waynesulak

I recently decided to attempt waxing the chains on our primary tandem. We don’t ride this tandem in the rain very often and the idea of clean chains made me want to give it a try.

Old Chain Oiling Procedure :

1. Remove original lube from new chain by placing it in a half gallon container with paint thinner and shaking for some time and then draining the thinner and letting the chain air dry.

2. Soaking chain in Boeshield T9 lube

3. Air dry

4. Install chain with reusable link

5. One weekly or every 100-150 miles, (200-300 miles for sync chain) or after a wet ride, wipe chain with rag and apply some Boeshield T9, wipe again with rag. This is done weekly because after about that time shifting seems to degrade slightly with the chain moving less crisply between rear cogs.

6. Shifting is very good but chain is black and oily. The oil is easier to clean or wipe off than normal oil or grease but still leaves some black residue.

7. Chain stays on bike until worn and then thrown away.

Chain waxing procedure:

1. Remove original lube from new chain by placing it in a half gallon container with paint thinner and shaking for some time and then draining the thinner and letting the chain air dry.

2. Rinse chain in hot water by shaking in container similar to above. Drain but do not air dry.

3. Wax chain using method explained by Tandem Geek in other posts.

4. Replace chain each week 100-150 (200-300 miles for sync chain) miles or after a wet ride.

5. Dirty chains procedure

a. Rinse chain in hot water by shaking in container similar to above. Drain but do not air dry.
b. Wax chain as above.

I wax four or five chains at a time so that basically I wax once a month or so and on intervening weekly periods I simply swap out a fresh waxed chain for a dirty one.

Results:

• Shiny chain and cassette are striking when you are used to a dark oily parts.

• It appears that the chain does not slip from cog to cog quite as easily when using wax as when I was using Boeshield. Shifting feels similar to a Boeshield lubricated chain after missing a weekly lubrication. The shifts still work but are a little louder.

• A few dark wax chips are deposited on the chain stay but not many. I do wipe the freshly waxed chains when hot so there is not much excess wax thrown from the chain. The wax chips can easily be removed with a rag or paper towel.

• Touching the chain may leave a few black wax chips on the skin but otherwise no marks. Chips are easily removed.

• Since I continue to use Boeshield on our rain tandem, there has not been much experience in the rain. We rode the final 10 miles in the rain on one ride with no squeaking. I did swapped chains after the ride.

Conclusion:

I will continue to wax chains. The additional monthly waxing is offset by the time saved cleaning the bike. The added bling and clean nature of the chains are worth it to me.

diabloridr

I'm probably beating a dead horse, but what struck me about the T9 soaking procedure is that is uses much more oil than needed, with probably 99% of it going where it doesn't provide lubrication and only creates a mess.

I'd suggest placing a drop on each link as an alternative to try. You should get more than adequate lubrication and eliminate much of the oily residue.

Just my $0.02.

waynesulak

I tend to agree that the less chain lube the better. On my bikes using T9, I plan to no longer soak chains but use the drip method from day one as I was doing after installation in the original procedure.

T9 is a pretty nice lube and if left alone to dry it will dry clear. It does like any lube trap the dark by product of chain wear and road grime and the result is a dirty chain. I believe that the wax also traps the chain wear and road grime but flakes off minimizing its accumulation on the chain. Instead there are only a few dark flakes on the chain at any one time and a constant slow shedding until all the wax is gone.

Chains wear with any lube and the metal ground away has to go somewhere. It is just a question of it staying on the chain in sticky chain lube or being shed in wax flakes. In addition a sticky lube picks up other dirt which wax does not.

zonatandem

Been an avid user of the hot wax method on our tandems/singles since the 1970s.
Living in Arizona with minimal rain (but lots of dust) we easily get 4,000+ miles between waxings.
At first 'squeak' from chain we re-wax. Yes you can re-use the wax several times.
Super clean and non-oily chains are a pleasure!
Quick/economical/effective for us.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem