Waxing a chain

earth

I found a site called friction facts recently who have done some good testing of chain lubes and found that the best lube is simply paraffin - aka - candle wax. I'm sure there are some dyed-in-the-wool cyclists who have known this for years but it was new to me. Not satisfied with just gluing my tyres on, I have decided to start waxing my chain as well.

I had a go at it last night and have had reasonable results but I'm not convinced the wax penetrated between every plate and roller.

I heated a pan of water on the gas hob and put a bowl in it then put some paraffin wax in the bowl to melt it. My thinking was that paraffin melts at about 60^C and water boils at 100 but does not get any hotter so the chance of paraffin vapor igniting was slim. I put the chain in for a few minutes and stirred it as best I could before pulling it out with paper clip, and hanging it on a coat hanger via the paper clip.

I'm thinking of other techniques for heating the wax. My first problem is that I have a gas oven and don't want paraffin vapor igniting on the gas flame. The simple solution is to use electricity to heat the wax. I though maybe a cheap kettle that I use only for cooking chains. One where the element is hidden below a plate would be best and I might have to fix the on/off switch so it does not turn off. Or a more up market approach might be to buy a single electric hotplate and a sauce pan.

But the main problem is agitating the chain so that the wax gets between all the plates.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this? Should I be soaking the chain for long?

lapavoni10

It may be the best, but to be honest it sounds like a huge faff.
You may be better off with a strict cleaning and lubing regime.

Using a good chain cleaner and chain cleaning tool gets a chain pretty much spotless, and current lubes are 100x better than those of 10 years ago. Lubing every few rides, and cleaning every couple of weeks should keep things tip-top.....and you wont fall out with your partner by ruining the kitchen-ware!!

drlodge

lapavoni10 wrote:

It may be the best, but to be honest it sounds like a huge faff.

This

---

^

By all means look after your chain, clean and lube regularly, but it is not an expensive component and will wear out anyway (say 3,000 miles). I just don't have the time or inclination to be so anal about a chain.

Spray rag with WD40 or GT85, and wipe the chain clean.
Apply ProGold Prolink from a dropper bottle, one drop per link
Job done.

I do a deeper clean when I wash the bike - Fenwicks spray foam cleaner and citrus degreaser on the chain/cassette/chainrings. I have used the parktool chainbath thingy in the past, but I find I really don't need it anymore.

earth

It is a faff - just like gluing tubulars on, but have a read of this:

http://www.squirtlube.com/professionals ... 014-01.pdf

I normally use purple extreme but it is one of the worst lubricants tested and wax apparently lasts longer. If I could find some of that Squirt Lube I might use that instead.

drlodge

I think that test is flawed. They are presumably testing a clean chain with different lubes under "laboratory conditions", it takes no account of how well/long a lube lasts or what happens when its gets dirty.

Some of those "good" lubes may well wash off very easily, or quickly attract all sorts of cr@p which then make the lube very abrasive.

earth

That article is not the full story but it is the only one published on the web. They did more tests after running the chains through dirt and grit, dry chains, chains with factory lube.

keef66

I've tried the Squirt lube; it's water based so it needs to be applied the day before and allowed to dry. In summer use it does flake off and takes the dirt with it, and the chain stays looking fairly clean. If you don't want a squeaky chain it does need more frequent reapplication than oils though, and it's rubbish in the winter.

I'm back to a wipe with a cloth, drop of 3-in-1 on each roller, spin the cranks and wipe off the excess.

lapavoni10

I am pretty sure that test is good, but its the time factor....using shellac to stick on tubs is probably still the best but would you want to be melting shellac crystals rather than using a good tub cement?

Personal choice I guess..I would rather clean and lube more often.

earth

I just thought I would give it a try. The wax cost £4 for a bag full and it took about 10 minutes to melt it, 5 minutes in the hot wax and about 5 minutes for it to dry. Really most of the time is waiting. The most time was spent opening the missing link. I'll see how long it lasts on the chain and if I think it performs any better.

imposter2.0

Paraffin wax is just another petroleum derivative, like most other conventional oils and chain lubes. I suppose it's fine if you want to spend your spare time cleaning chains, rather than riding..

lapavoni10

Keep us posted...would be interesting to see how it performs in dry and wet conditions. Some of the dry lubes do leave what could be described as a wax film, but heating the stuff up would suggest you get better penetration (stop sniggering at the back)

mattsccm

I would be intrigued to see the results. I always used wax on motorcycle chains until they invented O ring chains.
I fail to keep any chain any length of time. They are either coated in dust or mud yet it is obvious that internally there is not enough lubrication.
Many years ago I raced 50cc endure motorbikes. The biggest chain available was tin and wore terribly.
The best solution was to run 2 or 3. One on the bike. One soaking in petrol then washed and dried on the boiler before chucking it into a tub of surplus but clean engine oil. 24 hours later it was whipped out and put to drip dry for a week. Best chain maintenance regime I have used.

lapavoni10

hahah...yes all very eco-friendly.

