Thanks. I have used water based citrus degreaser after the diesel, and blow dried with a hair drier. Now, just finishing 400kms with a quiet chain.
Maybe, next time, I will give a alcohol wash a shot.
Do you suggest just a single wash with iso propyl alcohol after the diesel?
For those cribbing about how slow crock pots are, I got this. I live in India, and crockpots are expensive here, and for some strange reason, my wife did not want me to use our regular crockpot.
Looked for an alternative and this works great. Cheap, and you can control temp between 50-100. Set at 70, it melts the wax in about 10 minutes or so, as it is steel and not ceramic like a crockpot.
Had never heard of it, but seemingly people use it for boiling eggs, and heating milk.
Right on.
I get so much grime on the bike, especially inside forks, under downtube and back of seat tube I pretty much detail my bike after every ride. Plus I hate dirty rubber so tire scrub is a must. It’s maybe a 10 minute process at most, basically similar to this video the EF mechanic put out. My main concern is not stripping the wax by being too aggressive while cleaning.
Disclaimer - this is my first attempt waxing chains, so I’m far from an expert. That said, I’ve got some decent experience with different solvents.
On the molten’s website, they recommend 2 alcohol baths after using mineral spirits, so I’d say at least 2 because diesel is going to leave a lot of residual oil inside all the internal parts (it doesn’t flash off like most solvents). If you have access to something other than diesel, you should really give it a try. Diesel can be used to do a rough clean on really nasty parts, but it’s basically a really thin fuel oil. If you’ve used it before with success, it obviously works, but diesel is going to leave behind a lot more oily residue compared to mineral spirits (or just about any other choice). It’s kind of like using WD40 to clean with. You can get all the grime and grease off, but you are left with an oily part.
I think Molten suggest mineral spirits because it’s cheap and easy to buy and not as dangerous/toxic as some other choices. I am using xylene (similar to toluene) because I had a half gallon leftover from an old project. It’s a great solvent and flashes off completely (no need for alcohol bath), but it’s really nasty stuff. You don’t want it on your skin and you really, really don’t want to breath it.
Quick question. I have a waxed chain on my bike now that probably needs to be relaxed. Has a slight squeak. I have a simulation 70.3 tomorrow and will not have time to break in a new chain in my best to wax and not thoroughly break in period or just clean and used a slightly over used chain
I’d use the freshly waxed chain. There’s probably not much (if any) loss in the break-in, and by 20 minutes in you’ll be buttery smooth. The first 100 miles or so are the best on a freshly waxed chain, IMO!
I just got some ‘surgical spirit’. I presume that is alcohol. Will use it on my next chain.
I would have thought that heating the chain to above 100 C with a hair drier should make all diesel evaporate.
I would have thought heating the chain to 100C would blow off the lighter organic minerals, and leave the heavy, denser and higher temp ones stuck to the chain. Apparently the distallation temperature of Diesel oil is 550F (Not sure what that is on proper numbers) https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/TblDefs
" No. 2 Diesel Fuel: A fuel that has distillation temperatures of 500 degrees Fahrenheit at the 10-percent recovery point and 640 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent recovery point and meets the specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 975. It is used in high-speed diesel engines that are generally operated under uniform speed and load conditions, such as those in railroad locomotives, trucks, and automobiles."
I followed the MSW and fastfrictionfacts advice for a final clean, and simply rinsed in meths (methylated spirits) and blowed dry with a hair dryer. Surgical spirit sounds similar.
Thanks for that. Just washed the current chain in surgical spirit and it’ getting waxed now. Though my first chain which did not undergo this, is silent at 400kms. If I get 500 I will be happy, because thats about 2 weeks of riding for me.
Maybe the diesel residue was acting as a lubricant. Supposedly leaving stuff on the chain stops the wax adhering. Only just started waxing though, and never cleaned with diesel, so no expert. Sounds like you did well getting 400k out of it.
I keep thinking these sound like good mileages, then I realise they are kilometer-ages and they never feel as good. 
How do you guys clean a previously waxed chain?
I tried Smoove lube (liquid wax) on a chain I didn’t clean well enough the first time around. Now I have a dirty wax mess. I’ve tried hot soap and water, boiling water (helped a bit), and scrubbing with citrus degreasing (does hardly anything).
Does mineral spirits strip that wax?
Just heating it in a pan or water bath should melt old wax right? Or, a hair drier?
Not particularly well. If you are in the USA, Naphtha cuts right through wax and is available at Home Depot or the like.
Boiling water got some of the black gunk off but the chain still has a waxy/tacky feel to it. It might be clean enough to re-wax but it’s not spotless.
Thanks for the tip!
I’m trying Smoove round 2. This time I really cleaned the crap out of the chain and got it spotless. I put some Smoove on each link and then let it sit in a plastic bag over night. I installed it yesterday and it’s a pretty nice result. Super quiet and shifts nicely.
I’m still wondering about the cleaning procedure for Smoove. They talk about cleaning with soap and water and citrus degreaser (using a chain cleaning tool) and then reapplying Smoove. That just sounds like a big mess. But maybe since I cleaned it really well that it won’t get so dirty this time around.
I did buy some citrus degreaser at Walmart but it may be weak stuff as it does almost nothing to the dirty Smooved chain.
I’m trying a similar experiment on a new chain. I did the whole series of mineral spirits and denatured alcohol baths as if I were to wax my chain. But instead of waxing I used wax based lube on both sides of the chain before I installed it. I was meticulous about getting inside every roller.
We’ll see if they performs any better. The waxed based lube I’ve always used and prefer:
http://www.whitelightningco.com/products/lubricants/clean-ride
I did make progress cleaning that old chain - soak in citrus degreaser, scrub with a brush, put in boiling water, repeat, repeat. It’s almost squeeky clean now.
This all feels like too much. I was previously using rock and roll gold. Squirt on, wipe off, squirt on wipe off, no removing factory lube, wash bike once in a while with soap/water, squirt rock and roll on/off again, toss chain after 3K miles.
I bought a ultrasonic personally to make it worth it.
Just a tip…i bought a candy thermoter and turned off crock pot right at 200 degrees…and man it was so much smoother this time compared to previous times of just letting it heat for 2 ours or so…i did not think it would really matter
I think I’m a convert. Got the cheap crock pot, candy thermometer, and moltens off amazon. First ride today was about 100 miles of silky smooth pedaling. In process of switching over 2 other road bikes and my xc mtb. I’m doing 4 road chains for rotation and just one extra MTB chain to rotate.
Getting the new chains prepped wasn’t too bad. Waxing was really easy. It was a bit of a pain/mess cleaning cassettes, derailleurs, and chain rings. I just pulled everything apart to get things totally clean. By the way, colorado cyclist has ultegra 11sp chains on sale right now for $28.99, pretty decent price.