I have my 10 speed drivetrains (trainer bike and old cross bike) waxed but have yet to take the plunge with my 12 speed (AXS) drivetrain. The main concern with the AXS is re-using the masterlink and whether that is a good idea or not. The manufacturer says single use only but I know people re-use. New ones are only a couple of bucks so in one sense it doesn’t matter a whole lot even if I did use a new masterlink everytime – but it just feels wasteful to me (for some not-wholly logical reason). At any rate, holding off until that time when I don’t feel like I need to worry about it
I don’t care about reusing links (or really anything) for my trainer bike. Equipment issues there just mean more time in the garage
I can definitely strongly endorse Molten Speedwax. It has worked great and their tutorials and support are fantastic (they actually called me when I had a question). I received a chain I ordered from them in the same week, with a handwritten note and a free 1/2 lb of wax. Great product, great company!
I’d use the new cassette since the 105 already has some wear on it. I’ve never degreased a new cassette since they don’t appear to have much if any coating on them.
Gulf Wax is great, cheap and readily available. I’ve added some PTFE to mine but it certainly isn’t necessary and can be done at a later date if required.
I’ve been reusing my AXS quick links for 2 years and my other links since I started waxing in 2016. They have a pretty tight fit when new and when a link easily snaps together I toss it. I have no data about this, but I don’t see a lot of people talking about failures at the quick link unless it wasn’t installed properly. The few broken chains I’ve had were all from shifting at lower speed under high torque.
How much dirt/residue do you usually have on your chain after a dry ride? Is everything clean to the touch?
First time waxing, chain looks clean but when touching leaves black marks comparable with a very lightly oiled chain.
Freshly waxed, it left no trace at all before putting it on the bike. Except for chainrings, all drivetrain components were brand new (incl. jockey wheels), everything else was cleaned with mineral spirits.
Would that be typical, or point to either factory lube residue inside the chain or oil residue on the chainrings?
What wax are you using? It could be residual grease in the chain, but if you’re using Squirt or similar I’ve found that happens with that sort of lube as well.
Made the switch on my road bike. Quiet and smooth drivetrain on this morning’s ride. It is SOOOO much cleaner. I couldn’t believe the amount of dirty oil I removed from the cassette, pulley wheels, etc… and I keep my drivetrain clean (or so I thought). Also, after the ride… no clean & lube work to be done. Already tempted to swap my MTB.
So I’ve got 170 mi or so on my first waxed chain. Its been nice and quiet, so that’s a plus. I still have black goo on my cassette…is this wax and dirt? The cassette was brand new with the chain. I thought it would stay cleaner?
Normal. Mostly discolored wax that doesn’t harm anything. If I’m feeling ambitious every few months when I swap chains I’ll pull the rear wheel and clean it off. Naphtha & stiff brush works the best for me in cutting through the wax.
My rule is that when I can pull the link together by hand, I replace it. If I still have to use the tool to connect it every time, there’s enough material there to hold it shut. YMMV.
I have been exclusively waxing since early 2019 and that’s been my rule.
Haven’t visited this thread in a while, a couple (OK a lot) of thoughts:
Been waxing exclusively for more than 3 years now. I’m an OG convert of this thread.
I get 300+ miles out of every waxing (on Ultegra chains, I’m switching to YBN when these wear out), that’s about a week of riding. I don’t get the people who say it’s too much trouble too frequently, but…
I suspect the people who think it’s too hard are making it too hard… this is not a difficult or time-consuming process after the initial setup. Some are boiling chains all the time or are worried about cleaning between waxing… you don’t have to mess with that unless you’re riding in wet and dirty conditions often.
Rotate two chains. One is always ready to go.
Just take the chain off, put it on your homemade swisher tool, into the crock pot on low, let the wax melt and cover it for 20-30min. I usually put the chain on the hardened wax and set a timer for 1:30 on my iPhone. When it’s done, do the other chain with the timer set to like 30 minutes.
No cleaning in between… even ZFC talks about that - the chains don’t attract that much crud between waxings. Yes, your wax will eventually get dirty… change it out. One bag of MSW lasts me a year; half in at the start, I change it out midyear.
Some guys are doing two crackpots for training and racing chains… OK… again, making things harder than you need to (in most cases). I don’t fault people for seeking every marginal gain, but to me this isn’t worth it either. YMMV.
