Watch This BEFORE Waxing Your Bike Chain! 

As others have said, it’s more about the cleanliness than it is the marginal gains in efficiency, with extending the drivetrain life a being a nice bonus. I do spend more time waxing, but I spend less time cleaning, compared to using oil based lubes. I figure it comes out about even, time wise. But in the meantime, being able to throw the bike into the back of a car, or take it on a plane, train, or bus, without having to worry about what a greasy chain is going to come into contact with is awesome. I know plenty of people who rarely to never clean their drivetrains except for maybe a quick wipe down and squirting some more oil on it. I get it, that is way less work, and waxing likely isn’t for you. But if you are the kind of person who cleans their drivetrain regularly, you just might find that putting that same time and energy into waxing gives you a more satisfying result.

I don’t care about the marginal gains… I love the clean drive train!

Loved your chain waxing tutorial! All my bikes have waxed chains (wax laced with PTFE). When my wife didn't want me to use her crock pot ceramic container I called the manufacturer to order a second container. The sales person was so intrigued that I wanted to melt paraffin in their crockpot that they offered to send me the entire crockpot free, and they were true to their word! PS. Oz Cycle in Australia also has a good tutorial on how to was your chains.

I’ve been molten waxing for almost 2 years now following the procedure offered by Oz cycle. I’ll never to back to chain oil or other types of lubes. The chain stays clean, fixing rear flats on the road is totally no mess, and if the drive train longevity pans out, all the better!

Something I haven't seen mentioned - get 2 chains so you can rotate them every 200 miles or so. That way you'll always have one ready to swap out when you start "hearing the chain" and/or after a wet ride. No more babysitting after the first prep and wax cycle. Also, you'll want to use quick links for easier swapping.

I've found that waxing is godsent if you live in an apartment. For me, cleaning greasy drivetrain is waaay more PITA than waxing unless you have a garage or an open space. Waxing is super easy once your setup is dialled in. It is also much cheaper in the long run. This is especially true if you live in a dry and dusty climate, as the combination of grease and fine sand flying in the air is an abrasion nightmare for all moving parts

I’ve been using the Oz method for a couple of years now. Can attest to longevity - my current Ultegra chain is reading just slightly less than .25 and it has 8,675.4 Km on it. I don’t wax as often as most and I use Squirt between waxing sessions. This chain has probably been dip waxed 4 or 5 times. For cleaning, I have a small kettle and I boil the chain directly in the kettle a few times. The old wax just floats up in the kettle and then I pour it through a coffee filter/funnel to capture the wax for garbage disposal. You don’t want that hardening in your drain pipes. Optional quick ultrasonic bath with a bio-friendly degreaser then follow that with a dip in alcohol and your chain is squeaky clean. I use mason jars to rinse with alcohol and deep clean a new chain. If you leave the jars alone for a while, the residue will settle out and you can reuse the solvents - just pour off the clean solvent into another jar.

I've been immersion waxing now for about 5,000 miles. (Same chain, from new, still not worn out). The maintenance is so much easier and that's enough to make me a convert. I use Hot Tub Chain Wax which comes as solid puck inside a plastic tub and I just double boil in a normal pot over the stove with water in it. The process is super fast and I have been getting about 500 miles between waxes. Much easier than the instapot method. Cheers!

I've been waxing chains since the mid-70s. Home made mix back then, paraffin, graphite powder, moly-disulfide and some motor oil. I used my backpacking stove and an old frying pan from a mess kit. Now I run Squirt wax lube and find that works quite well.

Declaring that specially for MULTIPLE BIKES / Chains - its really economical. Waxing multiple chains at ones and store / rotate them is really economical and time saver - would make this video perfect. 👋

I cant understand why people wait for the "crust-phase" when they wax chains. The only thing that leads to is more wax on the outside of the chain where it is just going to flake off anyways and make cleanup worse. No matter how hot the wax is, the important parts on the inside will be coated with wax and the wax will stay there due to capillary effects and surface tension. I pulled out a chain I forgot in the slow cooker last week when the wax was already smoking from the high heat. When I trimmed the chain lengh after cooldown, I noticed the rollers were packed with wax regardless of the high temperature.

I love how pampered my bike feels when I'm done cleaning it and putting on a freshly waxed chain

I am a covert. I will never use any other method until technology ends the need for chains. I get many many miles with zero dirt and grime. After a few times, my speed to perform the wax ritual is pretty quick as well. Great video, I picked up a couple ideas to streamline the process as well.

I’m an all in chain waxer, no real wear and it is clean, no grease marks on your right calf. A few things. 1. I do boil the chain before rewaxing to prevent small road debris and sand from getting into the wax in the insta-pot that could make it’s way back into the chain and cause wear. 2. Breaking the chain and cleaning out the links after waxing is tedious and hard on the hands and fingers, but it gets the chain up to speed faster and less dried wax everywhere. I do the chain breaking over a garbage can. 3. There can be a build up of wax between first and second cog (12 & 11 spd ) that could lift the chain off the cog in the first gear and cause the chain to skipver the gear, so take a dental tool and clean out the wax periodically between the first and second cogs. 4. I clean off the chain after every ride with a chain brush to remove any road dirt. Other than those issues I will continue to hot wax my chains. NOTE: It does make it easier if you have two chains to alternate so your bike is not out of commission.

