Waxing your chain is awesome!!!!
 

Finally got around to doing this . OMG WOW!! the amazing thing is I cleaned the hell out of the chain before dunking it, and the wax still turned black from the crud released in the pins.

Or does the oil turn black from the stove heat? I noticed it only started when it put the chain in, so I figured it was "purging". I figure the heat expanded the links, releasing the scunge...

Is there some special formula? I think I read somewhere that someone used coleman fuel along with the motor oil. I just used 20W-50, what I had laying around, and a chunk of paraffin.

the chain runs great now and you can run your hand on it and not pick up any black gunk.

I used to use Finish Line teflon spray on my mountain bike, great stuff, did the same thing, but that wasn't exactly cheap. This was a very cool exercize...

I've never heard of oil in conjunction with wax. Only either/or.

Doesn't adding motor oil into the wax just takes out any good thing that might have resulted if you just use waxed. I would think that the added oil component will eventually pick up dirt like regular chain lube would.
I too have not heard about adding motor oil into the wax when waxing chains.

Chombi

That's not the same thing - not even close.

I've been wanting to try chain waxing. Here's the article that got me interested:

http://www.ecovelo.info/2010/05/30/c...-clean-freaks/

I cooked my chains in a Fry Daddy years ago. It cleaned and lubed them at the same time. The major draw back was that riding in the rain required a rewaxing. The black stuff still came out of the chain. No matter what you do the black still will be there. It is from the wear particles inside the chain.
Now I remove my chains and clean them in an ultra sonic cleaner and then lube them with 1 part chainsaw bar oil to 4 parts unscented mineral spirits.
The chain on my 7sp touring bike has over 8100 miles on it and doesn't show much "streach". The one on my road bike has 3900 miles on it and it's like new.

Hot waxing chains has the advantage of complete cleanliness. Waxed chains pick up no dirt or crud and won't leave a "chainring tatoo" on you or your clothes.

The downsides are the process can be hazardous if done properly, wax lube has poor durability and must be redone frequently and the chain has little to no rust protection if it gets wet. Finally, you must remove the chain from the bike so a chain with a master link is required.

The linked article recommends using a double boiler to liquify the wax but that limits the wax to 212°F which really isn't adequate to get it thin enough. When I waxed my chains I used to use a regular pan on the stove top with a thermometer and I'd heat it to about 300 - 310° F. That got the wax really water thin so it saturated the chain very well. I'd let the whole pot cool to about 120°F before removing the chain so all of the molten wax didn't run off.

This required watching the wax during the heating cycle to be certain I didn't overdo it so carelessness couldn't be tolerated. A temperature controlled electric pot would have been safer but i didn't have one.

A waxed chain will seem great until you're 10 miles into a 50 miler and the chain starts squeaking. There are waxy lubes that use a solvent to dissolve the wax and those work just as poorly. Wax tends to be displaced from the critical areas where it's needed, leaving the chain with no lubrication.

Waxing your chain is awesome!!!!


this is a family forum please watch your language LOL ;)

Using your stove can be dangerous I use a hot wax machine and I add a little DuraLube about a cap full to this half full of wax works great don't use motor oil.
The black you got could of been from over heating the motor oil or it was still really dirty inside the pins.
You can clean the was after it cools off remove it and scrape the bottom off all the crud sinks to the bottom.

Straight wax does last a short time but it helps to add something like Durlube or Prolong and you will get several hundred mile out of it.

The teflon wax lube I used worked great, I'd highly recommend it.

There's always going to be raging debates on chain maintenence. If I remember , John Forester mentioned motor oil in addition to the wax, as does Georgina Terry in her video.

Somebody posted '"using your stove is dangerous" ... yeah no kidding. Take the used wax and oil, add some dryer lint or sawdust and you'll have the most incredibly awesome redneck fire starter.

I think on a microscopic level, the oil penetrates into the pins by "thermoregulated capillary action" . it is then held in place by the wax, which comes off the exterior of the chain. I also cheated an put some Finish Line One Step lube on top just to be safe, and wiped it down. It's not my bike, I rehabbed it for a friend who rides in the city a lot. We'll see What she says about squeaks down the road, That's easy enough to fix anyway.

Hey I didn't say "Pulling my crank"... :)

Just don't pull it OFF. If you do, all it'll be good for is the museum in Iceland.

If you wait until the lube wears off then yes, it will start squeaking. Applied once/week or so, and ridden daily, I have had nothing but good performance from a wax lube (White Lightning). It has even worked well in our snowy winter. So far, no rust.

That's my point - you've got no idea how long the lube will last, so it must be applied quite frequently to avoid the mid-ride squeaking.

Products like this require far more frequent application and give far shorter chain life. I've used it once, many years ago. It might be OK for an MTB ridden in the dust, but it will cost a lot to use, since you'd need to apply it after every ride or every other ride of any length.

For road bike use, I prefer home brew that cost pennies per ounce.

Truer words were never typed....:) Chain lube is right up there with Shimano vs Campy as a source of heated debate.

The 80's called;
They want their awesome new chain lube method back.:p

No, they don't.

I too came from the old school days from which I graduated. Wax is the worst lubricant you can use on a chain, in fact it's not even considered a lubricant, so good luck, you might as well hose the chain down with WD40 it will do about as much good.

Wax is nice and clean, but is not a very good lubricant, WD-40 is probably a better lubricant. Mixing oil or grease in the wax is intended to improve the lubricity, while maintaining the cleanliness. For the best lubrication, no wax is probably best. If cleanliness is more important to you than drive-train longevity, wax away.

On edit: rek beat me too it.

WD-40 has 15-20% oil, just like most homebrew lubes, but the oil is not nearly as good at preventing wear as motor oil or gear lube. I tried WD-40 as a chain lube, just as a test. I honestly expected that it would work as well as homebrew, but that was not the case. My chain elongated much faster than normal and the chain was a bit noisier using thin oil.

I am on the side of "waxing sucks". I do not see the benefit of a "cleaner lube". Dry lubes do not last as long as wet lubes. Dry lubes allow more chain/transmission noise. Chains wear faster by using a dry lube (except if you relube every 50 - 100 miles). There are better reasons to use a wet lube than using a dry lube. Just get in a habit of cleaning your chain/transmission more often.