Well, yes, FrictionFacts submerged the chain for all samples. I think you mean to imply this is a superior method to lubricate the chain (vs just applying lubricant, articulating the chain, waiting 5 minutes, applying more lube, articulating the chain, wiping off excess). This is incorrect. There is not one whit of measurable difference between the two.
The reason FrictionFacts did it that way is simply this: for paraffin wax products you are CONSTRAINED TO DO IT THAT WAY. You don’t have a choice in terms of application. That’s the way. With high API hydrocarbon lubes or wax emulsion lubes (like Squirt) you can apply the lube either way. FrictionFacts didn’t want to take the submerge/not submerge data because 1.) As I said, it makes not one whit of difference & 2.) You CAN NOT INCLUDE PARAFFIN WAX PRODUCTS IN THAT SAMPLE. Because you are constrained to submerge in that case.
Now, as to whether or not you spend more time applying and maintaining emulsion wax products…they have a clear ‘ease of use’ advantage. With a paraffin product you must heat up a crock pot full of wax (so much energy! Earth hater! ;-), remove the chain, submerge the chain, put a chain back on the bike. With Squirt you just apply more Squirt, articulate the chain, wipe off the excess, ride. Much less hassle.
It sounds like you have have a strong dislike for chain waxing. Have you had some bad experiences? I can only speak for my experiences and doing both a drip lube and a wax solution for my chain, I know which is much less maintenance and hassle, by a long way too.
You also have a number of claims but I am not sure what your sources are. So let’s have a look at them.
That’s actually not correct. Who told you that was the reason?
I’ll quote Adam Kerin from Zero Friction Cycling who is in regular contact with Jason Smith.
Who told you it doesn’t make a difference which way you apply the lube? It actually makes a big difference, as you need the lube inside the chain, on the moving parts, not on the outside. So how you apply it effects what surfaces are lubed.
I think this is a good read for everyone, regarding the ability of a Squirt (and Smoove etc) to penetrate chains in order to lube the areas that really need it. Both being a high viscous wax base water emulsion lube, they struggle to penetrate down to the pins etc.
I am not sure of the sources that say that Squirt can penetrate not long after being applied to the outside of the chain, but it is incorrect, I am sorry.
Yes, you want to have a standard way to apply the lubes in order to remove variables, but this is not due to paraffin wax’s method of applying, it was the chosen method before paraffin wax was even considered for testing.
I’ve used both Squirt and wax and I can say, from my experience, wax is far superior in terms of time (least) spent. See my previous post for some quick calculations comparing the two methods, from my experience. But you have the opinion that waxing takes up more time. I am very keen to hear how this was the case for you when you were waxing your chain. It might be easy for us all in this thread to point out what was taking up your time, excessively, so you can avoid that and get back into the wonderful world of chain waxing
I am actually very aware of the environment impacts I make; one of the reasons that was borking me to move to wax was the idea of throwing a quick link out every 300km. I hated the idea of just using that part for such a short period of time and then for it the end up in landfill; I hate getting something for a single use, specific task and then throwing it out. I even wash, keep and take back my plastic bowls from the local take-aways for them to re-use with my next order, rather than throw them out and expect new items upon my next visit. As an example. But I am glad you raised this. I have since measured the power being pulled by my crock pots. On low, one is 127 watts and the other is 140 watts. On high they are 170 and 184 watts. And on “keep warm” they are 42 and 46 watts. Doing a quick temperature gun measure, the “keep warm” setting seemed to hold my wax at 65 degrees, so it might be hot enough. I might try using the “keep warm” setting to melt my wax in future. Thanks for the idea. But either way, those wattages aren’t anything too high, like microwaves, kettles, toasters etc. In fact my desktop computer pulls more power than that (hence why I put my desktop into suspend mode over night, yes my desktop, not laptop, to save wasting a resource like electrical power).
We both know you have distorted the steps for both methods there to make it appear that using Squirt is easier and less maintenance.
I took the plunge and waxed 2 brand new chains today. The process is actually pretty easy.
I do have 2 questions though…
I plan to give my drive train and good deep cleaning before installing the chains. Is there anything additional i need to do? I can’t imagine there is a huge downside if there is a little residual lube left?
Once you have a waxed chain on do you wipe it down or do anything between waxing?
The molten speed wax guy says you can just re-dip the chain. We have a secondary crockpot for “training chains”. So we can quickly re-dip any chain that’s been previously waxed. There will be some small contaminants in it, but that’s OK. I just redip and go. I bet you could rinse it off and let it dry but I’m too lazy :-D.
Same. Finished the OEM wax removal on two new chains today. Disassembled chainrings, cassette and rear derailleur and cleaned the F outta them.
