Quick question for those who have lots of experience using the Silca waxing system.
I’ve moved over to using a waxed chain (which I bought from a buddy) and have had success and also seen benefit (quieter / less ‘mess’ etc.). I’ve been using the Silca drip wax to ‘top up’ the chain at regular intervals after wiping down and that’s also been easy and worked well.
I’ve now jumped in at the deep end and bought the Silca kit and have waxed 3 chains so far.
1 - new Shimano 105 I had already, using the strip chip method
2 - new Shimano Ultegra I bought recently, using the chain stripper method.
Ultegra will be my replacement for the current chain and 105 will be my prepped ‘spare’.
I then removed my existing waxed chain and throughly cleaned it (boiling water to remove the wax as best as possible, followed by scrubbing a bit with warm water and then I used the chain stripper to try and remove some of the residual grime etc.)
Once rinsed I elected to wax using the strip chip method on the basis it seemed sensible to go belt and braces with re-waxing an old chain.
My question is …
I recall somewhere it says the one pot of wax can be used for up to 8 chains maximum? (Is this correct?) I also recall from one of the videos on the Silca YouTube website that you shouldn’t use too many strip chips in one pot of wax.
So with three chains waxed already, two of which were done by strip chip, how many more times can I sensibly / realistically use the same pot of wax if I want to use the strip chip method again each time (it’s so very easy and convenient)
I’m assuming can do another 4 or 5 using the chain stripper method?
No - not for the new ones out the box. Just followed the Silca guides for either strip chip or chain stripper.
Yes - for the old one - boiling water from the kettle to remove the old wax and the majority of the other gunk for the old used one, before using the chain stripper.
Cautious me says remove the old wax and inevitable build up of (some) grime using boiling water and then clean, rinse and then use chain stripper just to remove any oils that may have attached from the road, before rinsing again and waxing.
Less cautious me would just remove the old wax using boiling water, dry with a cloth and then re-wax.
I’ll leave it to more experienced users to advise on what’s most prudent to ensure the best outcome
I don’t use strip chips, I prefer to strip chains with mineral spirits before waxing. For used chains, I just wipe them down with a rag before removing from the bike and then just rewax them. Probably not the perfect approach, but easy and repeatable. When the wax gets dirty, I change the wax. But I can do a ton of chains on a single bag of wax.
Thanks. I have been using the silca stripper product in a bottle after boiling. While the outcome makes me think the second step is prudent it is another step that I contemplate forgoing. Just dunking in the cooker would be much nicer.
There is something I don’t understand about waxing I’m hoping someone can clarify. It seems like the inside of the pins/rollers get waxed where as on all of the other surfaces of the chain, the wax just flakes off. Doesn’t this expose the bare chain metal to the cogs directly? Where as oil I felt like it was coated on everything.
This is going to depend on the condition of the chain. Josh from Silca has a good Youtube video about it. I ride in dry and dusty (especially lately!) CO so usually just wipe and dunk in wax.
do you ride singletrack w/ waxed chains? Have converted road and gravel bikes to wax but I’ve been unable to keep waxed chains running smooth riding dusty singletrack. Riding in/around SLC and Park City.
Yeah, no doubt the chain stays cleaner. But when I run a freshly waxed chain on dusty singletrack, it is grinding loudly within two hours. After this weekend I lubed with SCC tech as I have the past two summers after giving it a go with a waxed MTB chain. I get a pretty quiet chain with that but I have to clean the bike pretty hard between rides as it is nasty stuff esp when the conditions are dirty. I know I’m in the minority and plenty of people have success. Wish I could figure out what I was doing wrong.
I did a 15ish hour mtb ride on a freshly waxed chain this spring. Lots of wet. Chirped a bit over last hour or two but worked fine. I used to get a year out of drive train on mtb before got super stretched, since moving to wax, 3 years and no chain stretch. Shocked.
Thanks. Yeah honestly I feel like I’ve had better luck in wet conditions with waxed chains than on dusty singletrack. idk. But I live in Utah so even if my chains get wet they dry out if the bike goes inside.
