About Chain Waxing

The WaxSmith Experience

Wet Lube Is the Enemy

Before you wax, you’ve gotta detox.

You wouldn’t slap ceramic coating on a mud-caked Ferrari. So why would you wax a chain that’s still soaked in petroleum sludge? Wet lube leaves behind a clingy cocktail of grime, oil, and microscopic grit that turns your drivetrain into a friction factory. If you want wax to work, you’ve got to strip it down to the bones.

The Conversion Protocol

This isn’t a wipe-and-go job. It’s a full-blown purge.

• Step 1: Degrease Like You Mean It Forget the garden hose and dish soap. We’re talking industrial-grade solvents—mineral spirits, denatured alcohol, ultrasonic baths. The goal? Total annihilation of every trace of wet lube.

• Step 2: Rinse, Repeat, Rage One pass won’t cut it. You rinse, you shake, you repeat until the chain squeaks like a clean conscience. If it still smells like a mechanic’s garage, you’re not done.

• Step 3: Dry It Like It Owes You Money No moisture. No residue. Just bare metal, ready to bond with wax like a blood pact.

What Happens If You Skip This?

You’ll wax a lie—and your watts will pay the price.

• Wax won’t stick to oil. It’ll flake, smear, and leave you slower than a gravel bike on a crit course.

• Contaminated wax turns into a paste of shame—gritty, noisy, and useless.

• Your chain will wear faster, sound worse, and make you question your life choices.

WaxSmith Chains = Prepped to Perfection

We do the dirty work so you don’t have to.

Every WaxSmith chain is stripped, cleaned, and baptized in wax with obsessive precision. No shortcuts. No residue. Just pure performance.

When to Re-Wax? 

Ummm... It depends.

Every situation is different. Environment matters. Dusty, wet, muddy, gravel, even gear selection and cadence can impact timing for when to consider the next round. It is highly recommended to use a drip wax, such as Silca Super Secret (not that secret now!) between hot melt waxings to prolong miles between services.  

Rough estimates are to use drip wax between 100 - 300 miles, or when you start to notice noise, other than the crying of your fellow cyclists trying to keep up with you.  

Hot wax interval, as recently published by Silca, to be between 1000 - 1500 miles, based on riding conditions.