I guarantee you spend more time cleaning and re-lubing a conventionally lubricated drive train than you spend waxing chains… that is, assuming you actually keep your oiled drive train clean (which most people don’t). So if you don’t care about wear parts and keeping your drivetrain clean, by all means, keep using regular chainlube and don’t clean your drivetrain. That saves you tons of time… but you’re slower and your parts will wear out about 4x as fast as waxing.
Simple waxing as spelled out above has me getting thousands more miles out of my chains, silent drivetrains, plenty of speed to compete and win races. K.I.S.S.
The most common mistake I see new waxers make is hanging their chains to dry after the alcohol rinse. Even in dry conditions, your chain will attract moisture from the air which will then get sealed in by the wax, particularly overnight when most places experience more humidity. If you wax and you have crunchy, noisy chains, this is probably why. I’ve helped a number of my club mates convert to wax, and every time someone has issues, the first thing I ask is how they dry it after the cleaning and rinsing. Invariably, they hang it dry… and they all say, “I let it dry even longer and it got worse!!” Then they start using the blow dryer and waxing it the first time right away, and Presto it works like a champ.
*** Caveat: I’m a roadie… I don’t ride gravel or MTB (all that much, MTB is on Squirt), so the above would apply to roadies in good conditions. You live in England and ride all day in the rain on Roman chariot paths? Disregard!
This is not a difficult process. Don’t seek out ways to make it harder than it needs to be in the hopes of making it perfect. You’re probably not saving anything, you’re probably not making that much of a difference (if any) in drivetrain longevity by cleaning and using separate crock pots… but you are using up more time, for sure.
Once the initial chain setup is done (mineral spirits baths - usually 3 of them on a new chain; denatured alcohol rinse; blow dry; into the wax)… it’s literally chain off, back into the wax. Change your wax every six months or so depending on how often you do it. (I use half the bag first, then the other half after six months. It’s plenty to cover each chain.)
You don’t need an expensive crockpot. I have used the same 2qt crock I bought for $8 at target for 4+ years.
You don’t need a timer. Use your cell phone.
You don’t need a temperature sensor. Put the crockpot on low.
Keep it simple, guys. The gains at this point are so exceptionally marginal as to not be worth the time or money, beyond just following that ZFC Zen Master’s guide to chain waxing!
Enjoy the benefits of a drive train that you literally just wipe off with a dry rag for the rest of your bike’s life, and know that you’re also faster than basically anyone else who isn’t waxing, too.
Every time I’ve cleaned out my crockpot, I heat up the wax and pour it into a clear container to dispose. Every time I’ve done that, I’ve never seen a notable amount of anything in the clear melted wax.
And then compared to what you were probably riding around with on conventional lube, it’s microscopic.
Again, YMMV. I just think a lot of people are looking at waxing like it’s some intense process every week and it’s just… not. Or at least it shouldn’t be. It’s a non-event, takes less than five minutes of attention each time.
Ive been waxing for years using a crockpot, however decided to try a rice cooker for the CX bikes where the chains get rewaxed after every wet ride and the time saved melting the wax if amazing. Using the heat (Cook) setting the wax is melting after no more than 5 minutes and once this has timed out, then it stays on warm and I inset the chains, waxing one at a time leaving in until the bubbles have dispeared. 3 chains done in less than 20 minutes. Agreee wtih @kurt.braeckel , keep it simple.
BTW I clean in parafin as this is the original material as wax and use a shaker made from an old bidon placed inside a plastic container, the lid is perforated to let parafin drop into the container and holds the dirt inside.
I am probably one of hose people making that mistake.
I’ve waxed the chain of my MTB and road bike last week and and only used a piece of cloth to dry them after the isopropyl alcohol bath and they probably weren’t completely dry inside when I placed them in my slow cooker. (don’t have a blow dryer yet).
I noticed my hot waxed chains, make a lot more noise than my old chains on which I used muc-off or squirt. The drivetrain on my mtb already started to sound realy bad after 120km so I already had to swap it out for another waxed chain.
To get rid of trapped moisture, do I need to rinse the chain with boiling water until I get rid of al the wax and then use a blow dryer? (no white spirits + alcohol)
I would get the old wax off with the boiling water, then denatured alcohol and hit it with a hair dryer for 5 min. Then back in the wax immediately.
That’s worked for my friends who had issues. The denatured alcohol rinses everything off and dries very quickly. That’s why you do it after the spirits.
