WAXING CHAIN

Waxing your drive chain What I have found?

While you don't need an ultrasonic cleaner I did get one with no heating element and use paraffin as a cleaning agent. This will clean old and new chains prior to waxing. DO NOT USE PARAFFIN IF USING A HEATING ELEMENT if I need to explain why please get somebody else to do the maintenance on your bike who understands why.

The first thing is to test the wear on your chain. If its past its best bin the chain and get a new one and make sure you give it a good clean of the packaging grease. I give it a little soak and run the ultrasonic cleaner with paraffin.

The beauty of paraffin as your cleaning agent, with the aid of an ultrasonic cleaner there is no need to dry before waxing you chain. You can see the clear paraffin turn black before your eyes so you know it's working on a used chain. If you have the time for an overnight soak all the better but not essential.

If you want a demo why you need to clean before waxing get two clean knives and apply some WD40 to one and then dip them both in your melted wax. Allow to dry and you will notice the one you didn't apply WD40 the wax is nicely stuck, against the one you sprayed with WD40

Paraffin Wax is the cleanest lube I have found. Waxing a chain is easy, just melt the wax, (see video below) in a rice cooker with the correct mixture of Paraffin (see video below) dip your chain for 15 min and agitate with an old coat hanger, you will notice air bubbles at first, when they stop remove and hang to cool. Now just break the joints and refit and it will give you about > 0.5 watts advantage that you would lose with just oil and the grit that sticks to your chain. Granted if you can afford to change your chain after a couple of rides and apply your chosen oil based lube, knock your socks off.

The cool thing is when you return from your ride just wash down with water and your drive chain is clean to touch and not covered in a black grinding paste. I have found wax repels dirt and has an incredibly low coefficient of friction. The small joints around the roller bearings are filled with wax so can’t be filled with grit. Wax will extend the life of chainrings, cassettes, derailleur pulleys along with your hardworking chain.

I can't claim I thought of this myself. I was wearing good quality chains out within two months riding two to three times a week covering only 50 to 70 miles. I did a Google search and came up with this great informative youtube video from down under.

Other members of the cycle club think its not as good as chain lube. But I think they don't like change, (sorry repeating myself) just think of all that dust and grit that will mix with the lube and form a nice grinding paste. If the voids around the rollers are filled with wax QED........... How long will a chain last before re-waxing? I have found about 400 to 500 plus road miles in the UK. Then just remove the chain and clean it in your ultrasonic cleaner with paraffin and then re wax until the bubbles stop.

One other thing your drive chain will stand out while others are black, plus when removing your rear wheel in the event of a puncture your hands stay clean not covered in black oil.

One thing I have learnt regarding giving people the information on waxing your drive chain. You can lead a horse to water................