Thanks for making this one. Home brew wax and PTFE all this year and so happy with how clean and how easy to clean the drive train is even in the mucky British winter, no messy cleaning or degreaser and dirty lube getting washed down the drain or on rags in the bin. Quick link makes re-waxing a breeze.

Great for some climates, but not others (in my experience). At this time of year here in Seattle I find that a waxed chain will start to show rust, and sound squeaky, after 3 or four days of rainy commutes. Maybe the particular brand of wax you're using would improve that, but I'm probably not going to bother trying. I use NFS lube (Nixfrixshun), which relies on you wiping the chain down after every ride, and re-lubing whenever it seems appropriate. Works well.

Geeking out on bike stuff is fun. As a bike racer, I was a weight weenie, and I did all sorts of things to get marginal gains. I worshipped the bike first. I enjoyed it. Now I’m old, and I’m still enjoying messing with bikes, but now it’s single speeds, and English 3speeds. It’s just fun. Waxing is the best way to have a clean drive train, and less rolling resistance, if you have the time. After 41 years of being a bike geek, bikes are just cool, and whatever turns your crank just do it. I enjoy your channel, and even as a racer in the 80s, 90s, 2000s, I’ve always enjoyed the the party pace, and was a big fan of Grant, Bridgestone, and Rivendell. It’s always been about the bike!

I use a small $15 crock pot for waxing only and do it once a month for my three bikes. I make it a monthly ritual of maintenance with toping off the tire sealant and going over the bikes and whatever issues need to get fixed, etc.

I've been doing it for about eleven years and it substantially extends the chain life. That said your have to make sure the chain is cleaned with strong solvent like petrol, kerosene or diesel and well agitated. Not only does it remove the old wax and road grit it removes the very fine iron particles that would normally act as grinding paste. If you don't believe there is much iron particles, just drop a Neodymium magnet into the used solvent for a couple of hours and see how much is pulled out of suspension. The wax needs to be a soft mix ie 70% wax (paraffin/candle wax) 10% high temp marine greas and 20% 20W50 oil. Just wax is too dry and too high a softening temperature. You want the mix to soften and act as a lubricant quickly but not flick off the chain. Also it needs to be dry enough so sand and grit is less likely to stick to the wax as it does to just grease or oil. The next important condition is clean the chain every 100-200km and re apply the cold wax mix to the chain before each ride by spinning the cranks and holding the wax block against the chain to give it a light coating. The chain should be clean and perfectly dry before submerging the chain into the molten wax ~50-60Deg C. Turn off heat and leave the chain for around 15 min you should see tiny bubbles coming out of the chain. that is the air being displaced out of the voids between the rollers and pins. Allowing it to cool a little in the wax means wax will be drawn into those voids and protect the chain. when the wax is just beginning to form a skin use a wire hook and pull the chain out of the molten wax and lay it on a cool clean hard surface, don't put it on a rag as it will wick out the wet wax. Yes it is fiddly but chains will last 4-5 chains and dramatically extend the life of rings and clusters plus no lubricant splatter or rusty chains. Ta the end of a ride don't use any detergents on the chain just hose cold water spray to dislodge sand or trail grit.

The biggest standout thing after I started chain-waxing was the cleanliness. After a super-dusty spring gravel ride in CA, my bike frame had dust stuck in lots of places, but the chain itself was almost perfectly clean. Less friction paste inside the chain links means fewer lost watts, but also means more durable drivetrain. I care more about the durability, some care more about the watts, but they go together. Some of the tech folks at CyclingTips who've been pushing this, have largely moved to drip-on wax lube - which gives similar gains but more convenience. Still gotta get grease out of, and keep if off of, the drivetrain system though. Note: not everything advertised as "wax lube" real wax-based (e.g., Finish Line's products, which apparently score poorly on both wattage and durability tests as well).

8 years of waxing my chains. Whether my chains last longer or save watts I honestly can't comment but I love it. My bike is so clean.

Started waxing my chain few months ago when I installed a new microshift advent drivetrain. Love the clean drivetrain for commuting.

Switched to wax on my road bike this year and I'm sold on the longevity of it. I use Speedwax and don't really wait for the wax to cool down like you did, but I've doubled the life of my chain so far and love it! I use a heated stir plate and a beaker with a stir bar in it to heat my wax. Melts much faster than an instapot. I re-wax around 1000 miles, where I was regularly lubing a chain every ~200 miles. Huge time saver as well!

Another reason I use a Rohloff gear system , Yes the initial cost is quite high but ,I don't have to worry about constant maintenance & the chain lasts a lot longer ,over time it's worth it for me .

