When the bike is dirty I wash it like normal with some good Tampico brushes and a small amount of Dawn. I don’t wash the chain and do my best to not get soap on it. Some water from hosing down the bike isn’t going to wash off the wax on the chain.
Dirty bikes are faster. The dirt creates a boundary layer that improves aerodynamics, kind of like the dimples on a zipp wheel or golf ball. OK, that’s really just my BS justification for never washing my bike. Drivetrain, brake pads, and brake tracks (or rotors) are the only things on a bike that have any meaningful effect on performance or longevity (suspension on MTB also). I ride 5-6 days a week and maybe clean my bike 4-5 times a year. I do get sick of cleaning my chain each week, so my molten speed wax arrives tomorrow and I’m going to try this waxing thing.
For a dry ride (95% of mine), nothing. If it rains, and the chain is wet at the end, I’ll give it a quick towel wipe and expect to need to rewax it sooner.
I wax based on condition. When the chain feels less smooth, I rewax. Sometimes that’s two weeks, I’ve gone as long as four at roughly 150mi/wk. SoCal conditions are ideal.
I haven’t cleaned the drivetrain in 16 months. It’s touchably clean with a layer of wax over it. Sometimes when there are excess wax flakes around the drivetrain and chain stays, I’ll give it a dry wipe. Other than that, there’s not been any need to clean anything since I first deep cleaned it prior to waxing.
I would say the effort to maintain waxed chains zeroes out with the lack of needing to clean the drivetrain. No more Cat 5 leg tattoos, touchably clean bike, and more watts. Totally worth waxing IMO.
I just prepped my third new chain, took about 20 minutes of my effort, and it’s in the rotation as I retired another chain after about 2500mi.
love not having to worry about getting filthy from the drive train when working on the bikes or moving them around
I helped a friend with some stuff on his bike earlier this week, and my hands were dirty in about 60 secs flat. He is OCD about having a clean bike too! Normal greasy chain would have been way worse
Although I’m not a wash-after-every-ride person, I did notice that my bike stays cleaner longer after switching to wax.
This seems like an appropriate moment to mention to keep an eye on your LBS if you take the bike in. I had my front fork replaced last year and when I got the bike back the mechanic mentioned the chain seemed a little dry so they lubed it for me 
Any 100% alcohol will do (Ethanol, propanol)
e.g. the Isopropyl alcohol
Methylated, denatured, white spirits are normally ethanol with an additive in them to make them undrinkable and avoid paying a liquor tax.
I use diesel, and have 3 cans. Fresh, dirty, and a ‘decanted and filtered’.
I decant and filter the dirty, and use that for initial washes, and pour it to the dirty. Then use the clean and pour it into the dirty. After a couple of days, I decant and filter the dirty into my third can.
BTW, I am new to this, so take all this with a fistful of salt, but it seems to work for me with the least wastage.
I just started it. Really not difficult other than the first clean, and so silent cand clean. I am a convert
Diesel might work ok for initial cleaning, but you’ll need to do alcohol or something else that doesn’t leave a film for your final clean. Diesel is worse than mineral spirits, it leaves a significant oil film and the wax won’t bond properly.
Thanks. I have used water based citrus degreaser after the diesel, and blow dried with a hair drier. Now, just finishing 400kms with a quiet chain.
Maybe, next time, I will give a alcohol wash a shot.
Do you suggest just a single wash with iso propyl alcohol after the diesel?
For those cribbing about how slow crock pots are, I got this. I live in India, and crockpots are expensive here, and for some strange reason, my wife did not want me to use our regular crockpot.
Looked for an alternative and this works great. Cheap, and you can control temp between 50-100. Set at 70, it melts the wax in about 10 minutes or so, as it is steel and not ceramic like a crockpot.
Had never heard of it, but seemingly people use it for boiling eggs, and heating milk.
Right on.
I get so much grime on the bike, especially inside forks, under downtube and back of seat tube I pretty much detail my bike after every ride. Plus I hate dirty rubber so tire scrub is a must. It’s maybe a 10 minute process at most, basically similar to this video the EF mechanic put out. My main concern is not stripping the wax by being too aggressive while cleaning.
Disclaimer - this is my first attempt waxing chains, so I’m far from an expert. That said, I’ve got some decent experience with different solvents.
On the molten’s website, they recommend 2 alcohol baths after using mineral spirits, so I’d say at least 2 because diesel is going to leave a lot of residual oil inside all the internal parts (it doesn’t flash off like most solvents). If you have access to something other than diesel, you should really give it a try. Diesel can be used to do a rough clean on really nasty parts, but it’s basically a really thin fuel oil. If you’ve used it before with success, it obviously works, but diesel is going to leave behind a lot more oily residue compared to mineral spirits (or just about any other choice). It’s kind of like using WD40 to clean with. You can get all the grime and grease off, but you are left with an oily part.
I think Molten suggest mineral spirits because it’s cheap and easy to buy and not as dangerous/toxic as some other choices. I am using xylene (similar to toluene) because I had a half gallon leftover from an old project. It’s a great solvent and flashes off completely (no need for alcohol bath), but it’s really nasty stuff. You don’t want it on your skin and you really, really don’t want to breath it.
Quick question. I have a waxed chain on my bike now that probably needs to be relaxed. Has a slight squeak. I have a simulation 70.3 tomorrow and will not have time to break in a new chain in my best to wax and not thoroughly break in period or just clean and used a slightly over used chain
I’d use the freshly waxed chain. There’s probably not much (if any) loss in the break-in, and by 20 minutes in you’ll be buttery smooth. The first 100 miles or so are the best on a freshly waxed chain, IMO!
I just got some ‘surgical spirit’. I presume that is alcohol. Will use it on my next chain.
I would have thought that heating the chain to above 100 C with a hair drier should make all diesel evaporate.
I would have thought heating the chain to 100C would blow off the lighter organic minerals, and leave the heavy, denser and higher temp ones stuck to the chain. Apparently the distallation temperature of Diesel oil is 550F (Not sure what that is on proper numbers) https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/TblDefs
" No. 2 Diesel Fuel: A fuel that has distillation temperatures of 500 degrees Fahrenheit at the 10-percent recovery point and 640 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent recovery point and meets the specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 975. It is used in high-speed diesel engines that are generally operated under uniform speed and load conditions, such as those in railroad locomotives, trucks, and automobiles."
I followed the MSW and fastfrictionfacts advice for a final clean, and simply rinsed in meths (methylated spirits) and blowed dry with a hair dryer. Surgical spirit sounds similar.
Thanks for that. Just washed the current chain in surgical spirit and it’ getting waxed now. Though my first chain which did not undergo this, is silent at 400kms. If I get 500 I will be happy, because thats about 2 weeks of riding for me.
Maybe the diesel residue was acting as a lubricant. Supposedly leaving stuff on the chain stops the wax adhering. Only just started waxing though, and never cleaned with diesel, so no expert. Sounds like you did well getting 400k out of it.
I keep thinking these sound like good mileages, then I realise they are kilometer-ages and they never feel as good. 