lycrabois

Previously I have been using Rock and Roll bike lube which I thought was a great lube. This was until a friend introduced me to Biomaxa. I have now been using Biomaxa for a few months now and it is hands down the best lube i have used. The lube is great at shifting through the cassette it also lasts for a very long time. This lube deals with any condition keeping the drivetrain running smooth.

noodle soup

Thanks your unbiased recommendation.

dwing

Lol, until the next chain lube thread pops up.

Nickolassc

This. Buy a product called speed wax, or make your own wax with parafin wax, teflon powder and molybdinum sulfate mixed in an old crockpot to melt it.

First use a strong degreasing agent to remove the oil and let it dry before dipping the chain.

Oil is sticky which attracts sand which kills your chain life.

Wet or dry, this is the best, just apply more frequently for wet conditions and buy a high quality rust resistant chain.

I've tried dry teflon spray, rock and roll gold, and a variety of other lubes, nothing I've tried stays as clean as a fully degreased and parafin waxed chain. With other lubes, after even a 50 mile road ride through the city my chain would be black with oily muck, my cassette and crank would be black, and my jockey wheels would be covered in a thick layer of muck.

noodle soup

What is the over/under before that thread happens?

adamhenry

And what are the odds that the newb who resurrected this thread with his first post will be around for the next thread?

SethAZ 

I certainly wouldn't take that bet.

SethAZ 

I've used this recipe (it was released by the Friction Facts guy) and agree that it truly is effective while it lasts.

I decided to experiment a little to see if I could extend the benefits of it a little by making it last a little longer between rewaxings. It worked the best as judged by how much I could hear the drivetrain if I rewaxed each week (around 150 miles/week). I'd ridden it for two weeks between rewaxing, but during the second week I was hearing more and more noise from the drivetrain. I cannot say whether the internal parts were or were not being adequately protected during this time since the only thing I had to go by was whether the drivetrain was still silent or not, and it was not.

I made another batch with some modifications which I thought should make the wax a little more tenacious, and hopefully leave at least a little lubricant inside the moving parts and whatnot, providing some protection. Whether it really is effective in this or not I can't say.

The speed wax recipe is: 1 lb of paraffin wax, 5g moly powder, 10g teflon powder

My experimental blend was: .7 lb of paraffin wax, 5g moly powder, 10g teflon powder, .25 lb microcrystalline wax, .05 lb of synthetic motor oil

The theory was that the small amount of synthetic oil might survive as a film inside of the moving parts of the chain even if the rest of the wax were pushed out during use. The microcrystalline wax was there because microcrystalline wax will hold oil better than paraffin does (I'd read that paraffin wax/oil blends often will sweat out oil over time). Also, the microcrystalline wax is a little "stickier" than the paraffin, and I theorized this could help it stick to the metal better and be less likely to flake off as paraffin can.

It was certainly as quiet (ie: deathly silent) as the normal speed wax recipe at first, and I'd go 2-3 weeks between rewaxings, whereas going 2 weeks with the normal speed wax recipe was pushing it. By the 3rd week I felt like I was pushing it with my modification recipe as well. This is all highly unscientific, and I have no way of knowing if it truly was more effective than the original speed wax. I can say that it seemed to be about as effective at keeping the chain clean, and that the chain could be handled with this on it and just leave a little black residue from the moly powder and such, not the oily black gunk one normally gets from oil lubes.

redlude97

Man that seems like so much work when I can just lube with Chain-L and go 1000+miles on a silent drivetrain rain or shine.

Racing Dan

You are ALL wrong ;-) The only true chain oil is >grease<. Dissolve some in petrol and squirt liberally, roll back for a while, then wipe, wait for the petrol yo evaporate, then go ride. - At least it stays put on a winter commuter.

Dave Cutter

Same stuff (SKU numbers and everything) just different packaging. I initially used this stuff for a clean (non-rusting) chain on a wall hanger. But it rides smooth and lasts well too. So now I use it on everything.... from daily rider to storage.

