Thank You . Adaptation one more time one one more thing. I did a Petit today. I’m thinking I gonna like this waxing.
This is my third session waxing my chain. I’ve looked at various recipe and continue to refine my own. My current mix has 80% paraffin wax and 20% Paraffin oil. I am not sure if it’s scientific, but I like how It doesn’t crust on the chain as much. I included a heavy cleaning and took out the cassette and gave it a deep cleaning. I had to clean a few parts that had accumulated wax build up.
We’ll see how it feels when I take it for a ride.
I’ve slowly figuring out more intermediate maintenance work like removing the cassette and chain to clean In more detail.
These threads have now got me curious about adding Teflon. Not because it will necessarily make any speed difference, but just to nerd out.
I’m working on waxing my chain again and this got me wondering, does it make sense to have a dedicated chain for indoor / trainer riding and then one for outdoors? I know people have 3-4 chains in rotation, but wondered if the indoor only chain would last longer than an outdoor chain? Third wax for me, so no real data to rely on so wanted to see what others had found.
Thanks
Chris
Doesn’t make sense to me because while 10- and 11-speed quick links are reusable, they aren’t reusable infinitely. I get about five uses out of my KMC 10speed links before they get to be “too easy” to connect which is when I replace them. 11 speed links seem about the same for those that are reusable.
I can’t think of a good reason why I’d want to change chains multiple times per week, especially considering you’d plow through master links faster and that can get pricey.
I have four chains, but just two 10-spd and two 11-spd. I just have a ready spare for each of my setups all the time. Don’t know why I would put more than that into rotation for a single bike.
Yeah, I’d lean to “no.” I don’t think an indoor chain would last extra long, because the things that cause it to wear (running the chain) are unchanged indoor vs. outdoor. Depending on your trainer set up, it might actually wear faster per hour of riding indoors (if you have consistently higher RPM). But the dirt-shedding of wax means that you’re not substantially making things worse when you take your bike outside, so there’s no good reason to swap it out.
It is an interesting point - I have an old bike as a dedicated trainer bike - I maybe wax the chain every 3-4 months with heavy use. The chain is still working perfectly - doesn’t make any noise. Since there is no road contaminates (except my soul pouring out me) that it lasts much longer between waxings.
I only get a couple hundred miles (depending upon weather) on the outside road bike before it needs a rewaxing.
I use Connex 10 quick links (2)- and they are likely 8 years old and I have no need to replace them. I also have the Shimano 11 master link that comes with the chain and it is working well for the last 6 months. I will replace it when I replace the chain with the new master link in about 6 months. YMMV
Thanks folks for the feedback. For me, I’m 75% indoors / 25% outdoors and seems like every time I go outdoors for a ride, it’s just rained. So, was curious if I’d see additional time on the indoor chain since it would have better “weather”, though the rides themselves are totally different and didn’t think of the stress on the chain in that way so might even out. As for links, guess I’ve been lucky and haven’t broken any / replaced any - maybe that’s a sad commentary on the power I’m putting out these days, but another thing to consider.
-Chris
I have 4 chains for a single bike so I can do all 4 in a batch when it comes time to re-wax. Personally, I prefer to just grab a fresh chain to swap out rather than having to re-wax every other chain swap. Cuts the times I have to setup the crockpot and wax the chains in half over having two chains.
Did your chain link brake before or are you just careful? I understand Jonathan’s view as it might be not pretty when it happens but I have more than 10 thousand kms on my two chains while waxing (and changing) the chains every 3-400 kms. That’s about 30 uses for each chain link and I haven’t noticed any problem so far. But my max power is laughable 
Never broken one, but also don’t want to find out what it’s like when it happens either. I’ll re-use just about any link provided it still resists closing when I’m reattaching. When I can do it by hand, to me that’s an indication of wear and/or stretch and I swap in a new one. I could probably run it longer, but I don’t think it’s worth the risk to save a couple bucks. YMMV.
Ok. I am probably not able to close it by hands yet. But that might be my hands (similar problem to max power output 
)
Like @MikeMckinney above I avoid the doubt with this and use the Connex Quick links. Really easy once you get used to them and also means I can get the chain off in 10 seconds when the bike deep clean. I accept you can clean round it, but makes it a lot easier in my opinion.
