Originally Posted by
cyccommute
That’s not where I thought you were going. I was thinking you meant to heat the water emulsion wax before application to make it evaporate faster. But I wouldn’t heat it with an open flame either. There is simply no need. Either solvent based wax or water emulsion wax will work even when wet and there is no reason to try and use a torch, heater, lighter, or camp stove to hurry the process.
Heating the emulsion would make no difference, except maybe ruin the wax.
And, at 1300°C, you could easily get past the flash point to sustainable ignition.
Could, but I wasn't able to get a fire going. It would seem that it takes quite a bit of heating to ignite chain wax and the way the chain begins reacting before that happens is dramatic enough that it should make even the dullest of drawer knives to stop heating said chain. I don't really see a danger in quickly passing a waxed chain through a camp stove flame.
Not really. Even when slightly wet, waxes are semisolid and don’t pump grit into the chain like oil does. Essentially, the dirt deposits on the outside of the chain but there isn’t really anyway for the grit to get down into the chain. The gaps are filled. Oil doesn’t provide the same kind of blocking of grit as wax does.
Yet soft waxes don't work as well against contamination. The wetness or stickiness in the wax, be it from water or solvent does cause particles to cling to the wax and potentially lets them transfer inside. A chain is not sealed so it doesn't take much for stuff to crawl in. Also it's a bit misleading to compare oil in this instance since what is being discussed is wax at its best and wax at its worst. I'd rather not take wax at its worse when the conditions are as bad for a chain as they can be.
Again, no need. The biggest problem I have with water based emulsions would be that the material that allows the wax to emulsify with the water is still there after it dries. Add water and it becomes an emulsion again.
It would appear that this is not really an issue. After the water dries, the wax particles get compacted into a more solid form when the chain is used, so there's no real way for water to get inside the now mostly homogenous wax. Also emulsifying wax with water requires aggressive machinery, like a high shear mixer. Once the wax has been dried and compacted, the conditions inside a chain and some moisture are nowhere near the conditions where the wax would turn into emulsifiable particles again. Once the wax has dried and has been molten and spread inside the chain, it's just like your regular old hot wax. It'd take quite a bit to emulsify it into water again.
I don’t know that you can say that. I get around 3000 miles out of a chain (around 5000 km). That’s a reasonable mileage. And I apparently get far more distance out of a chain lube application than you seem to. If I were only getting 300 km (200 miles) out of the lubricant, I’d be looking for something different. I get 2 to 3 times that distance and still get 3000 overall miles out to the chain.
5000km is definitely reasonable. But it's also not the best you can achieve with chain wax apparently. With short enough intervals the chains don't really have a chance to develop wear. But my waxing interval isn't because it's based on anything other than how much the wax lasts before the chain begins squeaking on the worst possible conditions (salt slush) when the bikes are used for commuting. I just go with that. I'm sure I could get a lot more out of a chain in during the three months we actually get nice weather or if the bikes got hosed down after rides, but trying to evaluate whether a chain could go on for 100 or 200 miles more during that time is more trouble than just swapping in a fresh chain. Except when the wife or I forgets and a chain is ridden a double or triple distance.
Anyway, not one of our chains registers any wear since I started this whole hot waxing thing three years ago (I think. Could be four...). Even the e-cargo bike that now has around 2000 miles per chain doesn't register any wear whatsoever on any of the chains. And the chains on that thing are seeing a lot more abuse than what could be achieved with a non electrified bike.
I mention the cargo bike, because that computer on that one has actually stayed on the bike for the time we've owned it. For the other bikes I have no clue because bike computers break, or don't work or get stolen etc.