SethAZ 

I believe it, and I've used all sorts of things, including these wax recipes, motor oil, conventional bike chain lubes, etc. I recently bought a little bottle of the NFS lube to try it out, after reading all the rave reviews. I don't have a huge experience with it, but I did just pop off my chain today (with the non-reusable Shimano link which I will certainly be reusing) and put it into a plastic container with some mineral oil for a good cleaning. Its first 150 miles it ran on the Shimano factory lube, which I then cleaned off and replaced with the NFS. The NFS was certainly silent, and relatively clean for an oil-based lube. For cleanliness nothing beats the wax lubes, but this NFS was nice. Giving the chain a good wiping with a rag meant that the chain wasn't all black and gunky, but was still adequately lubed, so so far it's lived up to the hype.

I'll go out into the garage this evening and shake the mineral spirits up again, pull the Dura Ace chain out, and see how much magnetic debris I can pull out of the mineral spirits with my rare earth magnet. The chain's only got a little over 500 miles on it, so any debris is from only 350 miles of well-lubed use in dry conditions here in AZ. The amount of magnetic debris I pulled out after the first 150 miles was pretty astounding to me, and I think I'm going to be astounded again.

noodle soup

Racing Dan

Castor oil is a fine lubricant.

Garfield Cat

The "other people" might just be the pro riders who depend on their pro mechanics who clean the bikes after every ride, even the training rides.

Bob Ross

Wow, I honestly have not heard the phrase "microcrystalline wax" since ~1980 when my roommate used Dax Pomade on his hair. Serious.

cydewaze

I use this. It's a bit of work, but it lasts a long time.

RPK79

Abe_Froman

It really isn't. You just need to have a spare, dedicated crockpot. I just leave the wax in there out in the garage, turn it on before I go out for a ride, dip the chain when I get back, and hang it up on a coat hanger. Throw it back on before my next ride. Realistically...once you've got the setup, it is less work than oiling every couple rides/cleaning with degreaser. You never have to even consider cleaning a waxed drivetrain.

There are a handful of benefits..some make it worthwhile...others not so much IMO. There's allegedly a watt or two savings to be had by waxing that you would have to be pretty OCD to chase if that were the only benefit.

For me, most of my miles are commuting, in normal pants. Gone are the days of all my pants having grease marks on the inside of the right calf. That's the biggest benefit IMO

redlude97

The guy said he was waxing once a week, with chain-l he'd only have to apply once every 2 months and not have to use any degreaser.

Abe_Froman

Hrmm. I was comparing to just regular oil. I've never even heard of chain-l...it appears to be some sort of uber high-mileage lube.

OK, I looked through their site a bit...it seems like it is essentially just grease, or close to it. Uber thick oil of some sort. Probably does last quite a long time, but I'm sure the trade-off is it's horrifically messy. But, like I said, I've got no experience with it.

FBinNY 

10 days after the last one fades from the first page or closes.

It can also vary based on the thread title.

With this one, I'd take the over.

SethAZ 

I do absolutely love being able to handle the chain with minimal dark smudging and whatnot on my hands or anything else that touches the chain. I tried just plain paraffin once (while my moly and teflon powders were in the mail to me) and it was glorious to handle the chain and have literally no marks on my hands at all. With the addition of the moly powder it can leave a little black or gray evidence, but absolutely nothing like a greasy or oily chain will.

I just swapped out my A chain that used factory lube for 150 miles and NFS lube for the next 350 for the B chain, which I degreased right out of the box and put NFS on. After reading such rave comments about NFS in the past I wanted to see how it compares to waxing the chain. So far so good, and if I'm good about a quick wipe with a dry rag after each ride the chain stays pretty clean since it's not swimming in lube. If I actually handle the chain it'll still get black oily residue on me, though.

The freshly waxed chain just feels amazing though.

SethAZ 

FBinNY's sig line will tell you all about it in fact.

Spiduhman

Still goin' with multi-vis semi-synthetic hypoid gear oil + "odorless" mineral spirits 60/40 with a squirt of Teflon juice, on account o' fast, quiet, clean, cheap, an' smells like gear oil.

Tiny tiny drop on each roller, hang to "dry" - the vehicle takes a while to evaporate, wipe wipe wipe with terrycloth rag, mount, run through a terrycloth rag until bored (approx. 32.47 seconds), ride lf.

At current rate, bottle of gear oil will run out just after 74th birthday.