As aside, I am using Smoove and having a good time with it. I live in the north of Scotland and I’m never really guaranteed a dry ride or a clean one with farm and forestry traffic, so I didn’t really want to go the whole hog of chain waxing and a chain only lasting one ride. I did the Oz Cycle three stage deep clean and when I need to clean it I use boiling water and a wipe to remove any stubborn bits. I’ve found how you apply the Smoove is key - it’s really easy to apply too much, so I put a small drop on every link starting from the Connex chain link whilst running the chain backwards. Worth a go for those in damp climates.
I haven’t tried the Connex links. Anecdotally, they don’t seem any better than other reusable links in that I’ve read others who’ve dropped, lost, or broken the link… and others who get 10k miles on one. So, hit or miss. In the end, as long as everyone is safe, there are plenty of good, safely reusable options. I think it prudent to swap any of them periodically given how critical it could be.
Kurt, virtually every source on chain waxing recommends the Connex links because they can be reused over and over, until they become worn themselves. I’ve been waxing for over three years now and wouldnt go back to traditional lubes.
Thanks! I’ve been using (and reusing) the KMC links for my waxing lifetime (going on two years). Once I burn through my current stock of those, I may try the Connex.
Has anyone had success using an ultrasonic to clean factory grease off a new chain?
Yes - but I cheat and have my LBS do it for me when I get new chains 
The above works really well: I get a new chain, cleaned completely of factor grease, and cut to the right size. The one upgrade I’m thinking of asking my LBS to offer is to pre-wax the chain using its ultrasonic cleaner, to really get the wax into all the nooks and crannies of the chain.
Never used ultrasonic cleaner, but I’ve followed the Zen master guide for six new factory chains and most are degreased after three soaks in mineral spirits.
Hello readers of this thread.
After much waiting and anticipation I thought I would share my experience as I have waxed my first 2 chains for 2 different bikes.
I first started by cleaning and waxing 2 brand new chains.
As I didn’t want to break the current chains on my bikes I just cleaned the entire new chains and didn’t cut them to size first.
I do not have an ultrasonic cleaner (and am trying to avoid buying one as I don’t think I will use it very often). So to clean the chains I submerged them separately in mineral spirits (MS). Shook them each for a while, and let them sit for a while (maybe an hour). I then drained off the mineral spirits through a coffee filter to reuse. I was surprised how the MS didn’t get very dirty. It got very slightly dirty but not much. I am not sure if my assumption is correct or not but the coffee filter seemed to get clogged as I drained the MS through it (although it was not visibly clogged). I wonder if this is because grease, not really visible, clogged the filter?
I did this only a total of 3 times as it was clear after than, and did drain through the coffee filter better as well.
I was prepared for 6-8 MS baths as that is what is says in this thread at the beginning.
I am in Canada and I cannot find denatured alcohol or methylated spirits so I used 99% isopropyl alcohol and did 2 baths per chain. I also recycled this as I may use it for the first bath of subsequent chain cleanings.
I then proceeded to wax the chains in 100% paraffin wax (came in small bricks) from Canadian tire. I just ordered some ptfe powder and will add this to my crockpot once I get it. Let chains cool, then broke up the links.
I then moved to cleaning the bike. I broke the chains on the bike and put them aside for now. 1 is garbage and the other I still have to clean.
I cleaned the cassette on the bike with simple green. I then removed the cassette and cleaned it further with simple green. I removed the jockey wheels and wiped the outer surfaces down first with simple green and then isopropyl alcohol (not relevant but I think I may need new jockey wheels) I then reassembled the rear derallieur putting the jockey wheels back in (there was some nasty caked on grease and hair on the inner surfaces of the metal frame which sandwiches the jockey wheels, yuck).
I then cleaned the chain rings with scrub brush and simple green and cleaned the inner surfaces of the front derailleur that touch/rub against the chain to move it.
I then proceeded to install the new chain, after cutting it to the right length. A little tricky and didn’t feed it through the rear derailleur correctly first, but got it eventually.
The chain didn’t seem to fit correctly initially around the jockey wheels and I thought I mixed up which was the upper and which is the lower. However, after wiggling the derailleur around a bit manually it seemed to fit OK (a little unnerving at first).
I have since done 2 trainer rides and all seems OK. I can’t say it is any louder or quieter yet.
I hope to finish off my second bike this week without any surprises.
Looking forward to less/no guck and grease and being afraid to touch my chain.
Has anyone over heated there speed wax? I left the wax in the crock pot for like 18 hours with it on then waxed my chains. seems to be a tad louder then normal