I have been waxing my chain for years and years.. I remember as a small boy being caught melting down candles in moms best pot. Once you get a routine down it's simple. I rotate three chains, that way you only have to rewax all three after a lot of miles. The best part is how clean the drive train is. Still looks new after thousands of miles. And the wax does not pick up grit that wears out the drive train. I use molten speedwax. Its also really economical as you can get a year of riding out of a 19 dollar packet. Goodbye to chain ring tattoos, hello to clean, quite, long lasting drive train.

I prefer the Rock n Roll Gold, cleans and lubes and takes non of this extra time. I have too many Dad bikes to maintain to do this. If I know its going to be more sloppy for a bit, Tri-Flow and Finish Line Heavy. I really like the Rock n Roll though.

Great video as always Russ! Couple of thoughts 1. I drop my chain on top of the cold wax, turn on the insta-pot, and as the wax melts the chain gets submerged. Saves some time waiting for the wax to melt. 2. I have a larger (8 quart?) Insta-Pot, enough room to do two chains. Helps space out the wax application frequency. 3. The effectiveness of the boiling water clean will depend on the level of contamination. If the chain is subjected to a particularly nasty ride or is topped off a number of times with a drip lube, a boiling water flush and a degrease maybe necessary. But that type of cleaning would be necessary no matter the lube. 4. No matter what your lube choice is, the point is keeping a clean drivetrain. In most cases Hot wax makes follow up drivetrain cleaning an easier job. And a clean drive train means spending less money on cassettes, chains and chainrings and more on PLP stickers!

I ride an eBike and its my daily driver, rarely use my car. nearly 9,000km last year and my biggest problem is chain wear and having to replace drivetrain components. I will be giving this a go, as anything that extends my chain life is great. I had never heard of this, thanks Russ.

I'm a waxing devotee and have my "recipe" for doing it. I watch other youtube clips as there's always a new idea out there. This clip was pretty much my way of doing things and so the only suggestion I have is for the temperatures to be given for when the chain went in to the cauldron, and for the temperatures to be given in Celsius (as used by the world outside of the US). My own slow cooker was bought used on ebay, collected locally, cost $6, and is not allowed close to the kitchen!

I’ve been using wax for several years now. I use a recipe similar to @OzCycle, but at a higher temperature, which I find promotes much better adhesion. I did try Molten once (Wax + PTFE + MoS2), but the moly gets everywhere, which I didn’t like. I usually do a 20-30 minute soak, which I’m sure is longer than necessary, but I did find 5 minutes to be too short. I haven’t tried letting the wax cool to 140ºF, but IME when working at higher >220ºF temps there’s enough adhesion to make the wax bond strongly with the chain, and I really don’t like the thick layer of wax that flakes off the chain from cooler wax. The combination of hot wax plus Wipperman chains doesn’t show any where after several thousand miles, IME.

I made 5 gallons of chain cleaner / lubricant years ago, 1 gallon K1 kerosene, 2gallon odorless paint thinner, 1 gallon napha(bbq lighter fluid), 3 quarts ATF(auto trans fluid) 12 oz lanolin (heat to 140F then pour in. After use with park chain cleaner tool, I pour into a windshield washer fluid bottle with a super magnet on the bottom. Filter through cheese cloth when full. My chains never rust, last 3000 to 4000 miles easily. One solution for cleaning and lube, very quiet chains, just wipe with a rag after riding, I clean the chain 400-800 miles depending on riding conditions. I've had this fluid for 22 years, sometimes replenish with odorless paint thinner if there's a little volume loss. I store the bulk cleaner in a yellow diesel / kero 5 gallon container.

When you prepare the chain for waxing, make sure you have _thoroughly_ rinsed it with water and that it is dry. When I first waxed my chain it started to rust because I hadn't completely washed the cleaner out of it before applying the wax. This prevented the wax from sticking to the chain properly. I boiled the chain in clean water a couple of times and then re-applied the wax and now it is fine. Wax ftw.

I switched to wax 1 year ago on my mtb and I love it. Love that the chain stay clean, and so my hands are ! Also the ride is smother.

Nice video Russ. I’ve been waxing my chains for awhile and mostly appreciate that they and the rest of the drivetrain remain clean. If the chain/cassette is dirty I just hit it with a gentle wash from the hose. I mixed up my own wax with paraffin, paraffin oil and a few additives I don’t remember, maybe $20 worth of ingredients. I probably have enough to last a lifetime. I bought a rice cooker at the thrift store for $5 and use it instead of an instant pot. Works well but seems that it heats the was quicker than what you experienced in the video.

Thanks very much for this video! I am super interested to see what you think about maintenance when you're out on the trail, like you said, without a home base for days and maybe weeks. I've been waxing my chain for quite some time now, but not on longer, overnight trips that might go dozens and dozens of miles. A tip, if it helps: I will keep an extra chain on hand fully waxed and then just swap it out quickly when it's time to re-wax. I then take the chain that needs waxing and do the maintenance when time allows. That way there's no rush to try to get your chain back on the bike for the next ride.

