eduskator

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. General consensus can also be scientifical (IE, a series of tests done and repeated several times with the same result). I don't believe there is such thing as pre-waxing aside from the initial sterilization.

I don't believe in bike specific chain cleaner nor bike specific wax recipe neither. These companies have a vested interest in profit - they can't be impartial. Good old food grade paraffin wax or even dollar store candles seems to be doing the job very well.

If one of you is looking for empirical data, check out OzCycle's YouTube channel. The guy is not a scientist, but he's a DYIer with lots of knowledge in the cyling industry who ran a series of tests with different wax brand and formulas. The results are interesting.

flangehead

98 bottles of beer on the wall
98 bottles of beer
take one down pass it around
97 bottles of beer on the wall

TMonk

I meant contaminating the pot with road grit and grime. Sorry for not clarifying. That doesn't bother me so much.

Good idea about the basket though, that's smart and fairly light. Solvent cleanings, cassette cleaning, boiling water chain cleaning, I don't do any of that. New chains get an overnight soak in degreaser, single tap water rinse, then wax pot only until its time for a new chain. I can't be bothered with much more or any other chain maintenance until it's time for a new one.

Troul 

I use a metal mesh screen [old storm door] resting on top of a thin piece of like material [aluminum] to elevate it up just enough to keep the foreign debris away from the submerged component.
it helps but can add to the complexity for others that don't want to go that far.

msu2001la

I think I'm going to start waxing the chain on my kid's 20" bike.
I cleaned it up a few days ago and it was disgusting - so much gunk and grime.

tomato coupe

The bike or the kid?

eduskator

Not complex at all, and I think it's a must. Debris and particles fall at the bottom of the pot - the chain needs to not touch it.

This is what my cleaning container (fuel) looks like after 2 deep clean. I put the chain in it, shake it for a minute or two and let it rest overnight. I don't think anyone would want to clean another chain in this without removing the crap at the bottom first.

msu2001la

Are you doing this every time you wax, or just the initial waxing? If you're cleaning a previously waxed chain, wouldn't a lot of that gunk just be old wax?

eduskator

Initial and once per year after each season and before winter storage. I have more than one bike though!

msu2001la

OK, so I've been doing this immersive waxing thing for like 8 weeks now. Loving how clean my drivetrain stays.
I'm basically swapping chains every 10-14 days and immediately re-waxing the one I took off, so I've always got a freshly waxed chain ready to go.

The wax in my pot has been re-melted 4-5 times now. Silca seems to indicate that I can get 40+ wax jobs out of a bag of wax. Does this sound right? Does the wax get dirty and unusable at some point, or will I just eventually run out of wax in the pot (because each time a little stays on the chain and presumably flakes off while riding)? I'm not really cleaning the chains between waxings - just wiping them off with a microfiber cloth.

The Silca wax is dark grey, so I can't really tell if it's clean or dirty. The chains look clean when I pull them out.

Anyway, just wondering what others experiences are with how many chains they were able to wax with a single bag of wax.

Troul 

I would create an elevated porous tray for the chain to rest on while it's being waxed.
if you get 30 uses, that is fair. 40 might be hard to net. It'll likely get too low for the chain to be fully submerged.
Doing two chains at a time seems to be best for my use.

GhostRider62

I only solvent clean between waxing if I road in bad conditions. Otherwise, the chain goes straight into the wax for a good period of time. When it comes out, I let it drip into the crock and then wipe off the excess and once it cools a touch, it goes onto the bike. I usually replace the wax around 12-15,000 miles. So, maybe 20-25 wax jobs. No real reason or rationale. I also use drip wax in-between immersion wax jobs and get say about 5-600 miles on an immersion that way. I never wipe the chain, fearing I am driving something into the plate/pin areas.

Sy Reene

i was wondering if anyone used something like a steamer basket in the crockpot -- something like this:

robbiesd

Once you set yourself up and get a 2nd, 3rd chain going then hot wax is the best and least frequent method IMO. And always a clean drive! Make your hot wax pot stay cleaner longer by rinsing old wax out of your chain with boiling water and drying before re-waxing. Use Simple Green if you need something stronger to clean it with. A colander is a useful tool for pre-cleaning as is a tea pot for boiling the water. Once you get it down it's quick, clean and easy.

robbiesd

Telling when your wax gets dirty is impossible with anything but opaque wax. Just PTFE in your parafin IMO. And pre-cleaning the chains with boiling water helps keeps keep the hot wax pot clean and extend the life of each batch. If you can get the cold plug of wax out of your pot you can scrape the bottom of any solids that have accumulated and sunk but if you've added PTFE is also sinks so you'll be scraping it away as well. I think better practice to keep the wax as clean as you can by pre-cleaning chain. And like Troul I have a faux screen bottom in my hot pot to keep the chain out of and accumulated solids/crap laying on the bottom.

robbiesd

Brake cleaner works wonders cleaning greased chains prior to waxing is you're not opposed to using solvents. But a grease free chain is required to get the wax to coat/stick.

Kai Winters

I'm a big fan of immersive waxing.
I participated in a 46 mile road race this past Saturday and we raced in torrential downpours for nearly the entire race.
I expected the wax, I use Silca wax, to be gone after such an ordeal but was happy to see it was still there and doing its job. I did replace the chain with the next one in line.
I have several chains in the lineup pre-waxed and ready to go. As its been said it is easier to wax several at one time and have them ready to go.

Mojo31

For those who use ultrasonic cleaning machines, what type of cleaning fluid are you using?

msu2001la

The steamer baskets seem like a good idea - I'll have to see if I can find one that will fit into my mini crock pot.

phrantic09

It’s probably good for 3-3.5 hours in the rain- I did a gravel race a year ago for 4.5 hours in a steady rain and it was completely washed out the last 16 miles or so

longpete

Emtb tandem. 11 speed DI2. Oiled chains : one XT 11-42 cassette and 3 wipperman black-gold chains worn 0.5+casette skipping at 3000km. Chains did break frequently.
Real mess when broken oiled chain falls in the sand.
3 hot waxed cheap linkglide chains, deore 11-42 cassette: well over 5000km. Rewax every 10 to 15 hours depending rain or not. After ride in the mud clean with denatured alcohol and put chain in microfiber cloth to prevent rusting.
When measuring wear chain is good for at lest another 5000km.Steel chainwheels no wear.
Solo mtb 3 deore 12 speed chains, slx 10-51 cassette. Over 10000 km. But alu 51 (used a lot and bad chain line) is coming to his end. Next time steel deore 11-51.
Wax the chains of all bikes at the same time. 12 chains, say 1 hour of work for 120 to 180 hours of riding. Ad 30 minutes for cleaning with denatured alcohol and changing chains. 90 minutes work for 180 hours riding. Putting a drop of oil on evrey ling after 5 hours of riding, wiping of exces oil the day aftre, cleaing the chain aftre a muddy ride. 36*5 minutes =180 minutes for 180 hours riding.. And always dirty hands and othe rthings. Risk of contaminating rotors etc.

crazyravr

Next time you do your waxing, turn the pot on and after a bit, lift the wax out. You will see how dirty it is when you look at the bottom. If there is some crap in there, just place something inside the pot to raise the chain off the bottom. Use the was for as long as you can submerge the chain in it.

msu2001la

Like this?

crazyravr

Yeap. Crap will fall down and you will be left with clean wax all the time.

SpedFast

I turn the heat on and when the wax loosens from the walls of the container I dump it out and scrape off the bottom 1/8" or so. Then throw it back in and continue. But I like the strainer idea. Seems it might be a tad awkward with my little pot and do you leave it in the wax or not when you're finished?