Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Thermodynamics says no. Heating the a water emulsion wax won’t really help make it dry more quickly unless you keep it heated. Heating it and then applying it to the chain is going to suck any heat you added out of the liquid and bring it back down to the temperature of the chain very quickly. Water evaporates very slowly because of hydrogen bonding that makes it difficult to get the water into a vapor. The other part of the problem is that water evaporation takes energy which cools the whole system as it evaporates. When a surfactant is added that is meant to make the water compatible with a hydrophobic material, the evaporation process is even slower. Air moving over the chain would increase the evaporation rate, however.
It really depends on how much heat you apply. A blue flame lighter has a temperature of around 1300 celsius,which is around the same as a hiking stove. Applying that to a chain, it doesn't take long to evaporate most of the water in a water emulsion wax.
I don’t see the need. You are over complicating the process. If the solvent or water takes 24 hours to evaporate, just apply it the night before riding. Or just apply it and let it evaporate as you ride. Nothing is going to be harmed by the wax being slightly softer.
In a typical situation I would agree, but there are situations where the wax does need to be bone dry before setting off, or it will become a wet lube simulator. Wet gravel days (depending on the type of gravel) is one where even a dry waxed chain can accumulate a lot of dirt. I've had days when the chain was not visible below the buildup when I got to my destination. Had I had a wet chain then, the crud would have most likely gotten inside the chain. And when you tour in the spring (I'm going on tour in less than a week) or autumn, the expectation is that there will be no sun, just rain. That's a tough ask for a chain lube on the field no less.
The trouble with applying water based wax in wet weather is that it doesn't dry due to relative humidity being high. And solvent wax has the same issue no matter the humidity as you need to ride it to harden it. Heating the chain removes the issue with water based waxes but I was curious how one could safely do that while on tour. And it seems a stove will work just fine.
I have carried a 2 oz bottle of White Lightning on tour for years. Over several 1000+ mile tours, I have yet to empty the bottle on tour. I get similar mileages per application as I am now…in excess of 400 miles…so I don’t need a whole lot of lubricant. On a long chain bike…I have a tandem…I use a little more per application but the additional amount needed isn’t all that onerous.
Then again you wear through chain in less miles than I do. Our application intervals are pretty different which I'm guessing is the explaining factor since I don't use expensive chains. Even at home I rarely ride a chain more than 300km before swapping. On tour it depends but I generally re-apply every 200km.