I've been waxing chains for *decades* now. It's not about performance, wax is way cleaner and doesn't wash off in the rain. It's not a performance thing for me, the wattage loss by just using plain paraffin is just not something I need to lose sleep over. As for commercial preparations, most of them have PTFE ("teflon"), a PFAS -- one of the so-called "forever chemicals". While in small concentrations these molecules are biologically inert, the fact that they take years to break down mean its possible for them to bioaccumulate to very high levels, enough to become hormone disruptors. The fact that these chemicals remain in the environment (and the human body) for years and bioaccumulate means every bit of it counts. A lot of bike lubricant products contain PTFE, and manufacturers are not always conscientious about including it in their SDS. For example "Tri-flow with PTFE" is *branded* has containing Teflon, but the SDS does not list it (CAS 9002-84-0). Aerosol preparations are something bike mechanics should be particularly concerned with. Inhalation of PFAS impregnated waxes has been identified as a problem in ski mechanics. I might try the Silca preparation because the manufacturer says it is PFAS-free -- it uses tungsten disulfide. Other lube companies are talking about moving from PFAS to ceramic compounds like boron nitride.

I'm really not sure why so many people make this so complicated. I've been waxing my chains for 4 years+ now just using paraffin wax, a $7 crock pot and once the wax is up to temp it takes less time than lubing a chain with oil with no cleanup. I'll usually do multiple chains at a time as I have mutliple bikes and if you include the time saved from cleaning cassettes, chaintings, and the chain itself waxing is a huge time saver

Slow cookers are a real pain because the inner pot is bad at conducting heat. A temperature controlled induction cooktop with a metal pot gets my wax liquid in just a couple of minutes. Induction pots are cheap, so it's nice to keep a couple around to switch out.

Slow cookers are available for a few $ at thrift stores. They heat more gently than an Instant Pot so one is not likely to cause the wax to boil over

I loved the clean drive train until I discovered that at 2000 miles I had destroyed a vintage SunTour freewheel and Sugino chainring. However, I was using only paraffin, so do NOT just use paraffin, use a modern chain-specific wax if you go this route. Also, as stated, start with a fully decreased chain before you wax it. I find waxing for wet conditions is an exercise in futility. Wax was good for dry and dusty, but not for wet and nasty.

A tip on waxing. Put your wax in a half gallon mason jar, put water in your insta pot or a stive top kettle. Melt the wax and do the chain. Put lid on mason jar after wax cools and put it neatly away for next time.

I'll never come back. The cleanliness and the low noise of the chain are a double goal for me. Anyway I love the process: the majority of the work is the first time when you need to completely clean the new chain..and I love the neediness of that too

I’ve been waxing my chains for years. My fat bike chain has over 2000 miles on it on with the same cassette still in great shape. I have been using 2 pounds of canners wax and about 1.5 oz of T-9 for some rust proofing protection. I have been dropping new chains into the fry daddy to burn off the packing grease.

As others said, the little bit of wax prep time is offset by less cleaning time, longer chain life, and less laundry headaches from something touching greasy chain. I use plain paraffin wax from the grocery store. No magic ingredients - the wax performs fine alone. Another good dive on a maintenance topic Russ. But people that can't comprehend the advantages may not be reachable.

Okay I love your commitment, some old family friend used to work on HMS Kimberly before she went down under (Aussie Navy) and he spoke about heating chain grease before applying, I get that but 10,000 on a bike chain Km's or Miles? not possible if you want efficiency. Chains just aren't built that way. Chains work best when they're new. Modern chains are only good for about 600 miles, after that they still work and will do for many years so long as you keep the same running gear but they will be anything BUT efficient. And that's cycle chains in a nut shell.

I used to replace chains around the 1500 mile mark on my road bikes. My first waxed chain lasted about 5000 miles with substantially less maintenance overall. My first waxed mtb chain has lasted over 1k miles and counting in Washington weather. I don't care about saved watts, waxing demonstrably results in lower drivetrain wear.

I would never go back to lubricating chains with dry lube etc. Chains are now clean, no oily crap on hands or the cats anymore!!! Once drive train are totally clean easy to slow cook wax and dip the chains for a.good while, while that chains bathing I use another prepped chain! Easy peasy!!

Great vid - what really came across is how much Russ enjoys poking at wax with a flathead screwdriver ;)

I use Rock’n’Roll Gold. Completely degrease chain, apply R’n’R over rollers, backpedal for 20 seconds, then wipe off excess till cloth clean. Very clean, easy to wipe down and only need a small bottle of it to relubricate if on a long tour.

