lyrictenor1

Same here.

If I'm really pressed for time and the chain needs attention (it happens), I always have a bottle of White Lightning I can put on the chain in a pinch.

dooderooni

I follow the advice of Oz Cycle on YouTube.
Wipe the chain after every ride then when it comes time to re-wax, melt a big IKEA candle in a slow cooker/crock pot, plunge the chain and wait for it to stop releasing bubbles. Turn off the heat and leave the chain in until the wax starts to skin over. Lift chain out and immediately run it under cold water to fix the wax into the rollers. After that you just need to wipe/brush the excess off the plates.

Living in the UK, my bikes see plenty of rain and the wax stands up to the elements well.

Psimet2001 

We've gone around and around with this over the years (our shop and our racers and teams). The reduced power output associated with wax is attractive to some racers but the vast majority of the fastest racers I know don't have the time to mess with that. They don't care and will run whatever is on hand. To be honest I am simply happy if they ever use any lube. We have had an in house formula for wet lube for years. It was very similar to Chain-L. I changed it a while back as it was simply too heavy. Our new formulation is a wet lube but is dry to the touch and doesn't leave behind nearly the mess that the previous version did. It's been great for road and cross around this time of year.

Only chiming in here as a bit of a placeholder. We have been working on a waxing setup/formulation and system. Idea is to take the work out of it for the racers themselves. We have ideas on that front. We'll see how that pans out.

DrIsotope

I bought a second crockpot last week (the lure of adjustable temperature) as well as a bag of Molten Speedwax (thanks to an Amazon store credit) and a bottle of Slick 50 (thanks to @B._Carfree for that idea.) So the Little Dipper is filled with paraffin and about 4oz of Slick 50, and the new pot has the Molten Speedwax. If you're maintaining one bike, you really can't go wrong with the Molten. One bag would probably last two years, and it's dead simple to use. Chain feels very slick.

The bike with Slick 50 + paraffin only has a couple of rides on it, but the initial impressions are wholly favorable. The chain is clean and very quiet. Dry to the touch, no feeling of oiliness or tackiness. And seeing as a bottle of Slick 50 and 10lbs of wax would last a person 5+ years for the cost of a less than 2 bags of Molten, it might be the way to go for someone (like myself) maintaining four bikes. The testing continues.

sdmc530

@DrIsotope
I too am playing with formulas. I really like waxing. I started with straight MSpeedwax. Now I am comparing that to just plain Gulf wax to see if there is an advantage to buying the fancy stuff. I was really impressed with the MSW though. I have about 4 crock pots now with "mixes" in them for trying out. I have tried a wax/ptfe/moly deal that was the old school formula, that was my first comparison and it was a pain in the rear to mix so I gave up, not worth the mixing and it was not clearly an advantage over standard MSW.

I am really interested to see if strait Gulf is comparable to MSW.

DrIsotope

I only have ~200 miles since I started the crockpot with MSW, but I have nothing but positive impressions so far. Chain is clean and quiet, as it should be. I had also attempted my own version of the Friction Facts Formula, but could never seem to get it mixed properly. Powdered PTFE is a pain in the arse. As it sits now, I'm going to stick with MSW on the rod bike chain (as it pretty much doesn't go out in the wet, so that 1lb bag should last a good year or more,) and tinker with the mix on the other 3 bikes. After all, I still have 8+ pounds of straight paraffin wax.

RGMN

I use the Friction Fact formula and it seems to last a little longer than straight paraffin wax. As for mixing, get a powered milk frother. Ikea has them for $3. I have no issues mixing in the PTFE and moly using it, while I had clumps when trying to do it by hand.

redlude97

how many of your are actually getting good life in the rain with the speedwax or paraffin? Deciding if i should switch the commuter back to Chain-L now that its fender time. Every time I've been caught out in the rain so far this summer its gotten noisier and I always redipped afterwards(rotated chains) but with steady rain for weeks that becomes too much of a chore.

TMonk

Waxing becomes less viable in rainier climates. In San Diego it's great.

robbyville

sdmc530

ManyBikess

Prolink

Racing Dan

Can anyone confirm or deny that lubes like white lightening or Squirt is in reality just repurposed liquid auto wax. Was sampling a bottle at the local auto parts store the other day, taking a drop on my finger. The resemblance to bike chain wax was striking. I know it sounds silly but is it ? :-)

DrIsotope

Most automotive waxes (non synthetic) are carnauba based (palm trees!) not paraffin-based, so not the same. As most anything will work as a chain lube, I guess palm oil or carnauba wax would work... at least for awhile.

Squirt is "slack wax," even simpler than any car wax. It's like, pre-paraffin. Unrefined. Wax + 10-12% oil.

Racing Dan

So what is the difference between wax and oil and how do you dissolve it? MSDS for squirt says it contains water, suggesting some kind of emulsion. To me its a mystery no one has come up with DIY squirt. Is it really that hard or do you need ingredients not commonly available?

sdmc530

the guy from Australia, Oz I think his name is, a proponent for waxing chains. He has a video with a home make "squirt" wax for in between waxing of his chains. Its on youtube, I will go search it out.

I too switched to wax but just have multiple chains ready to go so I don't need mess with the squirt stuff. I am lucky though to be in a very dry climate and have very few issues with waxing.

u235

Years of extensive research and testing to get just the right formula. Anything else just isn't good enough

Racing Dan

Yeah, or someone ran out of oil and tried lubing their bike with wifeys DIY hand moisturiser or something :-)

Racing Dan

Ive seen that. It contains some nasty chemicals? A water based emulsion would be more interesting, I think.

woodcraft

My default lube until seeing it rate pretty much dead last in tests of both friction and wear.

ARPRINCE

Tried this for half a season on both my bikes (eTap , mech Ultegra). It's cleaner for sure but I can't stand the squeaking drive train. It just doesn't run as smooth as well, IMHO. I switched back to Dumonde Tech, no squeaks.

frogman

I agree 100%. I usually use Boeshield T-9 and like you I wipe the chain after every ride and relube as needed. Periodically I also dismantle the chain and swish it around in a jar of mineral spirits, relube and reinstall. Great minds think alike !

Cyclist0108

Squirt is paraffin, slack wax (a paraffin precursor) and water. It is from South Africa, BTW.

Wattsup

That was an old post. I don't do that any more. I ride a lot of gravel and mud, and the chain gets all grindy. These days I use White Lightning Clean ride. I usually squirt some on before I put the bike in the car to drive to the trail head. Takes 30 seconds. I never have to clean the chain. I squirt some on before every ride. Easy peasy.

canklecat

Yup, that's why I having yet committed to using the powdered PTFE I bought a few months ago in the crock pot with wax.

Rock 'n' Roll Absolute Dry and Gold use PTFE and it settles rapidly and needs to be shaken up vigorously during use to keep it mixed in suspension. After using those lubes for a few months I'm not sure how PTFE could be reliably mixed in wax., unless I figure out how to shake a hot crock pot without scalding everything. I considered a small mixer (I think you've mentioned that before), but it seems like a waste of money for something that probably won't work well enough to get the PTFE into the chain bearing surfaces.

I may just save the PTFE powder to mix up my own homebrewed "dry" lube with naphtha.