Life of a waxed chain

[jpritchet74]

Originally Posted by Dave

I apply my wax in liquid form, dissolved in naptha, with .5% gear lube for added wear protection.

Chains still need to be cleaned occasionally, to get the longest life. No lube prevents grit from getting into the chain. If you never clean a chain, it won't last as long.

Dipping a chain into hot wax is not going to clean a chain like a good solvent bath will.

This. I shake the chains in a mason jar full of mineral spirits to clean them before putting them into the wax every time.

[eddief]

same guys mentioned above use this method. i do something similar.

https://moltenspeedwax.com/pages/clean-your-chain

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

I know wax is good for rust prevention. I wonder if it provides the same protection against wear as dedicated chain lubes.

I doubt it. That's why I add oil with extreme pressure additives. Can't hurt.

[JStonebarger]

Originally Posted by Dave

I doubt it. That's why I add oil with extreme pressure additives. Can't hurt.

Sure it could (hurt). I just use straight parrafin, but the folks at MSW and others have suggested that wax sticks best to clean dry metal without any added oil. I haven't experimented with it myself, but figure if adding oil worked well MSW would have done it by now.

[Ken Robb]

What is MSW?

[Ken Robb]

Does wax on a chain get stiff enough in cold weather to have a noticeable effect on power transfer or shift quality?

[JStonebarger]

Sorry -- Molten Speed Wax. A great resource whether or not you buy a bag.

[Dave]

https://moltenspeedwax.com/

MSW is primarily interested in low friction, not chain life. A lot of hot paraffin users add paraffin oil to their wax, in relatively high quantities and still report good results. I think it's smarter to add a much smaller percentage of oil with EP additives to enhance chain life.

My experience so far is a small percentage of oil produces good chain life, but I also apply at 100-150 mile intervals. Using a chain until is squeaks means you waited too long.

I don't ride in extreme cold, but I do ride in the winter and had no problem with wax lube. Truth be known, most of it falls off quickly. There is no way that wax will remain adhered to the high pressure contacts points within a chain, for even a single ride.

I won't have any chain life report until late next year. I've been using the wax lube since last July, but switched both of my bikes over to 12 speed this July and I'm alternating the use of 4 chains on two bikes.

[weaponsgrade]

It doesn't get to freezing temps here in the SF Bay Area. I was out the other day with temps in the 40s and shifting was fine. I haven't messed with adding any oil to the wax and probably won't. I haven't noticed any rusting on the chain. I did the whole mineral spirits/alcohol wash thing with the new chains. It was a pain. MSW says that you can just throw in a previously waxed chain ridden in dry conditions straight into the pot. I swished mine around in some hot water, dried it off, and then threw it in. Though I do agree that another mineral spirits wash would've been better.

[JStonebarger]

Originally Posted by Dave

https://moltenspeedwax.com/

MSW is primarily interested in low friction, not chain life...

Performance (low friction) is my primary focus as well. If I worried about chain life I would probably ride 8 speed. That said, everything I've seen on the MSW site and elsewhere seems to show that waxing chains extends the life of the entire drive train.

Originally Posted by Dave

https://moltenspeedwax.com/
There is no way that wax will remain adhered to the high pressure contacts points within a chain, for even a single ride.

I'm confused -- why do you use it? Does the wax keep working after it's gone?

[muz]

Originally Posted by Dave

[url]

My experience so far is a small percentage of oil produces good chain life, but I also apply at 100-150 mile intervals. Using a chain until is squeaks means you waited too long.

I put about 125 miles a week on my commuter, and I am definitely not dealing with waxing a chain every weekend. Currently I use NFS, re-applied maybe once a month.

[Dave]

Hot dipping puts most of the wax where it's not needed - on the inner and outer plates. The wear areas are all around and inside the roller. Chain elongation occurs due to wear between the pins and the inner plates. The hole in the roller is also an area of greatest wear.

MSW only claims 16 applications for 16 ounces of paraffin. Paraffin dissolved in solvent only requires 1/2 ounce of paraffin for at least 16 applcations, but I would apply it more frequently. 1 ounce of paraffin mixed with 6 ounces of solvent will easily deliver 32 applications.

The MSW friction tests are amusing. They expect users to get excited about 1-1.5 watt? They should include a clean and totally dry chain in the tests.

[robertbb]

I started waxing my chains about 2 months ago.

I looked into MSW, and also into buying the additives (PTFE and Molybdenum) to add to plain paraffin wax. I found a local industrial wax-maker that can sell me pharmacy grade paraffin wax in pellets for AU$12 a kg, which is penuts really.

In the end I decided against the additives because they strike me as being unnecessary, expensive and possible toxic (especially when heated and breathed in). The zero friction cycling testing found the additives only saved 0.14 of a watt when compared with plain paraffin....

I have four Campy Record chains on rotation, and each chain lasts about a week of cycling. I'm happy to fire up the slow cooker and dip the chains once a month. Easy to add and remove the chains with a quick link.

They don't repel dirt as well as I expected, and there are flakes of wax around the drivetrain area of the bike but this wipes off easily and it beats a traditional lube that just gets mucky.

[Dave]

Using solvent dissolved wax, there will be far less wax to flake off. A week of riding for me is only about 130 miles, but instead of removing a chain, all I do is apply more lube, that only takes a couple of minutes. Every 3-4 weeks, I'll take the chain off to clean it, and put a different chain in my rotation on the bike.

[fmradio516]

Dang i thought wax lasted longer than that. I definitely dont put in the weekly miles you guys do but it seems like ill need to swap a chain every 2-3 weeks, im guessing.

Wish i never went and bought the wax and mini crockpot