- One way to reduce flaking is to wipe down the chain with an old rag as soon as you remove it from the pot. I bought an inexpensive pair of rubber faced gloves at Home Depot so I can hold onto the chain while it is still hot. I’ve found this greatly reduces the amount of flaking.
- Don’t know if the effort is more overall since I have 4 chains for my road & mtn bikes and rotate through them before rewaxing. But even if it is, it’s well worth it to me to have a clean drivetrain that never makes a mess.
- I live in the desert where it seldom rains and find it works great on my mtn bike in dry, dusty conditions. The wax doesn’t attract the dust particles like an oiled chain does.
- Using Garmin Connect to track mileage and swap chains at 300 miles for the road & 150 miles mtn.
- I tried Squirt and didn’t like it at all so I just swap chains when it gets close to my mileage limit.
- I’ll never return to conventional lubes.
@Chris47 You got most of them. Also add less resistance, ie save a few watts (so they say).
As far as work . . . mmm, I just switched over 2 chains and I feel like it was costly. I am going to have to increase my choices and efficiency of the chemicals I am using to degrease. It was a lot of work and cost. Maybe I will feel better when I am merely re-waxing chains rather than degreasing the originals.
There will be some bikes I bet I keep just plain lube - likely my bike on the trainer.
This, but don’t use an old rag. Use a new rag or paper towel (a single paper towel lasts many a many thousand km of chain usage). You dont really want to introduce your contaminated cloth on your fresh clean chain.
Occasionally I’ll put it in boiling water but not often. Doing it too much is actually a bad thing (something about the minerals in the water and eventually the wax doesnt adhere as well, friction facts said its killing it with kindness). Training chains and training wax I just put it straight in the wax pot, no touching, yet to figure out a system for race chains.
Wax chains also don’t really worsen over a ride, which lubed chains do as they attract grit and the lube runs out or whatever happens 
. Also that grit never fully comes out of the chain when you degrease it, so your dirty lubed chain never gets back to perfect like when you rewax.
I have recently made the switch to waxing. I also recently got a new bike (yay) and was stripping the new chain as normal. The new chain is a KMC and I happened to read on zero friction that KMC’s coating may be particularly problematic for wax adhesion (here they say that they do not recommend waxing kmcs at all and here they say you will need to wax more frequently at first.)
Anyone have any experience with waxing KMC chains? I have plenty of regular lube one hand, should I just use that for the life of this chain?
I’ve waxed kmc in the past before reading that on zfc, it works OK but did seem to not last very well. Whether to just use another lube, use a good amount of white spirit cleaning the chain or just buy another couple of chains and start fresh is up to you,… Knowing how much white spirit/effort it takes a clean a used/wet lubed chain I’d probably not go down that route, and knowing how much extra wear I was putting the drive train through I’d probably not do that - so it’d be the latter for me!
I’ve been waxing KMC X11SL (sliver, not DLC or gold) almost exclusively for about 6-7 years now. I always start with a new chain. I tried cleaning a used one and it was waaaaaaaay more trouble, never really got clean enough for wax, and I gave up.
I’ve never had issues with longevity, or with the initial waxing not adhering properly. Occasionally I get one that lasts a little less than normal, but I figure it’s because I don’t tightly control the wax temp, and sometimes it’s on the hot side when I pull the chains out, so a bit more wax drips from the chain.
-Tim
2 Likes
This is the interval I run on my road bike in dry conditions. I set my limit to 250 miles but if I end up going over a little it doesn’t seem it matter.
1 Like
What did you end up using, any luck with reusing the links? That’s what I always did with kmc 11 speed without issue but had trouble with kmc 12 speed gold which kept snapping open
Honestly - nothing! Its still oiled the ol’ fashioned way! 
Everything else is still waxed but I heard so many people talking about issuues with 12spd that I didnt bother.
1 Like
I’ve just stripped 2 flat top chains. Unfortunately I already closed them when putting them in solvent hopefully I can still reuse them. I’ll wax them and just use Squirt, not as clean as wax but still pretty clean
1 Like
I actually bought a bottle of Squirt primarily to use as a top-up for my other chains when I couldnt re-wax them properly. I guess I could try it for the AXS as well? I’e actually found it runs amazingly smoothly just on a wet lube and as its a dry day bike its not been an issue yet.
Let us know how it goes.
1 Like
Sorry this if this has been answered but this is a huge thread! Would a 2 QT slow cooker work or is it preferable to have something bigger?
Crock-Pot 2-QT Round Manual Slow Cooker, Black (SCR200-B) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P2LEE0/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_YTWDGVNHYPFFKHYB5DK1
Also, I found a 4 QT at Walmart for $20. I know people sometimes pick these up for almost nothing at yards sales…just checking out my options.
Thanks all!!
I put three chains at a time in a 2qt with no issues.
2 Likes
2 qt is perfect
2 Likes
Changed my first waxed chain after 275 miles and popped second chain on after a few minutes of cleaning cassette/derailleurs/cranks. I am officially a convert.
- Cleaning is faster/easier vs. lubing and gets REALLY clean (bc the drivetrain stays really clean)
- Drivetrain is super smooth and silent
- I can see the components lasting way longer, since the cassette still looks brand new
1 Like
yeah, tbh a 2 QT is probably better than a larger one because you’ll have a deeper pool of melted wax when it all heats up, so it’s easier to make every your chain is completely submerged.
2 Likes
yeah for sure, in hindsight I probably should’ve gotten a pre-prepped chain from silca or whoever else just so i didn’t have to mess with mineral spirits and denatured alcohol and the responsible disposal of them, but after that initial bit of cleaning it’s been super easy to keep everything waxed up.
i also got a bottle of silca’s super secret chain lube, so i can extend the time between actually removing the chain and submerging it into the melted wax by just dripping that stuff on to top off the lube, and that’s been working really well. I’d suggest doing that for a lot of people so you’re not tearing through quick links nearly as often
2 Likes
I added one of these in between the crock pot and power supply. Keeps the wax between 155f and 165f.
2 Likes
I bought a bottle as well. But haven’t yet opened it. The two chain method and using a 5x Use YBN quick link has been super easy. I also split time between my road and gravel bikes, so 300 miles on the road bike lasts 3-5 weeks. I am going to convert my gravel bike to wax as well.
2 Likes
Blockquote
I just started waxing and coming-up on first time re-applying new wax to an already waxed chain. Do I wipe it down with a cleaner? And then just drop it in the wax to re-do? The Silca lubed chanin can go into the crockpot? Wouldn’t that foul the new wax simmering?
Second, the chain link cost is going to get out-of-hand. SRAM and Shimano should be selling these at cost to do what they can for safety in order to help people not want to re-use quick links.