Road Cycling - Anybody Wax their chain?

I am just returning to riding on the road after a 15 year absence. When I used to ride a lot I used to melt parafin wax and soak my chain in it to lubricate it. It lasted a good long time and was very clean. Anybody doing this and know if there any issues with the new indexed shifting.

Thanks.

Today you can buy those in a a bottle. where the wax is suspended in a solvent.. White lightning is only one of many "dry lubes" for chains available today..

I tried it, but I switched back to using white lightning. I took 5 years of absence so there may be better stuff than white lightning. Waxing was a huge pain and not worth the effort in my opinion. Waxing has no problems with the indexed shifting though.

Today you can buy those in a a bottle. where the wax is suspended in a solvent.. White lightning is only one of many "dry lubes" for chains available today..

FWIW, the white lightning stuff works great

Legs yes......chain no!

Legs yes......chain no! Hitchy, mate...I'm starting to worry about you.

Hitchy, mate...I'm starting to worry about you.


Ahh wattsy....don't you wax or shave to ride 'alpe d' magtrainer'?.....surely the carpet burn when you fall off needs attending to?

Hitchy

Ahh wattsy....don't you wax or shave to ride 'alpe d' magtrainer'?.....surely the carpet burn when you fall off needs attending to?

LOL. I find that wind resistence is not so important when on the trainer. That is, head on wind anyhow...Biggest injury I've had is pulling my groin...when getting off the bike.

BTW Hitchy, with the weather getting up around the 20's, I've decided that riding my bike ON THE ROAD is now acceptable, as long as the weather doesn't turn and get cloudy during the day... :)

no comment you guys...but quite the subject of discussion I guess.

I was at a LBS yesterday, talking to the top mechanic their. He was checking my bike and said is this a new bike? I told him it was 9 months old and has over 2000 miles on it. He said You keep it so clean, it is in new condition. I asked how to clean wax lub from my chain and cassett, because it makes such a mess. He gave me a couple of tips on the cassett, and told me to use teflon lube because it is cleanner and less of a mess. I told him I have already switched with the new set of wheels that are on the bike.

Ah, I remember the days of melting wax....It's much easier to buy the lubes recommended above.

ahh... is that what the kids are calling it these days. 'waxing the chain'.....

;)

Wool shorts, leather chamois, leather helmets, toe clips and chain wax... these are things that are a part of road cycling history and best left there.

I used to do all of those ... except the wax. I am just getting back into riding. Just bought my first pair of clipless pedals. Gone are my cages. Hope my gut does too!

So is White Lightning the recommended canned product to use. Do you just spray or drip it on the chain?

So is White Lightning the recommended canned product to use. Do you just spray or drip it on the chain?
Drip. It's (White Lightning) typically in a bottle with an eye-dropper type tip. Develop a technique or you might end up wasting a lot, as it's pretty liquid/low viscosity. Also make sure you shake the bottle before starting and make sure you've re-mixed all the separated solids.

You'll want to get your chain/drivetrain as clean as possible first, by either solvent-cleaning or some other method recommended here or similar threads. When your bike is upright or on stand, simply put a drop on each pivot-point of the chain - I do this only on the up-facing side of the lower chain to make sure I let gravity help me and saturate the teeth-facing side of the chain, while holding a rag/paper towel underneath the same area with my other hand so none drips on the garage floor. Crank to the next section, repeat until you get to where you started. You're done! I'll be interested to know how others do this, but I've been doing it this way for years and it has been great on both function and drivetrain wear as I've had very little wear. Better yet, no sludge...

Also, I try to do this before every/every other ride (yeah, sometimes I'm a slug and skip if it's a short ride)

Good luck.

So is White Lightning the recommended canned product to use. Do you just spray or drip it on the chain?

I like this stuff http://www.boeshield.com/t9bike.jpg

Same application as listed above, but I usually get several hundred miles between applications.

Check it out http://www.boeshield.com/

-murray

Hey Murray,

Yeah, I use it too much, but I'm kind of obsessive that way... Once in awhile I'll go a couple of weeks if I actually follow the directions (apply, let dry, apply again, yadda...).

I'll take a look at the T9...

I only wax the chain of my mountain bike, and that's only since I'd rather not have my drivetrain totally mucked up when I'm done...only clods of dirt I want in my gears will be from my own mistakes :D

As far as road use...Still lookin....Tri-Flow is nice, but it does pick up dirt like mad.

Anybody doing this and know if there any issues with the new indexed shifting.

I do this on our Campa Centaur 9s bikes with nothing but success. It kinda' makes me feel like it is the old days (when I didn't ride a bike). I add powdered graphite, which works fine, but leaves a bit more of a mess until the excess is worn away. I would love to find the teflon microspheres that are supposed to be so good, but never have.

BTW, we never ride in the wet except on the odd long ride where we get surprised by a sudden storm, but there isn't that much of that stuff here anyway, so it is no real issue.

Cheers...Gary