My wax based lube recipe

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
You'll notice on the pic I have slow cooker on high, this was initially to melt everything and I forgot to move it back.
The wax temp on low was around 85°C.

During the last chain I hit the chain with the temp gun and the chain and wax pot was at 107°C.

According to G00Gl3 the boiling temp of paraffin wax is 370°C so way off.

I used a heat gun on the chains about 10 after coming out of the metho. They were piping hot so I would have had dry chains before they went into the wax.

Mini pie warmer anyone :p
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
You'll notice on the pic I have slow cooker on high, this was initially to melt everything and I forgot to move it back.
The wax temp on low was around 85°C.

During the last chain I hit the chain with the temp gun and the chain and wax pot was at 107°C.

According to G00Gl3 the boiling temp of paraffin wax is 370°C so way off.

I used a heat gun on the chains about 10 after coming out of the metho. They were piping hot so I would have had dry chains before they went into the wax.

Mini pie warmer anyone :p
About 120 degrees C is when you start fucking shit when you heat bearings, so depending on the materials of a chain maybe even before that.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
About 120 degrees C is when you start fucking shit when you heat bearings, so depending on the materials of a chain maybe even before that.
Yeah I didnt mean to take it up to 107, it seems pretty happy at 85°C. Was trying to get that bag of PTFE powder blended in and non-lumpy.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
A bit easier on the eyes. 90°C-230°C settings

A lot of small ovens on Gumtree, near new removed from vans as grey nomads upgrade. I use them to heat up large bearings to install them on industrial gear boxes.
 

Ackland

chats d'élevage
I'll admit it definitely agrees with my position so I understand that this is somewhat cherry picking.

However.... it's a well laid out real world observation of lubes and Pete makes it clear that there are indeed some instances where there are benefits.
 

Cardy George

Piercing rural members since 1981

I'll admit it definitely agrees with my position so I understand that this is somewhat cherry picking.



However.... it's a well laid out real world observation of lubes and Pete makes it clear that there are indeed some instances where there are benefits.
Well, where were you 4 years ago? ;)

I 100% agree with that article. 200km is the maximum I can get out of a chain, and even then the quick links are dry and squeaky.

The only part I slightly disagree with is the shifting. It is pretty average for the first 5 minutes but then the chain 'runs in' and it's all good.

I even back their recommendation for Rock N Roll blue.
Rode the same trails with a waxed chain today.
387965
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
Well, where were you 4 years ago? ;)

I 100% agree with that article. 200km is the maximum I can get out of a chain, and even then the quick links are dry and squeaky.

The only part I slightly disagree with is the shifting. It is pretty average for the first 5 minutes but then the chain 'runs in' and it's all good.

I even back their recommendation for Rock N Roll blue.

Rode the same trails with a waxed chain today.
View attachment 387965
I think the article has a few problems when viewed from purely an MTB perspective, as it's written exclusively about roadies.

Firstly, cleanliness is a big deal for us, given that a dirty chain means that you're grinding grit through your drive train. So using a lube that won't attract dirt is part of the goal for us, whereas that's not part of the equation for roadies (and the authors of that piece). Secondly, roadies generally do more kms than mountain bikers - of course, there are exceptions, like yourself @Cardy George But if you look at the thread where we discuss how many KMs we do each year, most of us will take a couple of weeks to notch up 150-200kms. That means the reapplication rate isn't too onerous on us, as it would be for a roady. (I RocknRoll Gold my chain much more regularly than 150-200km, and when I do it glides beautifully and is lovely and quiet).

Finally, the article made quite a few assertions without any argument or evidence to convince the reader and their sample rate of "hundreds of bikes a year", really isn't much to go off, considering the number of variables involved (were they just using pure melted wax or was it thinned with solvent? Were they using paraffin, whale blubber or dick cheese as their preferred wax-based lube?, etc. etc.).

So I'm sure they know more than me about all this, but that's not a particularly well written article from the get-go and it addresses a different style of riding that what is prevalent on this website.
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
I think the article has a few problems when viewed from purely an MTB perspective, as it's written exclusively about roadies.

Firstly, cleanliness is a big deal for us, given that a dirty chain means that you're grinding grit through your drive train. So using a lube that won't attract dirt is part of the goal for us, whereas that's not part of the equation for roadies (and the authors of that piece). Secondly, roadies generally do more kms than mountain bikers - of course, there are exceptions, like yourself @Cardy George But if you look at the thread where we discuss how many KMs we do each year, most of us will take a couple of weeks to notch up 150-200kms. That means the reapplication rate isn't too onerous on us, as it would be for a roady. (I RocknRoll Gold my chain much more regularly than 150-200km, and when I do it glides beautifully and is lovely and quiet).

Finally, the article made quite a few assertions without any argument or evidence to convince the reader and their sample rate of "hundreds of bikes a year", really isn't much to go off, considering the number of variables involved (were they just using pure melted wax or was it thinned with solvent? Were they using paraffin, whale blubber or dick cheese as their preferred wax-based lube?, etc. etc.).

