Kontact 

Riding in the wet will lift the wax more rapidly than dry, but wax is not water soluble and rinsing a dirty bike well is not washing away the wax. And wax isn't sticky like oil, so less dust is going to be there in the first place.

Ryan_M

If the bike is wet due to mud I'm addressing it. I like my bikes so I like to take care of them. Yes the chain will go in the wax but that's like 37 seconds of my time to deal with. Cleaning the rest of the bike and displacing all the muddy bits will take much more time.

base2 

For mud, the times my chains have been muddy, the chain is usually dry by the time I get home. A stiff bristle brush is usually enough to remove the gross contaminates. This is where the boiling water comes in if you'd like to be extra thorough. The only reason for the boiling water is the removal of whatever else may be stuck in places a brush can not reach. The whole purpose of both/either step is to avoid contaminating the wax pot with junk unnecessarily. Else wise, you can just dip in the pot and swish around to arrive at the same result.

For dry riding I don't do anything different than plain road riding. The chain is essentially clean already. Just dip, swish, & go.

eduskator

Mine will start making noise after like 100kms but between 100-300kms it will sound the same. After 300km, it gets a lot noisier. I agree with you; an increased noise doesn't mean that it's less lubricated. To me, it's simply an indication that I've passed the 300km mark and that it needs to re-bath. I'm not doing this to increase lifespan. Having a silent drivetrain is a preference of mine.

SpedFast

I do it for the increased life span but especially the quieter drive train. Now the neighbor ladies aren't just bringing me their used candles, but they have a tendency to show up when I'm out in the shed in my lycra riding shorts working up a sweat on the trainer. Is it coincidence? I think not. They can hear my noisy drive train and it alerts them that I'm in the shed and not out on the road. I need to wax more often or close the door on my sweat box

eduskator

Or may-be they wait for any opportunity to see a man working out in lycra?

ls01

medicinal purposes

eduskator

Some folks - like the DYIer Oz Cycle I'm following on YouTube, suggest the following to sterilize / strip-off the chain completely from any lube or grease before its initial wax bath. It may be excessive, but whatever!

1) Fuel, then;
2) Degreaser, then;
3) Denatured Alcohol, then;
4) Rince with hot water and let it dry.

KJ43

So all that instead of just 10 minutes in a mason jar with Silca's Chain Stripper and a quick rinse with water? Sounds ridiculous to me but ok.

eduskator

The question is, which one is more effective?

To me, all products sold by bike companies is bullcrap. Their ''secret blend'' wax being one of them. It's the industry's reaction to the gen pop realizing that 1$ store candles can effectively lubricate a bike chain for an entire season. They need to continue making profit, that's for sure.

KJ43

I just stripped 5 chains with a half bottle and they went right into the wax and everything was perfect. I like supporting companies that support cycling and if you want to believe that they are trying to rip people off just for trying to make a living and get paid for the research they do that's your prerogative.

Kontact 

What does "support cycling" mean? Are you saying Silca does something for bicycling infrastructure, sponsors young racers or something like that?

eduskator

Thank you for stealing my words!

Food grade paraffin wax = 5$ (or 1$ candles if you're cheaper)
Bag of Silca super-duper-secret-blend wax pellets = 40$

Will invest my 35-39$ in local coffee shops when riding.

KJ43

C'mon.....does this really require an in depth discussion? I suppose this is BF where people pick apart the most inconsequential bs and discuss ad-nauseum. It's a company that is enthusiastic enough to do research and development for cycling products that they sell to cyclists. If you watch the videos that Josh and team produce you can tell how much they are into it. To me that's enough to use the term "support cycling". I have to laugh at anyone that thinks people are making huge profits in small company like this aren't in it for the love of cycling.

KJ43

If only there was someone out there looking into this as far as quality of lubricant and cost over mileage.....

Zero Friction Cycling Lubricant Testing

But please, keep using your crappy candle wax, not supporting the cycling industry, and spending more over time. I don't mind at all.

eduskator

Do you need a hug or something? I can give you one

KJ43

Haha. No thanks but I appreciate the offer. Funny to see how the candle wax actually seems to have a higher cost to run over 10,000km though.

BTW...there's a waxing FAQ where they discuss the whole OZ thing and DIY waxing.

Eric F 

Do you feel that all those steps are necessary? For new chains, I've been shaking them in a bath of Muc-Off Drivetrain Cleaner and rinsing them in water. Seems like it comes out pretty clean to me. That said, I'm only using the Silca drip on wax.

eduskator

I do feel it's necessary because I trust Oz Cycle, but I don't believe I'm going to get 5000 more kms out of a single chain because of this. Honestly, I would be OK with just dipping it in fuel overnight and shaking it good, but I like doing this kind of stuff so I don't mind the extra steps.

Kontact 

You just linked to a site that shows that candle wax is better than any oil.

Not everyone thinks that cycling needs to get more and more expensive until only the wealthy are welcome - enthusiastic wealthy or not

KJ43

Lol. Way to miss the point.

Kontact 

I'm not sure what point you are making by talking about the enthusiasm level of the employees of luxury goods companies being good for cycling in general.

base2 

If candle wax is better and cheaper than oil, What's your point? I think you've missed the point. Candles are basically free and yield longer component lifespans than oil if properly attended to..

Anyone who uses oil deserves all the premature replacement costs they bring upon themselves. If anything, the poor should be the ones who are waxing. Who cares what the rich enthusiasts do?

1 pound of wax = ~408ml (because of density)

Assuming each waxing session uses approximately 5ml of wax 408/5=81 uses per pound. Even at the outrageously high cost of $30 per pound (Molten Speed Wax) divided by 81 waxings the cost comes to less than 37¢ per complete chain flush/cleaning/lubing session. But here's the kicker! A 3 pound purchase of MSW at $59 comes to 24¢ per session.

A bottle of Rock-N-Roll Gold at $8 contains 117ml of oil. At 20 drops to a milliliter x 112 drops per chain equals 5.6ml of oil per lube session. 117ml per bottle divided by 5.6ml equals 20.89 lubes per $8 bottle. $8/20.9=38¢ per lube. And that doesn't include the cost of cleaner/degreaser or the time involved in a bunch of other necessary every single time.

In every single dimension from a raw materials and time cost wax is equal or cheaper than oil. The poor non-enthusiast should wax...And to think, I didn't even figure the cost of chains and cassettes that will last the poor way way longer than any that are oiled.

KJ43

The point is we are not talking about oil we are talking about immersive waxing.

If you really read through the links I posted you would see that their testing came away with two main points when it comes to candle wax versus the Silca, Mspeedwax, or other blends.

The candle wax is inferior as a lubricant to the "luxury" wax blends. It is also more expensive over 10,000 km at least compared to the Silca Hot Melt and a couple other blends.

Not sure how a 40 dollar bag of wax that will probably last me for the year if not longer is for rich people, but thanks for the laugh.

Kontact 

I feel like you didn't read the exchange that lead to what you're quoting. The other poster thinks candle wax is crap.