Re waxed my chain yesterday after covering approx 300 dry outdoor miles, the chain was still running smooth and quiet but I re waxed anyway.
To prep the chain before re wax I wiped the chain down with a clean rag, minimal black dirt was left behind, I decided to then put the chain in the oven for 15 mins to melt the remaining wax and gave the chain a good wipe again which removed a bit more black dirt.
Re waxed and away I go again, cant see me ever going back to oil lube on my dry weather bike.
looking to bite the bullet and invest in the system. I only need to get the molten speed wax, mineral spirit, new chain and a croc pot. Have all the other kit including ultrasonic cleaner. Thinking of using the MSW for the first time to baseline before moving to making my own mix.
Wanted to ask how long the treatment can last riding on wet and nasty UK roads?
Also, is there any post wet-road-ride care needed or do i just get in, rack bike and go about my day?
Apologies if covered above but didn’t catch accurately when skimming through the forum post.
Thanks in advance
I cleaned and waxed the kids bike chains over the weekend, should stop them getting oil on themselves, the amount they use their bikes I should only have to re wax once per year if that.
I’m doing the same thing and had the same thoughts about UK conditions. I’ve got the Silca in a bag and Silca secret sauce lube as a top up. I think I read that you can use the lube to top up between waxes to reduce the number of proper waxes you do. Made sense to me. But yes, how to take care after a typically spring like ride in the UK (even summer when it rains…).
I did see this article How to wax a chain: an endless FAQ - CyclingTips which covered the issue of wax in wet climates. However, I do tend to think that UK spring/summer should be fine as when its proper wet I’ll likely be on the turbo anyway. UK winter and I’ll use standard wet lube, and a different bike. Thoughts?
I’m doing the Silca Super Secret jar treatment but have some questions on prep to make sure I’m doing this right. It’s a 600mi Dura Ace chain maybe 150 outdoor miles the rest trainer. Originally run for about 7 hours on factory lube then topped off with rock n roll gold every 7 hours
Chain pre-clean, I dry wipe after every indoor and outdoor ride always to get anything that came out of the rollers, off, so it stays fairly decent
Got the chain off after my ride today, only two rounds of Turps did the trick, third one after shaking vigorously was clear. One round in denatured alcohol had the fluid totally clear as well. Chain is air drying now after being wiped down, should I give it one more bath in the alcohol?
Rode in some rain yesterday and when I looked at my chain this morning had some light rust on it. It was getting due for a re wax.
Anything special I need to do before waxing again?
I’d ride it one more time, if it’s dry, to rub off the light rust so the wax goes on good steel. Unless it’s gotten squeaky, then just wax it. I wouldn’t expect that waxing to last as long as normal.
-Tim
Quick questions here… Ive got a 5 hour gravel race coming up this weekend and it looks like it could be rainy. In my experience, wax doesnt hold up in wet weather… at all. Ive got 3 waxed chains and Im thinking strip one and put some more traditional lube on it for the race then decrease things after the race. Thoughts?
Also, how to strip the wax off? Or even to strip it off at all? Just put the lube on over/with it?
Boiling the chain in hot water will melt the wax off and give you a clean chain. Could give it a soak in alcohol to be sure but probably just boiling it is fine
There’s your answer. Adam (ZFC) covers this somewhere on his website.
I have been putting my used waxed chains in the oven, heat to 200 degrees, then remove and give chain a good wipe down. A lot of the dirty wax will run out of the links before you give it a wipe down.
I was not keen on boiling in water as I would then have to make sure the chain is totally dry before re waxing.
Why? It just boils out of the chain when it’s in the wax. Alcohol boils faster though.
Could also boil in water to ensure washing out of all wax and then bake to dry
I was just worried the water would contaminate the wax. The boil and bake option seems a good idea so will try that next time.
How many miles are you guys getting between re waxes and how do you know when it’s time?
I get 150miles
When it starts to get loud I start the process over
Next waxing is with silica stuff been using speed wax. Also will clean with chemical and bake prior to waxing to see if I can go 200 miles between waxes
That’s surprisingly short I thought I recalled something like 300-400 miles. Still I’m good reapplying every 150-200 that’s a summer week for me. Loud is hard to agree on I guess, cause the super secret I use is initially quiet, like eerily silent, but then picks up some noise after 100 or so. I thought it was loud till I rode next to someone on a group ride who’s sounded like pennies in a blender
If you listen to the Marginal Gains Podcast, Josh from Silca does some great deep dives into the waxing process (I’m talking mega-nerdy, detailed dives). One of his repeated cautions: don’t use Simple Green, and certainly don’t soak in Simple Green. Apparently it encourages something referred to as hydrogen embrittlement of the chain. This is well-known in aerospace circles, hence why Simple Green makes specific aerospace rated products that don’t have this issue. He advocates citrus degreasers followed by a denatured alcohol bath, with no real extended soaking. Instead, swishing for only a few minutes at a time in a series of Gatorade bottles. There is a YouTube video on his process on the Silca Velo channel.
The upshot: I think the Simple Green had more than enough time to embrittle your chain and compromise its integrity.
I don’t think I’ll be getting 300-400.
I added drip wax after my initial MTB ride on a newly waxed SRAM chain.
After one initial ride on my gravel bike, the wax seems to do a better job with the Shimano chain.
I think it’s due to the Shimano chain having less tight tolerances than SRAM allowing the wax to penetrate more.
I’m not super concerned about duration between waxes. As I can always apply drip wax and extend that duration.
The reason I switched to waxed chains was primarily for longevity in a single event. I want to be able to ride 50+ miles on MTB and 100+ miles on gravel in dry dusty conditions and not have to worry about chain gunk and relubing.
It’s also so much nicer to have a clean chain and not have black oily marks getting on everything that touches the drivetrain.
