wax was just as fast as dripping some product on the chain

" One YouTube er uses naphtha/white gas/coleman fuel mixed with paraffin wax shavings as his chain wax lube to refresh his full immersion waxed chain."

AKA the queso method of chain waxxing, I'm not sure what you would call that ^^ but the hotpot waxxers tend to be pretty that ^^