The idea of waxing my chains sounds really appealing, especially since I absolutely hate how dirty my chains get no matter how thorough, or often I clean them.
But I’ve heard that chains should be waxed often… like every 100 miles, which seems like a lot of work for not a lot of riding.
Is this true, assuming dry, clean riding conditions?
I just waxed a chain on my road bike for the first time, on the weekend. The instructions were to top up using drip on wax after 150-200mi. Full immersion, if needed, doesn’t seem like it would be too difficult as you don’t need to fully degrease, just heat the wax and drop the chain in. Went for a quick 30 min ride and the drivetrain was super quiet, smooth shifting. So liking it so far.
I wax in a slow cooker (Molten Speedwax) every ~1000 miles, and every ~200 miles with Squirt lube. I actually started with just squirt and it was fine, and lower maintenance than wet/dry lube – I would spend so much time cleaning/degreasing my chain, now it’s so easy.
Also, now with Silcas chain prepper stuff it’s a no-brainer because new chains are so easy now too. Although with the high adoption of wax recently I wouldn’t be surprised if more major manufacturers offered pre waxed chains
I wax in a slow cooker (Molten Speedwax) every ~1000 miles
Holy smokes, does it last that long?? Are you riding in only dry conditions or is this pretty typical?
I use mucoff dry lube and wipe the chain and relube basically after every ride. It takes 30 seconds. If i ride through wet stuff or after 150km I will spin the chain in chain cleaner with warm water and soap dish, wait for it to dry and relube. I tried using heavier lubes, but I don’t like how hard is it to get them off to clean the chain thoroughly even if they usually last longer. Haven’t tried hot waxing, but on enduro it does not make sense and on gravel I like to get lost and ride through crap all the time, so I think it would piss me off to redo it every 400 km. ;]
