I just tried stripping the chain using mineral spirits (see pic of brand used). I rinsed and cleaned the chains using the process outlined by Jonathan. Unfortunately, the mineral spirits are not clear so I cannot tell when the chain is stripped of the OEM oil. How can I tell the chains are free of OEM oil?
Thanks
@redlude97, thanks for your response. The mineral spirits are milky in color and did not change too much. I rinsed in alcohol afterwards and that definitely removed what was remaining of the OEM’s coating.
Usually when you run the chain through a rag/towel it will remain looking clean when the chain is clean. If the chain is still dirty you will usually get some kind of greasy mess on the rag.
zerofriction recommends a couple rounds of turpentine to clean off the factory grease
spirits is used afterwards to remove any film from the turpentine
Thanks for all the answers. Used mineral spirits and finished off with denatured alcohol. After whipping down with the towel it was completely dry.
For anyone who needs the geographical translation:
Turpentine (turps) is white/mineral spirits.
Methylated sprits (meths) is denatured alcohol.
Mineral spirits ant turpentine are not the same thing. Mineral spin are petroleum derived, while turpentine is processed pine sap.
-Tim
Bit confusing, but he means white spirit (mineral turps (AU), as mentioned in the linked wikipedia for White spirit.
From ZFC chain prep guide:
Q) What should I use?
A) In Australia - Mineral turps and methylated spirits – cheap, clean, very
low toxicity, no hydrogen embrittlement.
In a related side note, I was impressed how effective White spirit was at stripping factory grease off a new chain even with relatively little shaking about.
I’m on the fence about whether or not to take the plunge. Read through nearly all of this topic, but still have some questions.
Thanks!
Jump in, I can’t see myself going back
You nailed most of everything, a clean drive train is also faster (I can’t remember the specific watts but wax is also known to be fast with less friction compared to many oils, you can google that pretty easily)
Waxing is fast (fast chain/ not the waxing process), clean, and easy. Buy a used crock pot from a thrift store and some wax. Gulf wax (canning wax) is cheap and works well.
@Chris47 You got most of them. Also add less resistance, ie save a few watts (so they say).
As far as work . . . mmm, I just switched over 2 chains and I feel like it was costly. I am going to have to increase my choices and efficiency of the chemicals I am using to degrease. It was a lot of work and cost. Maybe I will feel better when I am merely re-waxing chains rather than degreasing the originals.
There will be some bikes I bet I keep just plain lube - likely my bike on the trainer.
This, but don’t use an old rag. Use a new rag or paper towel (a single paper towel lasts many a many thousand km of chain usage). You dont really want to introduce your contaminated cloth on your fresh clean chain.
Occasionally I’ll put it in boiling water but not often. Doing it too much is actually a bad thing (something about the minerals in the water and eventually the wax doesnt adhere as well, friction facts said its killing it with kindness). Training chains and training wax I just put it straight in the wax pot, no touching, yet to figure out a system for race chains.
Wax chains also don’t really worsen over a ride, which lubed chains do as they attract grit and the lube runs out or whatever happens 
. Also that grit never fully comes out of the chain when you degrease it, so your dirty lubed chain never gets back to perfect like when you rewax.
I have recently made the switch to waxing. I also recently got a new bike (yay) and was stripping the new chain as normal. The new chain is a KMC and I happened to read on zero friction that KMC’s coating may be particularly problematic for wax adhesion (here they say that they do not recommend waxing kmcs at all and here they say you will need to wax more frequently at first.)
Anyone have any experience with waxing KMC chains? I have plenty of regular lube one hand, should I just use that for the life of this chain?
I’ve waxed kmc in the past before reading that on zfc, it works OK but did seem to not last very well. Whether to just use another lube, use a good amount of white spirit cleaning the chain or just buy another couple of chains and start fresh is up to you,… Knowing how much white spirit/effort it takes a clean a used/wet lubed chain I’d probably not go down that route, and knowing how much extra wear I was putting the drive train through I’d probably not do that - so it’d be the latter for me!
I’ve been waxing KMC X11SL (sliver, not DLC or gold) almost exclusively for about 6-7 years now. I always start with a new chain. I tried cleaning a used one and it was waaaaaaaay more trouble, never really got clean enough for wax, and I gave up.
I’ve never had issues with longevity, or with the initial waxing not adhering properly. Occasionally I get one that lasts a little less than normal, but I figure it’s because I don’t tightly control the wax temp, and sometimes it’s on the hot side when I pull the chains out, so a bit more wax drips from the chain.
-Tim
This is the interval I run on my road bike in dry conditions. I set my limit to 250 miles but if I end up going over a little it doesn’t seem it matter.
What did you end up using, any luck with reusing the links? That’s what I always did with kmc 11 speed without issue but had trouble with kmc 12 speed gold which kept snapping open
Honestly - nothing! Its still oiled the ol’ fashioned way! 
Everything else is still waxed but I heard so many people talking about issuues with 12spd that I didnt bother.
I’ve just stripped 2 flat top chains. Unfortunately I already closed them when putting them in solvent hopefully I can still reuse them. I’ll wax them and just use Squirt, not as clean as wax but still pretty clean