Originally Posted by cyccommute

As for a wax lubricant "washing off", that doesn't happen. The very nature of the wax makes it less water soluble than an oil. Oil isn't water soluble to any appreciable extent but wax, being a high molecular weight non-polar compound is even less water soluble. Wax isn't all that mobile so it doesn't fill in the gaps after water exposure but neither does an oil based lubricant. The oil based lubricant just masks the water infiltration so that you don't hear it. It's there and it's doing damage but you don't hear it. The oil based lubricant should be refreshed after riding in the rain just as a wax based lube should.