Spot on. I’ve been doing this for a few years now and components last at least 3 times longer in my experience. I always take my chains straight out and hang them up. It never occurred to me to wait for the wax to cool. Thanks for that, I learned something new. 👍🏻 I usually do several chains at a time. I then use a new one as my race chain. Once I’ve done two Ironmans then this becomes my training chain. This way you minimise the effort, have super fast race chains and you don’t have to do it more than once every couple of years.

I love waxing my chain. Chains can get so nasty. I know there are cleaning produts but honestly i can wax ride 300 to 400 mile use my bottled wax lubricant that is wax and alcohol. I good for a long time only really need to re hot wax every fer hundred miles and with a quick link on the chain that's not an issue.

Picked up a small crock pot at a thrift store for $9, works great. I don’t care about speed gains, this is easy and keeps the chain so much cleaner and quieter.

Silca now packages the wax in a bag that you can put in hot water to melt. no ruining instapot needed

Really glad for this vid. I'm doing a complete bike build this winter and I've been on the fence if I should wax or not. I'm kinda convinced that I'm going to go ahead with waxing. Plus this totally satisfies my urge to bike nerd. Thanks Russ.

I've been chain waxing since 1983. Better in dusty environments, and much cleaner. I will often touch the chain to show people. And I will run typically two or three chains.

Thanks for the video. It's great that you are testing chain waxing out. I feel that in this video you are making it look a lot harder and more complex than it needs to be. I look forward to the follow up video in 12 months where you are a chain waxing convert and have streamlined the process a fair bit! I've been chain waxing for years (for the clean chain benefits) and it takes me about 15 mins to clean a new chain and about another 15 mins to wax 2-3 chains at once.

Aside from cleanliness, the big win for me is that my drive train has never been quieter. The one time I had an annoying squeak it turned out to be a failed jockey wheel bushing. The biggest effort is the initial cleaning. Doing all 6 bikes in the house at once reduced the average time spent per bike significantly. After that, rewaxing is pretty low effort compared to cleaning the whole drive train.

As a touring cyclist I see three options. A- spare pre waxed chain (s) B- re wax at camp C- switch back to "wax based" lube like Squirt Recently tested the viability of rewaxing at camp. Using pots I already carry I found it tedious but doable. My method of cleaning is simply to boil with an amount of dish washing liquid. Then plain wax (Gulf Wax) which can be brought with or purchased at several locations including Walmart and grocery stores. The increased use of gas fuel could be an issue. Stability of pot on flame was an issue especially when trying to swish the chain. The result was a chain with wax on it but I believe its not as clean as when I wax at home. As I say: Tedious but doable. First ride tomorrow. Normally get 300-400 miles before switching pending fair weather.

Coincidently, I had just ordered my kit to start doing this for the first time. I'm super handy and curious, so I'm stoked! I'm doing it for the same reason; noise reduction and parts lifespan. THX!

I use a paraffin based lube called White Lightning. I lube the chain and run thru the gears to get into the rollers and between the links and to coat the cassette and crankset. Then I wipe the chain with a clean rag until the chain looks fairly dry. I wear street clothes when bicycling and this doesn't leave black streaks on my pants. You need to reapply the was every 100-200 miles. If you lube with an oil based lube or you bike shop lubes the chain I recommend wearing black pants and waxing the chain and redoing the chain after 20 miles before going back to whatever street clothes you prefer. Your pants will last a lot longer this way.

Great supple video and a simple introduction to the topic! I also started waxing my chains with liquid ready wax and I'm quite satisfied until now. Looking forward for your field test. Especially how you'll clean it and reapply it in the field :)

Here is a simple fact, no matter if you wax, oil or abuse a modern narrow chain, they stretch at nearly identically at the same rate. How do I know? Cause I'm a professional mechanic and I deal with bikes and chains every day. The reason modern narrow chain stretch is because the hole where the pin goes thru on the inner plates starts to oval because the plates are so thin. Sure, they dimple the hole to create a larger contact surface for the pin to ride on, but the tiny pin with all that human power eventually starts to oval that hole, and when they oval it causes the chain to get longer. What I do know is there are two or three chains on the market that do last almost twice as long, and they are Shimano XTR, DuraAce/Ultegra, and KMC Diamond, but they are expensive at about $100 usd. These chains take an extra step during production where they super polish and harden the inner plate hole as well as the pins that do resist from ovaling. This process is time consuming that's why they're so expensive. The other hard fact riders have to except is that modern narrow chains (with the exception of those I mentioned), only last about 600 ~700 miles if you're a stud strong rider/racer. And about 800 ~ 1,100 miles if you're a light casual rider. If you use those expensive chains, I mentioned above you than double these numbers. So many times, my heart sinks when a rider who waxes comes into my shop saying they are having derailleur problems cause the chain is skipping. I ask them how many miles does the chain have? And often they Proudly reply that it has well over 2,000 miles, but they wax so it should be fine, right? I check it with two chain measuring tools to make sure, and their new looking chains are so stretched beyond the limit that my two measuring tools have a hard time measuring anything. But they're so hooked on waxing misinformation that they think I don't know what I'm doing or talking about so they go else where. Many do comeback and they ask me why does this happen. After I tell them the facts they religiously replace their chains on time.

