Thanks for this tutorial!!! I followed your steps and my bike so far is running a bit smoother and quieter. You are very thorough and informative. Great Job!!!
Thank you Mr Oz. Just finished up waxing my chain for the first time using your methods and am really happy with the results. Really appreciate the time you took to make and post these videos as they are very informative. Also love hearing the birds chirping in the background. Thanks again.
Thanks so much! I recently started using wax on my bike chain and was Google-ing on how to clean the wax. Google brought me to your RU-vid channel. Very useful sharing. Learning a lot, including how to clean my cassettes too. Realized that I had been spraying water on my bottom bracket when washing my bike! Hope I don't do much damage to it.
Thanks for your instructional videos on waxing the chain. I followed your instructions and it worked like a charm. The first 10 miles it was alittle noisey but I still noticed a difference in the shifting. Much smoother. By the time the 30 miles was done, the noise went away and I was not thinking about anything but how good the bike felt and and how shiny the drivetrain looked. No more grease marks on my legs after I carry my bike up to my 2nd floor apartment. Thanks again and keep your great energy.
I follow this method with the exception of removing the wax from inside the chain links. I just throw it on the bike and the chainrings and cassette get a layer of wax as well...
I'm a huge fan of waxing chains. They stay cleaner longer too. I use KMC X11- SL so have lots of space for excess wax to be cleaned out from. I run 2 road chains and simply swap them over between cleans. I'll clean the one just coming off in Diggers Wax And Grease Remover then soak it in Paraffin Oil until ready to re-wax. Cheers and thanks for the cold water trick, I just usually just let it drain let most the other folks.
When I was a kid, I had a few crappy racing bikes for the majority of my youth. I never cleaned, replaced or worried about the chain ever and got stupid miles from them all. Now I have a $2500. fat Ebike with 4" tires, a 750W rear hub motor with a 52v battery. I recently purchased a Wippermann Connex 908 chain which I plan on using parafin only, especially your new formula as soon as you make that video. I know parafin far exceeds any other chain lube so last year I followed another person's video on how to make a parafin/xylene mix for application in a bottle. It's too messy, so I look forward to your new recipe.
Thank you sir. I just recently started Waxing chains and glad you did this video. I did learn a few things I have been doing wrong....Notch this up as another pearla of a video mate.
I think I have discovered a great method for drawing wax into the chain rollers. Steps: Melt wax and Teflon and stir as usual, turn off slow cooker and let cool and cake totally, remove caked wax/Teflon patty from slow cooker, place cleaned chain on bottom of slow cooker, get a heat gun and set to high and heat clean chain to some high temp 121° C (or more?), once the chain is heated, place the cooled wax/Teflon patty on top of the heated chain. The heat of the chain will melt and draw the wax into the rollers and at the same time quickly come to an equilibrium temperature. This is the same principle electronic soldering is based on, heat is applied to the components you want to solder, place solder on component connections and the solder is heated, melted and sucked into the small openings/connecting points of the board and component. One thing that needs to be sorted out is the best orientation of the chain when placed in the cooker for heating. Seems the ideal position would be with rollers exposed, but this may be problematic as the chain will need to be folded a couple of times to have rollers exposed within the cooker. Having the chain in a spiral pattern on the bottom of the slow cooker will require the wax to melt down and under the links and then into the rollers. Another option is to have the chain laid out straight out side of the cooker with all roller exposed (perhaps on a piece of wood?) and heated and then the wax/Teflon patty dragged across the heated chain... Thoughts? Great channel and content by the way.
Sorry but your method of wax application is way too fast, in my understanding. I'm not sure if there is enough time for liquid wax to really get deep into chain links. I think you need to ensure at least 10min for the wax to get in...
In the cooker the wax has finished getting in when you move the chain and there are no more air bubbles getting out. It's not like baking a cake. But you need to make sure is that the chain has reached the same temperature as the liquid wax, otherwise the wax will cool and stop moving before fully reaching inside.
I switched to chain waxing after watching one of your other videos and love it! My improvised technique is to do a 2-stage waxing. 1st stage i just drop the dirty chain into previously used dirty wax. Wax has a density less than water so all the grit immediately sinks to the bottom. I move the links to free up any grit then move it to the 2nd bowl of clean wax. I'll swish it around again moving the links to get any remaining grit then hang to drip dry. Very easy and does the trick.
