Chain Waxing Tutorial

Equipment
1595

MSW Puck

1 Like
1596

I’m going to quote myself on this 2 year old post because someone gave me a thumbs up.

Even though I complained about how hard it was to clean this chain, I’m seeing my chains now last virtually forever with no measurable stretch. I changed that chain after 2 years, 10k miles just because I was worried it was old. It was not measuring anywhere close to .5mm on my Park chain checker.

My new cleaning procedure is:

mineral spirits - shake in a jar multiple times
clean scrub with citrus degreaser
back in the mineral spirits
boil in water bath one time for good measure but maybe not necessary.
final alcohol rinse
Smoove wax lube

To get good flow, I put the chain in a ziplock plastic bag, squeeze out air, put in hot water bath, articulate chain. I’ll let it sit in the bag for days doing the water bath a few times. I’m getting amazing adhesion and flow between the rollers this way with this drip on wax.

I can clean a Smoove chain by scrubbing with citrus degreaser and then relubing. This is the method they suggest and it works well.

2 Likes
1597

Thank you guys once again for the answer.

1598

Well Puck me! I’d never have guessed, coming from the UK.

1 Like
1599

I plan to wax my first chains this weekend. Two last questions.

  1. Can I immerse two chains simultaneously in the wax or should I do one at a time?

  2. Should I trim the chains to length before waxing, or can I do it after? Does doing it after somehow ruin the wax where the tool contacts the links?

1600

  1. Assuming the wax covers both chains, you can do two at a time.

  2. I trimmed mine before. Not sure why it would be better before or after.

1 Like
1601
  1. you can do as many chains as your wax pot and wax level will allow!
  2. break the chain to length FIRST. It’s a waste of wax (minimal of course) to coat the portion of the chain you are going to trim off anyway!
2 Likes
1603

Tried running a sram flattop chain beyond 500km just on drip on lube…no dice. Back in the pot. The whole process, even a few years into waxing, is still so satisfying.

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1604

One final question, and i apologyse once again for all of the questions…

So when it’s time to let the chain dry after waxing it. Does the chain have to be dried up vertically? Or can i let it dry interlaced in the swisher tool like the image below:

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Thank you once again.

1605

I hang mine up like that over the pot.

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1606

There isn’t any harm in either approach. Do whatever is easiest for you to let it drain without contaminating it with debris. Some people like to wipe away excess wax at that point (i’ve found a rubber dishwashing glove pretty good for this, some use a clean micro-fibre) but it isn’t totally necessary. It just helps you have less dried wax on the outer part of the chain where you don’t need it and it will flake off naturally with use.

All that is to say wiping the chain while it’s hot may require you to hang it in a single strand but keeping it clean is the main goal.

2 Likes
1607

For those who are waxing multiple chains at one time for a single bike. What does your waxed chain storage look like? Anything special? Or will a ziplock baggie do just fine?

1608

That’s my strategy. Helps me keep the different bikes and other categorizations split up.

1609

Hang them on a nail on the side of my workbench.

1610

I put them back into their original plastic box (SRAM) or in a sandwich bag (mix brands). I have 12 chains on rotation mostly for my indoor setup (DW wouldn’t let me ride outdoors w/o a fuss and only weekends). They sit in a plastic tub where I keep most of my supplies under my office desk.

1 Like
1611

Nail / 3M hanger on a wall. I have one bike and two chains so there’s nothing to confuse. If I ever get a second bike then I might need to get creative to keep the chains separate. I like @jkc idea of putting them back in the plastic box, but I recycled mine before I thought of it. Would need to clean the packing grease out of it, too, though.=

1612

I think the official ZFC recommendation is to wrap the freshly waxed chains in a cloth and not a bag cause it traps moisture. That being said I have 3 chains in rotation and keep the unused 2 in a bag with extra quick links and pliers

1613

The better question…is what do you guys do with the 4 thousand degree hot chain immediately after it is out of the slow cooker, and dripping molten lava all over the place?

1 Like
1614

Hang it over the pot. I had a few spokes and they hold the chain very well.

1 Like
1615

Thank you very much for the reply.