So I'm sure they know more than me about all this, but that's not a particularly well written article from the get-go and it addresses a different style of riding that what is prevalent on this website.
I think the key point they make is valid though. Waxing is great, if you reapply often enough. And this applies to any lubricant.

Personally I can't be arsed with wax (or most lubricants for that matter) and rock and roll Blue does the trick for lazy old me. PSA the only differences between rock and roll red, gold and blue is the amount of waxy lubricant in the carrier fluid. Red has the least and blue the most. Personally I haven't found a situation where blue isn't the best of them. The key is to make sure to reapply when the chain is noisy or has been wet.

Also, don't bother degreasing your chain with rock and roll Blue. Although the chain manufacturers grease is primarily for rust prevention, the waxy lubricant has no problem binding with it.

Sent from my M2012K11AG using Tapatalk
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
A new hot waxed YBN SLA 11spd chain fitted before the Mawson trip, 400km of dust on it and it didnt miss a beat.

I was expecting it to start creaking as the wax wore off but nothing... does the wax just wear out of the pivots and leave me running on dry metal or should it squeak when it needs a re-wax ?


389673
 

Cardy George

Piercing rural members since 1981
A new hot waxed YBN SLA 11spd chain fitted before the Mawson trip, 400km of dust on it and it didnt miss a beat.

I was expecting it to start creaking as the wax wore off but nothing... does the wax just wear out of the pivots and leave me running on dry metal or should it squeak when it needs a re-wax ?


View attachment 389673
It'll squeak. Little Bird chirps will tell you it's time.

I have a suspicion I over heated my last pot of wax. I put fresh wax in to go with the fresh 12sp chains and I'm getting many more kilometres out of them.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
It'll squeak. Little Bird chirps will tell you it's time.

I have a suspicion I over heated my last pot of wax. I put fresh wax in to go with the fresh 12sp chains and I'm getting many more kilometres out of them.
Sweet ! Thats the chirps I was expecting, like a dry chain needing squirt lube.

Awesome, still not making a sound but I'll clean it later today.
 

RealizE

Likes Bikes
I can't recall if I already posted in this thread, so apologies if this is deja-vu...

I keep an old frying pan full of wax. I open the shed, bung the pan on the bbq burner and then go remove the chain from the bike. By the time I come back, the wax is mostly melted and ready to go. When I first started with wax, I watched all the videos and was following all the roadie BS; mixing teflon, temping the wax in a slow cooker, fully cleaning chains before re-waxing etc. If I can't see/feel a discernible difference between methods then it's a waste of my time and money.

Anyway...way back, I put the pan on and went inside and got side tracked. 2 hours later I was getting annoyed at the flog who must be burning rubbish and filling my house with smoke. Then it clicked. The pan was smoking like mad and the wax was probably a billion degrees. Meh. That wax is now chocolate coloured. The chain is still in-spec with almost 1,500K on it and I still get around 200Ks between waxes.

Even if I got twice the distance between applications and twice the chain life, I could never go back to dealing with greasy grimy chains when wax is so clean and easy.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
So for reapplications of wax, is everyone just using hot water, letting it dry then back into the wax pot ?
 

ForkinGreat

Knows his Brassica oleracea
Anyone with an ultrasonic cleaner: does yours have a de-gas function? (to reduce oxidation and improve cavitation during the cleaning cycle)
It might be more of an issue for industrial and scientific use
I was starting to think it was a must have, but I read on the molten speedwax site about running the cleaner through a cycle @57deg for 6min or so to de-gas the solution.
Thoughts?

 

link1896

Mr Greenfield
Anyone with an ultrasonic cleaner: does yours have a de-gas function? (to reduce oxidation and improve cavitation during the cleaning cycle)
It might be more of an issue for industrial and scientific use
I was starting to think it was a must have, but I read on the molten speedwax site about running the cleaner through a cycle @57deg for 6min or so to de-gas the solution.
Thoughts?

Both my machines have a degas feature. One changes the frequency of oscillation in degas mode and sweeps between what I think it 37khz and 40khz, the other just runs at full power at full temperature for 30mins. Sweep function is faster.

The aipoi seem to be good. I’ve got a 2L for small things like chains, and a 15L bad boy for big things in some other long forgotten Chinese brand, but it’s insanely noisy. At 1m it’s knocking on 100db with sub harmonics that are ear piercing.

 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
6 chains to wax, 5 re-wax and 1 new. Rather than pouring hot water over them or dropping them straight in the wax pot, which dirtied my wax.

Grabbed an old saucepan and cooked them up, first 3 were relatively clean, next 3 had the inside of the pot stained black.

Because they were hot when they came out, the water dried off them really quick.

I let them bubble in there for a few minutes on each side, funnily enough, when they came out and dried, they went stiff so there's still some wax in the joints.

20220830_122735.jpg
 
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