Solvent wax (aka drip wax, liquid wax, etc.) because it is simpler. No need for hair driers on tour. No need to set your chain on fire with your cook stove while on tour. No need to carry a double boiler while on tour. No need to carry a spare chain while on tour. No need to carry extra quick links to replace the one side you drop in the gravel at a campsite and will never find. Make your life easier because you have other things to think about while touring.

At home, and on tour, I clean the factory lube off the chain before I install the chain. Not because there’s a problem with the factory lube but I’ve found over the years that the factory lube is messy if left in place. Once clean…just clean enough, no stripped to the point where it would be clean room clean…and installed, my chains don’t come off until they need replacement, roughly 3000 miles later.

And, no, solvent wax…nor, I suspect, hot wax…doesn’t need to be refreshed every 100 miles. I’m currently recording data on a solvent waxed chain on one of my bikes. I’ve logged 1500 miles on the bike and am averaging about 400 miles between wax application. In other words, about the same as oil but without the mess.