I ended up here from advice in the review section for MSW. Looking forward to trying your alternative. Edit: found the sprayer. I can't believe they are new to me :)
There is something that makes me shiver placing my freshly waxed chain in water. Fortunately I have a deep freeze 2-feet away from my work bench. Using a couple of old spokes bent at 90° I extract my chain from the skinned over wax and plop it on a pie pan which I had pre placed in the freezer. 90 seconds later solid waxed ball.
Great series, oz. I've been a waxer for years, yours is the first procedure I've seen with emphasis on starting with totally bare stripped metal. I think that's where others fail when they say it doesn't last or rusts. For me gasoline (US) followed by acetone does the job. It's got me thinking though if an ultrasound bath in the melted wax wouldn't do a good job ensuring the wax gets into all the hidden places. I don't have one so don't know if it would keep the wax hot enough.
Been waxing my chain for a year now and love how clean it keeps the bike and drive chain, but all I do to clean the chain before re-waxing is soak it in a tub of paraffin oil instead of the petrol you use then put the chain straight in the wax bath. The oil tub is then sat on a magnet that draws all the dirt to the bottom before pouring the oil into a separate container so I can clean the gunk out the tub ready for it’s next use. For those of us who ride in colder climates (England for me) has anyone figured out a way to prevent the chain from rusting when they start gritting roads ????
Brilliant, loving the very intelligent methods. I'll definitely be following all this to the tee, much appreciated. $1.80 for those ebay brushes so I ordered 5 lol.
I've been waxing the chains on all of my bikes for months now after watching your videos, but I don't go through all this. After every 300km, I just put the dirty chain back in the same wax. While the chain is still in, I remove the crock from the cooker (to help the wax cool) and put it on a big magnet. Any grit generally sets to the bottom, and ferrous metal bits immediately go to the bottom. At around 50-54C, I remove the chain and hang it to dry. Once the wax solidifies, I take it out and scrape all the dirty wax (and any metal) off the bottom 3-4mm of it.
Thanx Daaave for telling us your method. Never ceases to impress, all these different methods people use. A magnet on the bottom of the pot to attract metal grit...great idea! What about non-ferris dirt?
I don't monitor temperature or cool in water. Definitely getting 300k here, maybe I'm just lucky? I like the magnet idea. I just dunk and stir until no bubbles, pull out and hang vertically to air dry.
this will be ideal for my track bike. I change cogs and chainrings for different events and I don't want oil on my hands. Track bike never is ridden the rain or dirt so the wax will last a long time
Tim Trial: Wax lasts long even when the bicycle runs in rain and dirt, especially so in fact. Wax has been shown, via an independent study, to be the best of all lubricants available today.
'Preciate the upload, and simple, clear and concise explanations in your vids. Just installed my first hot waxed chain. Does everything you've described. Now a permanent waxer. Massive difference between wax and oil lubing. - Grabbed a 2nd hand electric frypan, as cheap as free, from a nice retired couple, the pan is old, so far superior quality to today's crap. - Grabbed all the ingredients from the hardware for the hot wax and wet lube versions. - Hot wax: didn't have to run 1:1 mix of wax and parrafin oil...I mixed 30-40% oil. - First ride was at 0.4 degrees, cold and invigorating, the chain was fine. - Have yet to make up a batch of wet lube. My shit quality entry level Norco Storm 1 requiring upgrades. Lesson learnt...never, never, never buy "entry level" anything, you're just wasting your hard earned $ Final upgrades...some installed...some on their way... Sunrace 11-42T cassette , Shimano XTR rapid rise 9 speed der, old model Deore 3sp front der, Deore M6000 shifters, Connex chain and either Sunrace or Shimano 26-36-48 hollow crankset.
Oz, I've been waxing chains for 2 years now, but found using standard wax/parafin mix it didnt last - even when keeping the temperature just over 50C. I've since moved over to Molten speed wax and im really impressed by the results. It runs quietly too. Strangely Mlolten Speed Wax needs to get to 92C, possibly because of the other ingedients ,but is really stiff after cooling.
Rapid cooling the chain from the hot wax bath increases its useful lifespan...a lot of people were allowing the chain to drip cool which was not the best way. Yes, you will need to work each link before putting it on the bike with "Moltens wax".
I've been using the wax for three months (half oil and paraffin as described) as lubricant because I ride in extreme conditions during winter with my mountain bike (-20 in snow and ice) here down in Montreal. The wax repels dirt and water indeed which is smooth on the drivetrain and reduces the appearance of rust on the chain. I never go beyond 200km before rewaxing. The only thing is that I recently had to change my chain after only 600 km (over 0.5 stretched). Maybe should I add more oil in the recipe considering the cold weather ? Now I'm doing a batch of three at a time to save some time. It's very easy to do and also very cheap. In fact, the whole kit cost me less than 100$ and I think I'll be good for years...
I’m always amazed when someone gives a thumbs down to OzCyclings content. I’ve been following him for years from Cardiff. My BMC, TCR and Super Galaxy have all benefited from his advice. For me he has the best and most approachable bike mechanics site anywhere. Only Peak Torque comes close.
1:13 "you can use an Ultrasonic Cleaner if ya want" With the petrol in the UltraSonic? No mineral spirits? Thanks for all the amazing tutorials and info Oz. Hi from NYC
Hmmmm...quenching makes a lot of sense. I wonder if an easier way to clean off the surface was though would be to just hang it and do a very quick pass with a blow torch. Just enough to get the surface wax melted without heating up the chain too much
Thanks for this! But just to warn those about connex links, be sure the tolerances fit with the manufacturers specification. If you run 11 speed campagnolo, the connex links are .01 mm too thick. This interferes with shifting heavily and causes rub on the derailleur cage. I wish I could continue to use the Connex links because they really are amazing
I think I know what causes the difference in wear between a MSW waxed chain and un-waxed. It is of course strange that a waxed chains shows more wear than an un-waxed. The tension on the chain is in one direction, making the MSW shift from one side to the otherside inside the chain. It remains there and is not shifting back. Now when you clean it the pinion is shfting back to the middle of the chain. Conclusion is in my opinion that the teflon is probably less easy shifting in the chain and keeping therefor the pinion more in the middle of the hole. Deriving from this you could conclude that MSW is less lubricating the chain at the spot where the tension builds up inside the chain. This also explains the final wear is higher of the MWS waxed chain.
I start to feel like oiling them and thoroughly cleaning them at the car wash is less of a hassle and the chain lasts almost the same, but with lots of time saved. I clean the entire drivetrain in 5 minutes per week, wheras it takes around an hour for the whole wax setup.
hi oz to give a final review the ptfe never mixed well with the wax but i am on my third chain rewax with the same wax solution in the rice cooker and I am extremely happy with cleanliness and wear on the chain and also how quickly I can do a reapply every 400 km . I have also purchased a connex chain and link under your recommendation for my second bike a ridley Noah fast but havent fittted it yet . I definitely recommend chain waxing even without effective ptfe . too be continued .....
Yeh,the ptfe sinks to the bottom if the liquid wax if let sit still. The chain should sit on the bottom of the pot anyhow when waxing so all is good. Dont forget to swish the too 😁
I pull out the chain out of the hot wax and just let it cool in the air. Works well enough, really. Had the last chain (Shimano) for a year, and it still is not even dropping on the .75 mark on the chain gauge. Used it spring/summer/fall on a hybrid bike that sees all kinds of use from road to light trails, dusty and dry, and all weather types from heat to snow. Commuting and adventure alike. Only replaced it because I wanted to try a KMC chain. Also: If not feeling like it is worth bothering cleaning your chain to an extreme level before you applying new wax, then just dump it in a container with some petrol and let soak for 15 mins while having a beer. Then pull out, wipe off, and let air dry until all petrol has evaporated. Repeat if you really want to, but do not overdo it. Soaking in petrol will not get it all clean, but clean enough. Once done with the petrol (and it has evaporated off!), dip in wax. And not to have to worry about the wax getting dirty, simply mix a larger batch of wax to your liking. Then let it cool, and divide into right size lumps that you store separately. When about to wax your chain, melt one lump and use only once. All you need is enough wax at the bottom of the pan to cover the chain. Not more. If it gets a bit dirty? So what? Throw away afterwards, and be done with it. Low cost, less work intensive, less messing about with degreaser, and way way easier. Chain will still be fine for many thousands of kilometers and it will still run smooth. Take care of your chain, but do not overdo it or you will get tired of it all really fast. And once you have grown tired of it, you are back to squirting some lube on it every now and then. And that will wear it out way faster than waxing the lazy way!
Good idea using small batches, Per....mite try that myself. Petrol leaves a light oily film which doesnt allow wax to stick hence using degreaser after the petrol. Great your getting so much mileage out of your chains!
T'was you taught me in the first place. ;) I recon that since petrol comes from the same barrel of crude as paraffin oil and paraffin, the remaining grease from the petrol should not really matter. I might be wrong but so far it seems to work just fine anyway. And I always end up with loads of wax on my cogs regardless of having the chain "drip dry" after exiting the hot wax bath, so I think that there is enough wax left internally. (Maybe I should be more carful getting the wax out of the chain?) However, this "easy and dirty" method that I am promoting might not work in warmer climates than where I live (Sweden), which has a sort of average temp of between +20 C and -10 C over the course of a year. However, I mix 1 batch for both winter and summer use respectively, and then fine tune by adding either paraffin or -oil as I heat it up. Makes the entire process a breeze, takes about 30 mins from start to finish including heating and cooling off. I rarely leave the chain in the wax for more than 5 mins. I repeat wax treatment approx at the same intervals as you do, 300K. All this might not be the best method, but it works wonders for me and the riding I do. Keep up the good work with the channel! Cheers!
Boil chain in water to clean wax off then soak in metho let it dry then dip in wax. Works for me. I find chain is slipperiest when it has been run in and has very thin coating in the links so not sure it matters to dip in cold water. Love Connex links!
Unfortunately boiling water doesnt remove all foreign matter on and in a chain....even boiling it for quite some time. Try it, you will end up with a lot of dirt in the metholated spirits.
oz cycle No probably not as good as degreaser or Ultra sonic cleaner which I plan to get but boiling gets my chain pretty clean I swish it around a lot and dirt easily rubs off the outside in boiling water. Just means don't need any chemicals. I also use mixture of palm and bees wax rather than paraffin.
When the waxed chain is to dirty you can take a heat gun or put it in hot water and the dirt with the wax come out of you chain. Soak it in petrol may not pull out the whole wax.
Thanks for the updated waxing video. Even though you wipe the chain after it cools, does any flick off or cake the jockey wheels? I used Squirt lube for 2 years on the mtb chain & liked how clean the chain was but found the jockey wheels, chain rings & cluster were caked with excess wax that didn't drop off as it suggested (or come off with degreaser). I went back to the RockNRoll Gold but with all the dusty trails the chain is gritty after a single ride so find I'm doing a full degrease & lube each ride, no amount of liberal R&R squirting on the chain gets rid of the gritty sound. I'm about to get a few more chains & try your method. I figure doing a few chains at a time will save a bit of time & might prolong the chain ring & cluster life.
Do the hot wax method Stuart. Thoroughly clean chain first. Once waxed,wipe off excess wax on outside of chain....done. You should get minimal wax anywhere on your drivetrain.
I do it the same way with ultrasound my last chain lasted 3000 mile,s ! just put a knew one on today ! I wipe and clean my bike every ride and polish it to ! The tacky grease that comes with a knew chain is a pain !
Everyone seems to have their own opinion and technique as to whether or not to remove the factory grease, how to degrease and clean, how and how often to clean and rewax, what chain and quick link to use, etc.
I bought some paraffin wax just a few hours ago for this reason but you didn't tell us about the snap freeze cold water trick in your other videos. I have just been hanging it up until its cool, the cold water method makes sense.
Yeh, I had to be sure the cold water idea worked first....been doing it successfully for just over a year now on all bikes and it works a treat. Hope it works for you too.
Hi there, first of all thanks for shared the imformation. I followed the same procedures you instructed here with my own chain, ①Firstly, i soaked the chain with petrol(used in my car) overnight; ②Secondly, i soaked with Muc-off bike chain degreaser for several hours; ③Thirdly, soaked with denatured alcohol for two rounds with 30 mins for each. BUT after all those done, i found out my chain actually got rusted, with some minor rust here and there especially between rollers, i didn't pay attention to the chain itself in the 3 steps respectively, so i'm not so sure which step went wrong. One thing to note here is that i didn't do that with the brand new chain, rather after getting the new chain i went out for a few rides straight with factory oil, didn't put any extra lube, was trying to ride off the brand new chain for 2-300 km first then came to the 3 steps mentioned above straight without washing it beforehand, any thoughts on where did i go wrong? Thanks in advance.
@@stevenleffanue I actually did that, the only time it got exposed to the air is in the transition, and i rinse it with tab water before transitioning to the next step. I don't think it is actually waxing part or to-the-wax-pot transition part went wrong, i think it is the problem caused in the cleaning part, anyway, just wanted to post it here to see if you got any thoughts, i just opened up a new Connex chain 2 days ago, i will do another 3-4 more rides and then repeat the same procedures mentioned above, but this time i will pay more attention to the condition before starting the cleaning process as well as the condition at each step and in transition in between, thanks for the reply.
I'm going to try your idea, paraffin wax and teflon, but my bike shop doesn't approve. I've tried Squirt and BananaSlip bike wax and as soon as it rains the chain goes rusty. They say it's okay inside, but a rusty chain looks worrying. Squirt say to rewax if it rains. It rains all the time here in the UK. BananaSlip make a motorbike version for extreme conditions, trails bikes in the wet, but their cycle chain version seems to be different.
I wonder if instead of remixing the chain from the wax in the pot, you could just add cold water to the pot. The chain and the water would sink to the bottom and the wax would float to the top. Yes, mind the splatter!
is this the same wax formula as you previously used? Parts paraffin wax and oil? The cool water was a genius idea BTW! Triples the mileage I get before re-waxing. Thanks a million!
i tested chain to see what is longest milage it can stand before chain is destroyed- it is no more than 150km by single waxing. if you wax chain on 150km or less it can last at least for double life
Great video as always! Wax on my road bike (applied following your original method exactly) seems to be lasting over 500 miles so far... I have waxed most of my bikes, my wife's and kid's bmx bikes ( really just so I don't get grime over myself when I need to work on them :-)). Are you sponsored by yoeleo now or just love their product? :-) Also quick question.. Why the 400k bake-in period? Why wouldn't you strip the factory grease and wax straight away?
High performance lubing your kids bikes....nice move 😁. Not sponsored by anyone...yes Yoeleo are careful what they sell. Run-in period to get initial excess metal out of the chain....better with thicker lube than thin.
I think issue is being Queensland and the humidity the product sweated in the bag and turned the powder to a clay and it just wouldn’t separate and hotter it got in the molten wax the worse it turned into chewing gum . Something unlikely to occur in victor harbour. Story of my life lol .
The core issue with all this is the exposed drive train design. This stuff is a lot of work and most people will just refuse to do it. I just got to the point where i just replace the chain soon as it starts grinding. Its not worth the hassle. But its a good tutorial.
I have a problem with my Wax mixture when doing the Chain on the Bike. It's 36.2 C here and the Wax although hot goes solid too quickly as it goes onto the Chain. The mixture is exactly the proportion that you have in your original Waxing Video.
Is it possible to keep the chain too long in the cooking pot (assuming the temperature of the wax is hold stable at 80-90°C)? Or can i leave it in there for something between 30-60min just to be sure the wax get's really everywhere
Im in florida. I can take a brand new chain and within 1 ride its grinding badly. After checking the entire chain is full of sugar sand. The only way i have been able to stop this is to strip the chain and use a super light oil like mineral oil then clean it all off the outside. Even after doing this the chain starts grinding badly very fast. In the end sugar sand seems to be the absolute worst type of terrain to ride in. The chain wears outs every 3 or 4 rides. Its a complete nightmare.
Thanks for your great videos, can I ask about those connex links..... they seen really lose do they ever come undone? I’d hate to damage my new 3k bike.....
What's the logic of doing the run in period of a new chain with the factory grease? Are there sharp edges and burrs in the new parts that you want to smoothen and polish down and is grease or oil quite a bit better at either protecting or wearing in the chain compared to wax? It's been raining a lot where I live; is it ok to add extra oil to my chain during the run in period, to prevent rust?
As a BMX'er I don't care about micro improvement in efficiency, or prolonging chain life. What I want is to not get grease on my leg. Waxing still attracts dirt from the look of it. I wipe and lube my chain every ride almost. Years ago I had a can of synthetic lube from Castrol that was teflon based. That seemed to work in actually repelling dirt. Wish I could find a similar product. Everything synthetic seems silicone based these days. Any thoughts are welcome.
2 methods... 1/You can mix ptfe powder with candle wax instead of paraffin oil...that would do what you want. 2/Always keep outside of the chain as clean as possible whilst keeping inside parts lubed.
You could just have two crockpots and let the first crockpot clean the chain with the dirty wax. Maybe leave it against the washing machine whilst it is washing your cycling gear, to help agitate the grit. That way you are saving wax, once it gets too old to be used as the final product and using the vibration energy losses of your washing machine.
Love the washing machine idea 😁. To get dirt off a chain is easy but OUT of a chain is difficult. Also,some dirt is very fine and will float about in the wax anyhow,making its way back onto and into a chain. Since the idea of waxing is to have a super performance chain and drivetrain longevity,best to keep everything clean as possible.
Great explainations, it sounds good. Nevertheless, before trying it on my bike, i have 2 important questions, and i'm sure i'm not the only one to wonder about it : 1. Isn't that ungood to pour some water directly on all the metal parts ?? (Chain, drivetrain, etc.) 2. ..i guess it isn't, but then : how to DRY totally (i mean : absolutely totally) all that water ? Just by using a tissue ? Thanks a lot, love your energy. Greetings from France. :)
Seems like your approach to waxing has changed. Aren't you happy with your previous solutions? For example, using some lattice to sedement dirt from upper part of wax is brilliant idea. Did something go wrong?
I waxing too my chain on my mtb.I using this method last 4 monts and is it werry good.Chain is clean and silence long time.Hi a thanks for vid from Czech Republic
What do you recommend if the rollers always freeze up after relaxing? Izumi chains are smaller and they won’t roll after on the bike. It’s loud af and grinds the heck out of the drivetrain
Yes I do I used the m speed wax whole system and I followed your cleaning method.. I emailed MSPEEDWAX about the issue and he said put the the chain on hot and ride immediately but it made a huge mess and the wax just runs out.
So if PTFE doesn't actually dissolve and become a whole solution with the paraffin wax, how will the PTFE actually get into the chain if it simply has a tendency to clump to the bottom of the crock pot.
so what about the other videos I watched that didn't instruct me to let it cool down and dunk it in water? I have been waxing my chain for just one ride?
You do to have to dunk the chain after wax Paul but it helps wax retention inside the links. Problem is theres a lot of wax on the outside of the chain to clean off after. Personally I now just pull the chain out at 53deg and let it cool down on a clean rag.
I have been waxing my chains on several bikes since you first posted your videos on waxing. I am, and have been, using the formula you use. This new step, i.e. cold water, adds another step in an already time consuming process. Waxing does keep the drive trains on my my bikes cleaner than if I use petroleum based lubes. However, I'm beginning to question whether or not the advantages of waxing chains justify the amount of time it takes to initially clean, then wax, then clean and re-wax every 200 miles (300 km). I thought that one of the advantages to waxing was that after the initial cleaning and waxing all one had to do was apply the mixture of wax, paraffin oil and Xylene, without the need for cleaning the chain, cassette and chain rings before applying the liquid wax (wax, oil, Xylene). In this video you show using a brush to remove excess wax. During that process wax falls off the chain. This means one needs to spread a tarp, or something, under the chain to collect the wax falling from the chain. This is necessary to keep the wax off the surface it is falling on. For example one's floor or driveway, or whatever. Chains that are lubed with petroleum based lubes do get dirtier than waxed chains, and also so do the cassettes and chain rings. But it seems to me that if using wax still requires regular cleaning of the drive train, plus the somewhat complicated waxing process (steps), perhaps waxing is more trouble than it's worth. For waxing one needs: Wax, a thermometer, melting pot, paraffin oil, Xylene, brushes, degreaser, rags, etc. The waxing and cleaning process is somewhat involved and time consuming. Using petroleum lubes: Degreaser and lube. Remove chain, clean (using one's preferred method and product), install clean chain and lube. Do the advantages of waxing really justify the cost and time required for using wax?