I used to keep a petrol/diesel mix for cleaning the chain as it did not dry out so much.

imposter2.0

mattsccm wrote:

I would be intrigued to see the results. I always used wax on motorcycle chains until they invented O ring chains.
I fail to keep any chain any length of time. They are either coated in dust or mud yet it is obvious that internally there is not enough lubrication.
Many years ago I raced 50cc endure motorbikes. The biggest chain available was tin and wore terribly.
The best solution was to run 2 or 3. One on the bike. One soaking in petrol then washed and dried on the boiler before chucking it into a tub of surplus but clean engine oil. 24 hours later it was whipped out and put to drip dry for a week. Best chain maintenance regime I have used.

All sounds a bit dramatic. I raced motocross for many years and hardly ever removed the chain from the bike. Just jetwashed the crap out of it and then re-lubed it. Running three chains sounds like a lot of faff...

earthvspace4XTuUWcX

I tried paraffin wax many years ago, but the wax appeared to be too hard and after a few miles the wax just seemed to fall off, ie it didnt appear to stick to the metal, thus I never tried it again.

The Mechanic

I may be missing something but the report appears to concentrate on speed and take no account of how the various lubricants resist chain and cassette/chainring wear. If you are a tester and looking for every second and can afford to replace your drive train several time a year that is fine. But I don't think that applies to most of us.

ElectronShepherd

The Mechanic wrote:

I may be missing something but the report appears to concentrate on speed and take no account of how the various lubricants resist chain and cassette/chainring wear. If you are a tester and looking for every second and can afford to replace your drive train several time a year that is fine. But I don't think that applies to most of us.

The report does say "determining the best lube based on the solitary, though very important, attribute of efficiency is possible. Using a collection of pricey lab equipment and a good deal of elbow grease, it is feasible to find the fastest lube available", so it does have, by its own admission, a very narrow focus.

jibberjim

drlodge wrote:

lapavoni10 wrote:

It may be the best, but to be honest it sounds like a huge faff.

This

---

^

By all means look after your chain, clean and lube regularly, but it is not an expensive component and will wear out anyway (say 3,000 miles). I just don't have the time or inclination to be so anal about a chain.

Spray rag with WD40 or GT85, and wipe the chain clean.
Apply ProGold Prolink from a dropper bottle, one drop per link
Job done.

I do a deeper clean when I wash the bike - Fenwicks spray foam cleaner and citrus degreaser on the chain/cassette/chainrings. I have used the parktool chainbath thingy in the past, but I find I really don't need it anymore.

Is it some "rule" about posts on forums where someone calls a routine a faff and then proceeds to describe there own which is just as faff-y?

Squirt Lube is really easy to buy, and I like it a lot, the fact the dirt drops off is a huge advantage for me. Those weird rare shops like Wiggle stock it - or you can buy the big bottles from the UK distributor - http://www.in2dust.co.uk/Squirt.html (or quite a few german stockists but they're more expensive currently for this)

giant_man

I've tried most of them on the market for the past couple of years, including the much heralded 'dry' lubes such as Squirt, Chain L No 5, Rock n Roll, Fenwicks Stealth, and they're all much of a muchness, with you using way more than you should need to imo, it's all marketing bs imo, so now I'm back to good basic old fashioned 3-in-one oil. Much more effective.

earth

The Mechanic wrote:

I may be missing something ...

That is exactly it. The link I posted is the only one published that is not behind a pay-wall. I gave them a tenner and downloaded a full set of tests on chains, jockey wheels, bottom brackets. They have done tests on dirty chains and lifespan of the lubricants and they concluded that wax lasts as long as the others or longer. They suggest 300 miles but once it reaches that it comes off quickly and leaves the chain squeaking. I'll see how many miles I get out of one application. It does tend to come off from the outside of the chain almost immediately but it is still between the plates and rollers. Cassette and chainring wear is a worry if there is no lube on the outside of the rollers.

jgsi

I've seen bikes round these parts that havent seen 'main'tence' the best part of 20 years.. by the sound of them seem to be doing ok... just saying like.

any half decent cyclist is going to stretch that 10 speed chain in a good few months.. 9 speed not so quick maybe.
wont even talk about 11 speed...... so longevity? go down a few sprockets and then some more.
But who really cares?

robbo2011

Too much fuss.