I've been waxing my chains for the last 4 years. I've evolved the process along with tips from Josh at Silca and have a quick easy budget set up which sees me get over 10,000 km from each chain. No need for a crock pot ,just melt the Silca wax into a round, disposable food container like the blue lidded Compliments range from Safeway and float that in a larger saucepan with simmering water, bain marie style. Lift the chan out after 6 mins with the heat off. That will minimize the waste and manipulate the cooled chain over the container to get ride off flakes after it's hardened. Maintenance is to drop the waxed chain in the simmering water before dipping. This removes the contaminates/grit and heats up the remaining wax ready to receive more fresh wax.

Super curious about the drive train longevity result. Thanks as usual for being so clear how to communicate the experiment and what is the main goal. Cheers, love your content. Take care

Petrol(gasoline) , then degreaser then isopropyl alcohol for initial clean. Ptfe is cleaner and cheaper than WS2 , same friction and no need to wait for cooling before removing from hotpot. Cheers

Started chain waxing when i saw oz cycle (OG youtuber) video on it, his homebrew way of doing it years ago. Its not as convenient as cleaning and driping some lube but i mainly do it for cleanliness of the chain. Gone are the days when i have grease/oil streaks on my casual or work trousers. Paired with a quick link on your chain it’s practically easy to do. If you ride your bicycle to commute everyday its worth it, especially if you had a flat, you dont have to show up to work with black greasy hands. As for my set up. I use a small rice cooker (because its cheap) for cleaning the chain i used to use deisel fuel but converted to a natural degreaser on my screen and tub setup. Shuould probly convert to a ultrasonic cleaner sometime in the future

Another tip. After cleaning and drying the chain, I warm it before dipping it into the wax pot. The logic is that warm metal draws the molten wax into the inner components of the chain. A cold chain will cause the wax to congeal as the steel hits the wax. That can be overcome if the chain is left in the pot long enough.

I used breakfree clp firearm lube on a chain. When I got a new bike I had the shop check my old chain and they said it was still good. That chain had at least 8,000 miles on it the cassette was still good too. Just spray on wipe off. It leaves a layer of ptfe behind. It gets into all the small crevices because it’s designed for firearms tolerances which are tighter than a bike chain. You cold spray it down and wipe it in about 60 seconds. I can’t feel the difference between methods while pedaling and the CLP goes further between applications finish line dry Teflon feels the same too. Something that I find interesting is that in the firearms world lubricant is used to keep dirty mechanisms operating and moving freely. The theory is that there will always be dirt and fouling so use a wet lube to keep those particles suspended. When the particles are suspended they’re not making contact with the metal and can’t cause wear. Another thing not talked about in these cycling conversations is about how wear slows down, and sometimes even stops after parts wear in or mate with each other.

When travelling I use Squirt dry lube, after a trip and for around town waxing works well.

I used to use White Lightning wax-based chain lube in the 1990s and didn't like the wax build-up around my rear derailleur and pulley wheels because it was a pain to clean after 1-2 rides. Fast forward to around 2018 and I was up for trying out another White Lightning chain product, "Clean Ride." It works okay, with not nearly as much wax build-up like the original formula from 20+ years ago. And, I started using Muc-Off Bio Dry Chain Lube which uses a wax-based formula -- not bad, seems better/longer lasting that "Clean Ride" but both of require relubing after each ride to be safe. I bought a hot parafin wax tub to treat "trigger finger" and have entertained the idea of what you did here, Russ, because I think that it would provide more riding in-between lubes. Thanks for posting, Russ.

Not here for the gains, but I do like clean and quiet! If this keeps the drivetrain cleaner and quieter, I'm in!

Back watching this as two bikes are approaching the need to re-chain. One 12 and one nine. And I trashed the lid to my flagging Instant Pot mini. No longer in safe food service. The IS pots are cool slowly with added metal thickness on the pot bottom. Even with Silva secret sauce that is less chemicals and solvents than with standard lubes. I am slowly convert as chains wear. I have resisted the tubeless coup but this change I like.

A a good way to give life to a beat up old chain is oil the chane from the inside while in a container; first I remove the chain completely then I melted some teflon into some prarfin and put it the oven for 30 minutes then boil it in linseed oil or lamp black graphite. If I use the oven it takes about half hour with kerosene gel. Drip it on with a spunge and wipe it off with a rag. The parafin works as a binder and a lubricant so you can use WD-40 or silicone based cleaner without risking a total wipe off

Do it old school, clean your chain and cogs quick. Pine-sol or Pine-O-Pine. Natural degreaser and cheap. Everyone I knew competitively racing for five years did the same cleaning. Do this outdoors. Mix the cleaner @ 4:1 water to cleaner. Apply with a nylon brush like a chain brush, while rotating your crank/wheel/cogs. You’ll see a lot of dirty liquid coming off your chain and cog. Shortly sparkling clean. Spray with water, while rotating. Allow to air dry. Lube. I’m all for protecting my gears. Chains are cheap. Time is the thing we wanted to save, and be willing to clean frequently. We did, because this is cheap. Use the lube of your choice. Many of us used Pedro’s.

