Well I finally tried this tonight, after getting the tools to remove my cassette and thoroughly cleaning everything yesterday. Took me forever to find that Gulf Wax stuff, finally found it at Kroger. I cleaned everything yesterday in degreaser, but I think my chain didn't get totally clean. I used an old pot for the wax, sitting above another pot with boiling water. I decided for this first try I would remove my chain using the Missing Link piece, and let it soak in there for a few minutes. Then I fished it out, let it cool over the kitchen sink, and put it back on the bike. Was a little tougher getting the Missing Link to seat again as others have reported. I haven't had a chance to ride the bike yet.

After I cleaned up the drivetrain yesterday, I was short on time heading out to a ride, so I just threw some White Lightning on the chain. Unfortunately I think this made things dirty again, or at least brought out more dirt that was caught up in the chain that the degreaser didn't get out.

I really want to try this with a brand new chain and freshly cleaned chain rings and cogs. I think I will also be using the drape method next time. Though I won't let the chain drape over the bottom bracket. With the chain on the smallest ring and next to smallest cog, I can just pull the RD cage and let the chain droop, then let it pull back up again. Turn the crank a bit, and repeat. No need to get wax all over the bottom bracket.

Several months ago, I switched my MTB to wax. About a month ago, I switched my commuter over to a waxed chain. Prior to that, I was using Rock 'n Roll Gold chain lube about once every few months (~600 miles). My chain was filthy. An overnight soak in a jar of gasoline fixed that. After letting it dry, I dipped it in the hot wax. I've ridden about 200 miles and haven't yet reapplied the wax, but I'm happy with the results so far.

Instead of fishing it out of the hot wax, simply tie some fishing line to chain, and slip the Missing Links onto the line. It makes it much easier to remove and allow to dry & cool.

Where do you let it drip "dry" and cool? Somehow hanging above the pot of wax? I was in the kitchen, fished the chain out, and held it over a plate while I moved it over to the kitchen sink. Set the chain down in the dry side of the sink for a bit to let it cool. Of course that made a mess in the sink and on the plate, which I had to clean up with hot water to melt away the dirty wax.

Garage. Hook on ceiling. Modified wire hanger. Chain hanging above a crock-pot on the floor.

Slow-cooker is dedicated to chain wax. I picked it up at Wal-Mart for under $10.

Thanks for the laugh!

I'll pass on having dog piss and rabbit hair on my drivetrain!

I'm considering trying the OP's method for my girlfriends new commuter I'm building up. Realistically, she won't ride in the rain, and doesn't ride that many miles most months, so I think it'll be a good fit for her. No worries about black grime, and I won't have to wax it too often.

I found your post intriguing, and I think a video of you performing the procedure might be what is called for. I had a go at doing the "hot-wax" thing once after installing a new chain on my Schwinn Super Sport after I'd ridden it a few thousands of miles back in the late 1980s. I used a double-boiler, and removed the chain to take it to the stove rather than taking the stove to the bike (so how do you keep your hot pot of wax "hot"?). I was happy with the results of my chain-waxing, and as you mention the chain was very stiff when the wax cooled. I also noticed that after the waxing, my chain would shed flakes of wax, to the point of giving the appearance that it (the chain) was suffering from "dandruff". I came to the conclusion that considering the amount of effort and hassle of using wax, using more conventional methods of chain lubrication are far more effective and easier, and less hassle. I use a mixture of 50/50 Phil's Tenacious and Finish-Line/Tri-Flow after washing the chain (Gatorade Bottle & Citrus-Brite CB-2, followed by wash using dish-soap & rinse & repeat). HTH -
- Wil

I started waxing chains back in November of last year. I love the cleanliness, like the ride, not crazy about the service interval. It is not terrible, but generally at about 200 miles it feels and sounds like it is time for a refresh. That was 1200 miles ago, so I have swapped chains 4-5 times in the past 2 + months. A bit more than I would like.

Don't get lots of rain here, and I ride with fenders so my chain stays fairly dry and clean. I heard of Chain-L when I was investigating new lubes last year, and decided to try it out. Certainly no more time consuming than waxing a chain off the bike. Can't speak to doing it on bike as that seems like a big mess and hassle, but obviously it works for those that do it. Anyway, my chain is buttery smooth and quiet. Even more so than with the wax. I am interested to see what my service interval will be now, hoping for the 1000 miles that is advertised and others have experienced. But I put it on sparingly, so my chain is just barely tacky and looks great today. We will see after 50 or 500 miles what it looks like, hoping I found my long term lube solution.

So has anyone tried cleaning wax off a chain, if so what did you use?

If you have a waxed chain and then decide you don't want the wax, you might just as well get a new chain, unless the one you're using is super expensive or something.

I rode around up and down the street in front of my house yesterday, with the chain that was waxed Sunday evening, and it all felt and sounded nice and smooth.

Have you tried melting it off?

Most of the flaking is from the surface of the chain but that's why I add linseed oil to the Gulf wax (paraffin) and sometimes beeswax that I use... it adds a little flexibility to the mix and keeps the wax from getting so flaky. Since I mainly ride a folding bike, which I take indoors, a clean drive train is very important to me and is one of the main reasons I wax it. Not only that but my folding bike has a couple of hinges, as well as a seat post which needs to be dropped for compactness, that really benefit from some sort of lubrication and the wax/linseed does a great job of providing clean lubrication (although somewhat smelly due to the linseed oil which I don't find offensive since I'm used to the smell of oil paints and linseed oil anyway) to those areas as well.

Yeah, but I am still interested in how one would do this. Likely not worth the Tim, effort, and cost, but I am a curious sort of person.

No, I did try putting it in boiling water, but that was not the hot ticket.

I tried wax for a few weeks back in the 80s. I found that no matter how much care I took I still only got 100-200 miles before the bike started squeaking like a herd of poisoned mice. That meant I was rewaxing every two or three days, which got old fast. So my attitude since then has been that waxing works great if you don't ride the bike.

I also remember when White Lightning and the knockoffs were all the rage. I remember it specifically because there were several years in there when squeaky chains were considered the norm.

So I guess you could say I'm not too impressed. I'm all for clean drivetrains, and I'd really like for waxing to work, but it doesn't - unless you enjoy reapplying it constantly.

Xylol works very well for removing anything person a chain. I had some from a different project and it works well. Nasty stuff, but a very good solvent.

That's a shame that you haven't found the right wax to work for you.

What wax works for you?

I used the same Gulf brand as everyone else. As others have noted, 100-200 miles between rewaxing is pretty typical.

Like I said, it might work well for people who don't ride much, or who don't mind rewaxing all the time. Not exactly sure what a randonneur is supposed to do on his 600K, though...

I'm puzzled by this. I get quite a bit more than that out of waxing. But if I didn't, like you, I'd get sick of it pretty quickly.

What are you doing differently? I really would like waxing to work for me...

Although I disagree with you on White Lightning, I too experimented with paraffin wax around the same time, with the same result. Too much bother for too little return.

Mineral spirits will do the same job without the nastiness.

So I went on somewhat of a wet, muddy ride on Saturday, so I decided to spray the mud off the bike with the garden hose, let it dry, and then run my chain through my pot of wax again. This time I tried the OP's drape method, leaving the chain on the bike. I couldn't really get it to drape very well through my pot for some reason. I had it on the smallest chain ring and next to smallest cog, and was trying to turn the cassette backwards so the chain would go through the wax as I held the RD cage forward. I guess the angles of everything just didn't want to work very well.

Perhaps that's why the OP said he removes the chain from the rings and lets it drape over the BB. That probably works better. I might stick a piece of electrical tape over the BB at the point of chain contact and give it a try that way.

It's in this thread.