I use a drop of Mobil 1 0W40 engine oil on each link every few hundred km, with a quick wipe off of the excess after spinning the chain for while.

my KMC 10 speed chain is now 7500 km old and still within the 0.75% wear limit. Can't see why anyone would want to do more maintenance than this to be honest - less time riding the bike.

Giraffoto

The paraffin wax method is a bit of a faff - you need to keep a dedicated saucepan for it, but it can be done on the gas if you keep it on a low light. The only risk from vapour is if you boil it, but that's easy to avoid. I think of it as something for the summer months, because the wax doesn't hang around for long on the side plates of the chain and doesn't provide any rustproofing.

earth

I waxed the chain on the daily use commuter and have done little more than 100 miles and 2 wet rides before the chain has started to squeak. It did stay perfectly clean until then though. I'm going to continue a few more times to get an average miles between applications.

dennisn

earth wrote:

I found a site called friction facts recently who have done some good testing of chain lubes and found that the best lube is simply paraffin - aka - candle wax. I'm sure there are some dyed-in-the-wool cyclists who have known this for years but it was new to me. Not satisfied with just gluing my tyres on, I have decided to start waxing my chain as well.

I had a go at it last night and have had reasonable results but I'm not convinced the wax penetrated between every plate and roller.

I heated a pan of water on the gas hob and put a bowl in it then put some paraffin wax in the bowl to melt it. My thinking was that paraffin melts at about 60^C and water boils at 100 but does not get any hotter so the chance of paraffin vapor igniting was slim. I put the chain in for a few minutes and stirred it as best I could before pulling it out with paper clip, and hanging it on a coat hanger via the paper clip.

I'm thinking of other techniques for heating the wax. My first problem is that I have a gas oven and don't want paraffin vapor igniting on the gas flame. The simple solution is to use electricity to heat the wax. I though maybe a cheap kettle that I use only for cooking chains. One where the element is hidden below a plate would be best and I might have to fix the on/off switch so it does not turn off. Or a more up market approach might be to buy a single electric hotplate and a sauce pan.

But the main problem is agitating the chain so that the wax gets between all the plates.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this? Should I be soaking the chain for long?

Sounds like you've created a problem that doesn't exist. Then created or bought into some sort of a crazy solution for it. :roll:

earth

I already entered the crazy solution realm when I started gluing tyres on.

It wont last.

nevman

Drop mine into tub of olive oil-shake and leave for a few minutes,dry and replace.Organic,just dont use remainder on salads.

Dippydog2

Just as an experiment I cleaned one thoroughly using citrus degreaser and one of those special chain cleaning contraptions with the brushes. It looked great.

I then took the chain off, put it in a jam jar with a little petrol and gave if a good shake. The petrol turned black. Lots of oil still there.

I poured the fuel out and repeated. Almost dead clean the second time.

Next time I may well just pass on the citrus degreaser. We have lots of jam jars.

Would diesel do a better job, perhaps by leaving a little lubrication in, or would my two stroke mix be even better.

And yes, I did relube afterwards.

lapavoni10

petrol diesel mix is best (I used 50/50 mix), but you do still need to lube.

earth

Dippydog2 wrote:

Just as an experiment I cleaned one thoroughly using citrus degreaser and one of those special chain cleaning contraptions with the brushes. It looked great.

I then took the chain off, put it in a jam jar with a little petrol and gave if a good shake. The petrol turned black. Lots of oil still there.

I poured the fuel out and repeated. Almost dead clean the second time.

Next time I may well just pass on the citrus degreaser. We have lots of jam jars.

Would diesel do a better job, perhaps by leaving a little lubrication in, or would my two stroke mix be even better.

And yes, I did relube afterwards.

I've noticed even after several passes through citrus degreaser in a chain cleaner there is still dirt in there.

I think some of the dirt came out when I dipped it in the hot wax.

But since lubricating with wax the chain has been completely clean on the outside. It will be interesting to see how much dirt comes out when I next clean it.

dennisn

earth wrote:

I already entered the crazy solution realm when I started gluing tyres on.

Not so sure that gluing tires on is all that crazy, after reading whole bunches of posts about guys who can't get clinchers on the rim.