chain wax anyone ?

[ton]

anyone use any type of chain wax ?
i seem to remember reading somewhere that there is not a cycle chain wax, like the old plutoline type, where you place the whole chain in the molten wax.

anyone ?

[Lazarus]

there are bike chain specific chain waxes out there[ i found the motorbike one too sticky and gloopy personally and would advise against its use] but i use a kit from ebay which is basically wax [paraffin ? i forget] and PTFE powder
Heat it up, dunk a chain, swirl, wipe and drip dry then crack it - there are you tube videos on this

In use it lasts about 500 miles on the road bike and perhaps 300 ish on the MTB between applications
Best thing is the chain is dry and no oil so cannot stain you and seems to not pick up hold as much crap as its not sticky at all
The major downside is aesthetically it rusts , but the rollers are lubricated, so it does not squeak /creak

I tend to do both chains at the same time in a pan on the stove as its bit of faff but realistically most of the time is waiting for the wax to melt assuming the wax was melted the process takes about a minute

[fatbikephil]

Squirt works really well as a straight application without all the heating / dunking of a solid wax. Leaves the chain dry and fairly resistant to being gunged up with mud. One application took me to k175 on the BB300 last year...

[riderdown]

I tend to do both chains at the same time in a pan on the stove as its bit of faff but realistically most of the time is waiting for the wax to melt assuming the wax was melted the process takes about a minute

I use a slow cooker, had a spare one from when I worked away

[redefined_cycles]

Smoove. But you have to do a proper squeaky clean with petrol/degreaser/isopropyl (however). For some reason it fares better on mtb than road! I think I've had about 300 miles out of it between cleans/reapplications (or maybe just 200).

[thenorthwind]

I've been using Putoline for a few years now. If you prefer to do all your chain faffing in one go and then not have to bother for a while, it works well.

Currently in the process of switching over to GLF wax. Using a slow cooker for this, since the new Ninja made it redundant.

[ledburner]

Smoove. But you have to do a proper squeaky clean with petrol/degreaser/isopropyl (however). For some reason it fares better on mtb than road! I think I've had about 300 miles out of it between cleans/reapplications (or maybe just 200).

I aways carry spare on my hipster 'tache.

[Shewie]

I quite like Squirt if that counts, I'm not a racing roadie chasing the watts so probably wouldn't benefit from the full wax faff myself

[ledburner]

Chain to 'tache to legs

[AndreR]

Also a fan of Squirt, apply after every clean or a light application before every ride. Chain stays clean and there is very little gunk buildup and the chains last at least as as well as they did with the usual mineral oils. Haven't ruined a sock or a pair of trousers with grease in ages

[thenorthwind]

I quite like Squirt if that counts, I'm not a racing roadie chasing the watts so probably wouldn't benefit from the full wax faff myself

It's certainly not an efficiency thing for me. It's more the ability to compress the faff into one chunk and then forget about that appeals to me. I think once you've got a system it's less faff overall. Also a chain staying lubed over multiple wet days is good for trips.

[Lazarus]

same reasons for me and whatever you do if you google squirt make sure you add the word bike chain lube to your search terms and not just squirt on its own and then lube added

[AlexGold]

Squirt and Smoove are decent, but both old technology (if chain lube counts as technology?!)

There are better products on the market now for all use types, 'the best' is hard to say as it does depend on use requirements.

https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/lubetesting/ has more info than you'll ever need. If you're just starting there my tip would be to look at 'wear by block' and decide what you're looking for. The blocks are equivalent to the following IMO

Block 1: Sunny day road riding, bike immaculately cleaned before and after every ride
Block 2: General off road riding, dry conditions
Block 4: Wet condition off road riding
Block 6: BB level off road - wet, muddy, horrible.

Pick the one that most suits your use case and check out the detailed reviews of some of the top performers. I've been using Molten Speedwax and Tru Tension Tungsten for winter riding in most conditions, and will go to Silca Super Secret for summer, for instance. If I wasn't doing immersive waxing, I'd jump straight at Effetto Flower Power as it aced the testing coming out as best drip-on lube overall.

[jobro]

I've been using Putoline hot wax bath for about three years now and I'm very happy with it.
I live in South Dorset were a lot of my local riding and in the New Forest is sandy and I was getting through a chain (>1.0 on chain growth) every two months. Since I've changed to Putoline I get about six months and more from a chain. I change chains when growth is >0.75 on an 11 speed chain. Apparently it should be >0.5 for 12 speed?
Its a right pain doing it. The chain has to be very clean before dipping in the wax (30 min clean in degreaser) and there is some dispute about wax temperatures and length of time in bath. Singletrack mag has a lengthy thread.
Its very important to hang the chain after waxing and wipe down several times. This gets rid of the heavy residue left on the chain. The first ride always has a little build up on the jockey wheels which is removed easily and from then on its all fine.
All in all its worth the effort and you certainly get quicker with experience. I generally do two bikes in one go.