Broke three Al chainring bolts removing the rings. Thanks whoever built my bike. Get a damn torque wrench for the shop. So now I have to find a open store and hope they carry them or I’m SOL till Tuesday. Sigh.
Otherwise, the process is easy and I’m thinking it’ll be timesaving in the future once I get both bikes set.
FInished waxing two new chains and reassembling the drive train on my road bike. I’ll do the drivetrain on my TT bike over time. Looking forward first rides with wax… already loving the fact that I can touch my bike and come back clean.
Question: I used about 60% of the bag of MSW in my 2qt crockpot. Most of what I’ve read seems to indicate I should put the whole bag in, but the amount I used was plenty to cover each chain on the swisher tool. Is there any reason I should use the whole bag, or is it fine if I just add more over time as required? I understand most get about 20 waxing per regular size bag?
No reason. My crock pot was advertised as 1.5 litres so works out similar I think to yours. I’ve tended to use half a bag of the MSW at a time until it’s time to change or there’s barely enough left to cover the chain in the bottom of the pot and then change it.
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au offers this service. $25 for an
ultrasonic clean and waxing. If you have to post, probably best to get a
stack done at a time, so you have a few months worth of waxed chains on
hand.
I’m about to wax a chain for the first time this weekend. I’m going the UFO Drip route with a brand new Izumi chain (I’m a fixed rider, so these are the only chains/links I trust).
My question is stripping the factory lube off of the chain. I literally will be taking a new in package Izumi Eco chain and running it through the mineral spirit bath until the spirits run clear. Having not worked with mineral spirts in, well forever, what type of drying time am I looking at? Or rather how do I clear all of the mineral spirts from the chain before I lube. The tutorial says run it under water, but won’t water and the dry time required open the raw chain to some level of corrosion in the hour or two needed to dry it fully. Applying UFO Drip to a chain that still has residual mineral spirts (un rinsed with water) or a semi-wet chain (rinsed with water) seems counter productive.
I realize Ufo Drip is more of a hybrid wax product and a bit different than the hot waxing discussed here… are there additional considerations I should be addressing?
I followed the Zen Master’s guide that @DaveQB linked from zero friction cycling. Between long soaks in mineral spirits, I simply towel dried the chains. I did the third soak for a couple of hours, and when I came back the spirits were totally clear. I once again towel dried the chains, then I conducted the two two-minute agitated rinses in denatured alcohol (methylated spirits). After that, I toweled the chains off and ran the blow dryer over them for five minutes, then waxed. Again, I found that zero friction cycling guide very helpful, especially when coupled with Jonathon’s tips.
My lessons learned:
I would size the chain prior to waxing. Once the wax is on there, it is a little more difficult to handle things and my chain tool would slip off the pin. I actually broke the pin on my chain tool once when the chain slipped, also probably because I was doing something wrong.
I would NOT wax the master link. It indeed makes it harder to join the pins properly.
Recycle your mineral spirits. I dug around for what to do with used mineral spirits. Turns out, they don’t “go bad” and evaporate extremely slowly. So I put the used spirits back in an empty metal can, and closed it. In a couple of months (hopefully around when I need to wax the chains again), when the crud has settled to the bottom, I plan to run it through a coffee filter and, voila, fresh mineral spirits “for free”.
Good tip of the quick link. Izumi uses a two piece master link on their 1/8" track chains, which is the main reason I am so loyal to their chains. I was wondering how to deal with it. Though, since UFO drip is applied on the chain, while on the bike, the quick link will be installed. UFO Drip won’t be as thick as the hot waxing anyway. Still a good tip.
Also recycling the mineral spirits, really good tip there. Thank you!
I tried UFO drip. I found it hard to apply (in winter it wouldn’t
flow and be all lumpy, requiring a heat gun which was difficult as I
didn’t want to cook my bike frame and wheels. It was quite an
ordeal). Then I found it only lasted 50-100km before getting
horribly squeaky.
Having used UFO drip and now molten speed wax, the latter is so much
easier and cheaper. A win win.
I would wax the master link. I understand the wax build up makes it hard to re-join, but you can clean that up a bit with a tyre lever. The reason I think it would be good to wax the link is, waxed chains last a long time and you don’t want the master link wearing out a lot faster than the chain and then…snap! A broken chain while riding can be very bad.
Just my thoughts, I am no expert; I’ve just started waxing Nov 2018.
I think it’s probably prudent to replace master links periodically well before end life of a chain anyway. The YBN chains say five uses. I think that probably is a good rule of thumb across the board, though Jonathon never reuses them.
The Connex quick link is reusable for the life of the chain. That’s what I use and thus I make sure I always wax it. Even if I forget to include it, I will wax it on it’s own if I have to.
But for non-reusable or limited reuse links, you’re right.
