ToiletSiphon

So I recently tried waxing my chains doing the procedure described by moltenspeedwax. Not too much of an hassle. The drivetrain runs super silent, but it seems that shifting to smaller cogs in the back doesn't always work super smoothly, while going up the cassette doesn't seem to be problematic.
I've observed this on both my road and mountain bikes. Both were shifting flawlessly prior to switching to wax. Has anyone had similar issues with wax?

ksryder

znomit

Might be time to change the short rear shift cable housing.

ToiletSiphon

It's brand new

silverado8405

When I was waxing mu chains I had two KMC and one SRAM chain. The KMC chains never had an issue but the SRAM chain exhibited similar symptoms as to what you’re describing. Why it did it I have no idea but for the two week rotation that I had that chain on I adjusted the rear slightly and then adjusted back when I took it off.

g321

I've been using Molten Speed Wax for around 6 months on KMC (DLC) and SRAM Red chains. Not that I'm in the 11-12-13 cogs very often but I've never had problems going up and down the cassette. I'd say the only time shifting is "eh" is when I first slap a newly waxed chain on, but within 5 miles shifting is normal.

MSchott

No expert but isn’t the reason we treat a chain is so the pins are lubricated. Shifting has to do with derailleur adjustment all else being correct.

trailangel

Chain-L never did this. I knew there was a problem with this wax stuff.

LAJ

I would go back to the lube you were using prior to trying the wax.

masi61

+1 to the idea that things normalize pretty quickly. You say you are following the directions precisely from Molten Speed Wax. I would be curious if you are bending all the individual links to free them up before installing the chain? If you do this, the chain will shift a little quicker right away without the 5 miles of break-in as noted above. I would prefer it to be stiff at the beginning and to have ever so sluggish shifting for a bit. This is because with this condition, the chain is going to be nicely waxed and remain silent longer. If you pre-flex he links, some Wax will flake off and it will free up any slightly stiff links. The only downside to this is that the Wax will have to be renewed sooner if you are bothered by chain noise. I have found that after about 200 or 250 miles I tend to hear not a squeaking but sort of sloshing sound while in the small (or smaller) chainring and under full climbing torque.

popeye

If you have a smaller bike the chain line becomes more problematic.

jideta

My only experience with wax has been with Rock and Roll (blue and red) and Dumond Tech.
While shifting wasn't bad it wasn't exactly stellar either. Clunky maybe.
Definitely smoother with stuff like ProGold or Boeshield.
I use Chain-l now.
I did continue to use Rock and Roll blue on my beater bike and never had problems though I rarely shifted through the cassette and the chain got quite a build up on it as I never cleaned it.

RGMN

I use some homebrew chain wax and I get some delayed shifting for the first few miles. After that it's fine. It just needs to work out some of the extra wax. If I really need it to shift quickly immediately I cross chain it first on the low-low then the high-high for a few hundred feet each. After that it shifts normally.

kingston 

I'm on my 4th season with wax and am currently running wax lube on 8 bikes. No problems shifting on any of them.

sdmc530

I am a MSW wax user myself. I too have some shifting "stickiness" for the first 10ish miles on a freshly waxed chain but its never an issue after that. I been very pleased with MSW!

canklecat

Try some Boeshield T9 on the waxed chain. It leaves a thin layer of paraffin and seems compatible with waxed chains. I use it to touch up my waxed chains between re-dipping chains in the crock pot with Gulf wax.

And, yeah, waxed chains can be stiff for the first ride. The excess wax flakes off after several shifts up and down the cog range. It's less an issue with my 7-speed bikes. Might be more an issue with other bikes.