Hi Russ I am going down the road of waxed chain this year. Never have done this before. I'm looking forward to the cleanliness aspect. Going to use Silca Secret Chain. Hope you are enjoying your winter get away. I'm still stuck in Missoula. Stay safe

Thanks for scaring me off. I would love to extend the life of my chains to produce less waste though... Will wait for your long time review :)

Another great video Russ! converted the road bikes and the gravel bike ( still use Tri-flow on the mtb ) 4 years ago, started w / Molten but switched to ( see Archer Sully comment in this thread) @ Ozcycle ( another great channel ) formulation easy, inexpensive and imho works as well or better than molten… I also find the higher temp > 220 / drip off is fine - I have 2 chains per bike and with a large crockpot ( from good will ) I do 4 chains at a time I swap out @ approx 300 mi I’m also running YBN chains will never go back to oil I LOVE a clean drivetrain!!

Certainly good prep for winter use until Spring.

Hello, Good technique for waxing, I live in a country where i don't have the luxury of cold garage air, I get humid, scorchingly hot tropical air. I mean, i pick up my wax some days and its soft at room temperature! Here's a technique for you that may speed up your process: Use 2 hooks. pass the top hook inside the chain at regular intervals, then hook the other hook below and lower your chain into the wax horizontally. Even with the wax still VERY hot, if you slowly lift your chain horizontally the wax stays inside the rollers and drips out from everywhere else. It stays in the rollers because the roller itself acts like a small pot and surface tension stops the tiny amount of wax inside them to drip out, this works even with water. I pull my chain out the moment i get the first fine film of wax on top, lay it on a waxy rag and let it cool there for a few minutes, job done, consistent performance and minimal wax wastage/mess. All that wax you have to remove from inside the chain and that ends up gunking up your jockey wheels? not there anymore, not in the floor anymore. Also, your wax a was a bit cloudy there, that's normal, it gets dirty with time and use. If you heat up the wax and use an aluminum container for it, you can use a neodymium magnet stuck to the tip of a screwdriver, move it around the liquid wax and it will pick up most of that black grime that is a very fine iron dust mostly from the street (seriusly, try dragging a magnet 2 feet on the road and look at how much "dust" you pick up) but also from your cassette and chain. The dirt that gets in the wax (not magnetic), you can remove by heating the wax and keeping it liquid for a very long time in a conical-ish shaped container , let the wax solidify and cool down without moving it and then take the block of wax out. Most of the dirt and grime will have precipitated to the bottom and you can scrape it off with a knife.

My first chain I waxed lasted (50% wear) more than 8,000km, it's clean, and I've got the process to be quicker than drip lube. I use a basic paraffin wax base, with PTFE powder additive and put the chain in a slow cooker about every 2 weeks (500kms or so). Never going back to drip lube!!

Belated "Thank You" for addressing chain wax. I have been procrastinating waxing for over a year, I am now willing to give it a go. FYI, my mission is just for cleanliness.

Recent subsriber, your vids are taking down nostalgia avenue, and I oh so appreciate the renewed relevance !!! This reminded me of waxing my chains for moab! All aside, the more chains one rotates, the longer your rings and cassettes iast, w prolonged performance o course. Not sure ill give up my boesheild T-9, cheers.

I did this for half a yr. yes it takes more time but it is so quite. Quite amazing. Thanks.

Excellent!, commentary and tutorial, thanks! I'm just starting on the path of chain waxing, and will prob wax two or three brand new chains at once, after the very thorough 2 or 3-bath deep cleaning to "sterile". That way I can carry spares already waxed or have them on hand on the bench to change quickly. I'll be adding (mixing-in) 50 grams of powdered PTFE ($10, coming from Amazon via China) to each pound (or half-pound) of molten food-grade paraffin, plus some random number of drops of pure Molybdenum disulfide liquid. Using TWO additives might be overkill, but I think no one really knows (I just know that those additives are VERY slippery). Looking forward to cleanliness of chain wheel, chain, and cassette on two bikes, a 27-inch frame classic Raleigh TEAM USA (~1986), and a new Zizzo Liberte folding bike, on which I also made a mod by switching to drop bars and a new shifter and brake levers. Bikes deserve being treated right, ...with waxed chains. Thanks again, bike safely out there, --Joe / Tucson

Used to do this with my road bike in the early-mid 80's. Would set up 5 chains to wax at once, fold them up nice when hot and wrap them in newspaper. Ride for 250 miles, swap to a new chain, repeat until I had to rewax them all. This was before quick links were popular, so it's even easier now. It was a good system. Not riding as much, so I'm using the liquid wax formulations; not as clean, but I'm getting lazy in my old age.