Xylene based wax is temporary fix only. All info in this vid is for hot wax method William. Excess wax coming off the chain can be caught on newspaper/driptray/kitty litter tray,etc. A thermometer is not required,just remove chain when skin begins to form. Waxing a bike is simply the best chain treatment...if you want to look after your bike and get maximum performance.
The Xylene mix is "only a temporary fix"? From your earlier videos it appeared that once the chain was waxed (using crock pot and wax) that from then on one only needed to use the Xylene mixture. If one still needs to remove and clean the chain (and maybe also clean the cassette and chain rings), then immerse the chain in melted wax, clean off/remove the excess wax, then re-install the chain, then we have a more time consuming process. You claim that "Waxing a bike is simply the best treatment....if you want to look after your bike and get maximum performance". It may be the "best", but do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? Back in the day, when I was racing, I waxed my chains. It was/is a more complicated process than using petroleum lubes. When I saw your video on the Xylene mixture I thought, aha, a simply way to wax chains. But now, if understand you correctly, you're saying that to wax one's chain in the best way, the chains need to be removed, cleaned, put in melted wax, etc. I.e. applying the Xylene mix is only a 'stop gap' method. I can remove a chain, clean in solvent, re-install and lube chin with petroleum lube in 15 to 20 minute. Waxing takes me 2 to 3 times more longer. Note: I have 1/2 dozen bikes that I have been using wax on the chains for 6 months to a year. I.e. I think I have developed a fairly efficient process for waxing chains. But waxing is a time consuming process. I will say that I like the results I get from waxing my chains. However, I question whether or not the advantages outweigh the disadvantages! I do appreciate the work you do!
oz cycle "Xylene based wax is a temporary fix only. All info in this vid is for hot wax method". Oh wow, I think my brain didn't make all the connections, that has thrown me. I just assumed the hot wax mix in this video was the original 'xylene/paraffin oil/paraffin wax' mix. So that wasn't "the hot wax method"? Do you mean that for the hot wax treatment, it's best to use paraffin wax without paraffin oil and xylene? I've just purchased xylene and paraffin oil, but will certainly hold off using them if it's not as good as wax-only. I suppose that is why this chain was flaky and required the stiff brush to push the wax out of the links, because the wax-only mix doesn't have the thinner viscosity of the xylene/paraffin oil/paraffin wax mix. I didn't make that connection until just now. So am I right in saying that while you originally used the xylene/paraffin oil/paraffin wax mix and that that mix was superior to oil-based lubes, that you've now discovered wax-only to be even more superior, that this is an upgrade of the xylene/paraffin oil/ paraffin wax treatment? Thank you for this excellent video, I can't get enough of learning what the very best upkeep method is. Might not be for everyone, but some people like me highly value it and wish to do the best job possible. I read a reply you made on how for the first 400 km, the factory lube is preferable to wax-only due to the thinner viscosity of the factory lube holding the metal filings that initially get stripped off a new chain. If I've now got the story straight and you're now recommending wax-only after the first 400km, instead of using the factory lube for the first 400km, could I instead use the xylene/paraffin oil/paraffin wax mix? It also has a thinner viscosity than wax-only, and also gets right into the chain when soaked. And perhaps that would also serve the purpose of repelling dirt a bit better than the factory lube, while simultaneously being thin enough to hold the metal fillings.
OZ Cycle, Hello Sir. I am decided to follow your chain waxing route as a way to lubricate my bicycle chain. The only thing I am missing is the Paraffin/Lamp Oil. I have found them easily available at our local DIY/Hardware stores but I can't seem to find one which is COLORLESS. I am thinking, if I use YELLOW paraffin oil, will it ruin the aesthetics of my bicycle? Also, I will still be using white paraffin candles. Maybe it will dilute the yellow paraffin oil somewhat to lighten its yellow color. Appreciate your input Sir. Thanks in advance.
@@stevenleffanue Thank you very much Sir. You have just made a new sub out of me. Best DIY I have seen regarding bikes. More so that it is scientifically proven. Long life and more power to you Sir. We need more people like you.
@@stevenleffanue Oh! Another thing, I was in a bike shop here in the philippines and was promoting your channel to other bikers there while I was waiting for the shop attendant to adjust my gas forks. They never imagined that all there supposedly professional chain lubes are worth nothing compared to paraffin wax.