I hate cleaning a greasy gritty drivetrain. I think I'm going to give this a try in the spring when I totally replace my drivetrain after winter commuting in the midwest.

I am 78 a just use a 2 in1 spray lube and cleaner that is quick and wipe with a old rag.done. Do not ride in rain or mud after all have no idea how much time remains for me, so easy does it.

Waxing = poor man's Rohloff + Gates belt! I converted to wax about 10 years ago - like others, it is the efficiency of maintenance and reduction in wear/cost across the whole drive train that does it for me - the always clean drivetrain is a great bonus and the feel of a freshly waxed train every few weeks is just Rawr... I am not convinced about waiting until the wax cools - I understand the theory that less viscosity = less leakage and I waited for the scab to form in the past but one day I couldn't be stuffed waiting and just took them out hot - the one concession I made was to lay them flat instead of hanging vertical (in case the top half of the chains became 'dry' as the wax dripped down). I really didn't notice the chains getting squeaky significantly earlier than doing it 'properly' and I'd be really interested in a rigorous comparison that proves or disproves this. The other thing I am not convinced about is additives - the difference in performance vs. plain paraffin (0.14W) is surely insignificant unless you race (which I so don't) but the cost difference is enormous (1kg MSW = 25kg food grade paraffin).

Hi, live in the UK been waxing for about 8 months now. Home brew food grade paraffin wax and PTFE. Super clean drive chain. Long lasting (300 miles between applications) i haven't waited for wax to start to cool before removing from slow cooker (maybe that bit colder in UK so don't need to). If I go for wet ride I simply drop back into wax again. Worthwhile having a couple of chains to swap out. I agree with comments that I now have super clean drive chain, and the home brew wax is really cheap.

I come from the days when waxing a chain was a mystic ritual used by wizards. If the military had used wax in those days, it would have carried a "TOP SECRET" label. Only some of the elite pros had techs who did it. I was never a pro, I just wanted the best. It has gotten so much better and easier. Wax is all I use personally on any of my bikes and it is all I recommend. My commuter bike has the original chain and more than 5000 miles on it. The wear gauges say I have a lot of life left in that chain. Wax out of a bottle or wax soaking in a pot are a great ways to extend the life of a chain.

Might try this when I have a lot of time. But for now, for the winter, quick cleans between rides and a good cleaning once a week.

Might help some of you waxers, been using a deep fat fryer for a few years now, before melting the wax i flash power on for a couple of seconds, then easily empty the wax block and scrape all the muck off of the lowest surface. Don't think a chain is ever really 100% clean before waxing, (as most know. heat from waxing also really flushes the chain) this scraping should help remove grit from your bath.

It's frequently stated that you should not use lube on a waxed chain. I'm a chemist and don't get it. By adding a tiny amount of lube on top of a waxed chain, I get the water displacement of the lube while retaining the super smooth ride feel, making waxing suitable for wet conditions. The chain gets slightly more sticky but dirt still seems to flake off. Re-waxing is necessary only every 300km instead of after every rainy ride.

You're making it harder on yourself than you could. I just pull the chain out of drippy hot wax and let it hang to cool. Yes, there's less wax inside the chain, but the process is so much simpler and faster, so you'll be inclined to do it more often. I just do it once in ~600 km. My road bike chain has done 16000 km already and still shows only ~0.3% elongation.

I'v been diong this for a year without waiting for the liquid wax to cool. I'm get at least 300-400km on one chain wax. Highly recommend getting two chains to cycle and keep one waxed ready to go so I just need to swap them over as soon as they need waxing. If you're travelling take a spare waxed chain with you as a spare - you'll probably get a thousand kilometres.

I have a mini Instapot that was a mistake purchase. Now I have the rationale for getting a real 4-liter for the kitchen. I will check out the Silca information too. This is good introduction to the process. The process does intrigue me for my sloppy winter bike 8-speed and high $$ 12 speed chains.

I just got my first Gates carbon belt drive. If I could, every bike I own would run this system. I've always ran wet lube in the past because I've never felt wax does a good job lubricating a chain (and I come from farm machine background). I've settled on chainsaw bar oil cut with about 1/3 real mineral spirits for bike chains and motorcycle chains. Clean with mineral spirits when nessary, and relube. Maby I'm just cheap, but my chains last for ever!

Thank you for your videos, I love them and I've been learning so much from them! What are your thoughts about belted bikes coupled with internal gear like rohloff or pinion? I shifted to this systems and not having to take care of my chain and drivetrain after every ride and especially during multiple days bike tires have changed my life as I can just focus on enjoying my ride without being bothered by the constant think "OMG, my drivetrain is getting so dusted and muddy that I'll have to clean it ASAP otherwise it'll wear down.." Thank you so much Luca from Italy

Never thought of leaving the chain in till the wax starts to cool.. great tip will definitely have to start doing that.

I love it. No more chain tattoos! It's only a pain the first time.