Ways to re wax your chain abroad & Other ways to wax your chain.

[@paulhackett2837]

Going OS for three months and you confirmed my approach. Hoping it works well.

[@cyclingunboxed]

It did well enough for us. It will never be as good as hot melt but far better than wet lube

[@stephencharles6932]

Super 'real life' examples, well presented. All makes sense, thank you.

[@cyclingunboxed]

I’m glad it could help!

[@arnaudseynaeve9266]

Being a subscriber to zero friction cycling, I knew this information. For the drop by drop, I use the chain crossing method (small plate and small sprocket) so that the wax (very liquid at Silca) penetrates better inside the rollers. A few turns of the pedals.

[@cyclingunboxed]

Love that man. So much chain knowledge! For me I like the drip method but when it’s waxed I find the drip falls off before it articulates and not much goes into the chain. That’s why I like the fast method and barely any spills for me. Have you had a different experience?

[@arnaudseynaeve9266]

@@cyclingunboxed I tested Morgan, Smoove, Squirt. Silca super secret is very liquid (there is 30% water if I'm not mistaken). So I do as ZCF recommends: immersion (it takes about 400 km before the first noises in dry conditions) then drop by drop (about 3 times then immersion again). The technique of the double pot with protective grid is clever. I also tried DIY techniques with PTFE but inconclusive in the long term

[@ivanyhtang]

Really well done video. I want to convert to wax when I've finished using oil lubes but do you think wax is good for wet conditions or gravel? Also, how many times do you reuse the quick links? Using oil and degreaser doesn't require taking the chain off so you save some money on the quick links. Keep up the great videos

[@cyclingunboxed]

For gravel and wet riding the wax is still superior. Especially for dry gravel! If you do have a wet ride, when you get home I would just wipe the chain dry with a micro fibre cloth. This way the chain won’t rust. I would also probably re wax after about 150k rather than 250 just too keep that chain in perfect condition. If it’s a very wet ride, or a very wet muddy ride then I would take the chain off and give it a hot bath straight away to flush anything out. For quick links, officially I have to say that you can only use them once but personally I use them minimum 5 times and up to 10. I hope that helps.

[@alwynbo]

Awesome video! I run campag which don’t have quick link, so any waxing that involves removing the chain isn’t really an option! 😢

[@cyclingunboxed]

Ah, I never realised campag didn’t have one! Although they use YBN chains don’t they? I’m am pretty sure of that, so an option would be to use the ybn quick links. I may be wrong on this one but I would think the Shimano quick link should also work on the campag because it’s pretty much the same shape. If anyone else has more information on here, please let us know!

[@neutronpcxt372]

Well, that's a very nice video. For the initial waxing with drip wax, I go the extra mile by heating up the wax and the chain for maximum penatration. For subsequent rewaxings, I do the same thing, but I just use less wax. For cleaning, I do something rather extreme: I heat up the chain and a low polar solvent like isopropanol/methylated spirits(methanol) and just douse the chain on the bike to get most of the wax outside of the pins+rollers without completely taking the chain out. Hot water just isn't that effective at properly dissolving wax. Using a completely non polar solvent also works, but they're more costly, less available, and most importantly, most of them are not very environmentally safe. It actually works surprisingly well and allows me to half the intervals of when I need to do a deep wax chain clean.

[@cyclingunboxed]

Thanks for the info! I am curious as to how you warm up the wax beforehand? Is this done in the bottle? I also assume you just use a hair dryer to warm up the chain too?

[@neutronpcxt372]

@@cyclingunboxed I just shove the wax into the microwave. I made sure to transfer it to a glass container to warm it up to 50-60C beforehand. Nope! I use a proper electronics grade heatgun :)

[@neutronpcxt372]

@@cyclingunboxed Anyway, I found an ever better way of mid wax cleaning your chain, but it does require a more powerful solvent like a limonene based cleaner (Zep Citrus cleaners might ring a bell). In exchange, any oily/greasy contaminants will get completely soaked up by the solvent, which is always nice. For deep cleaning, I've switch from mineral spirits for degreases to a 50-50 mix of limonene and ethanol. It's very powerful and isn't anywhere near as environmentally dubious as mineral spirits.

[@julienvh1160]

if im coming from degreaser + dry lube, will a hot water bath be enough to make the transition to the drip wax method ? Also you mentioned 2-3 drip wax before another hot bath, do you drip wax after every ride or after 200-300km ?

[@cyclingunboxed]

Unfortunately if you are coming from a normal dry lubricant then the hot water bath simply isn’t enough. You will need to follow the guide in this video to get your chain to a clean enough level: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6XCl3eGoNaBY5o If your dry lube is wax based then the hot water baths should be enough. No need to re apply after every ride, only every 2-300km. If it rains very heavily on your ride I would then re apply after the ride.

[@fede1275]

Very interesting, but still beyond my outrageous laziness level 😂

[@cyclingunboxed]

😂

[@DanielPinkney-fu5nr]

I use ear-wax because it's a natural and environmental friendly method. Simply scoop a load of wax our my ear and rub it into the chain. 😂

[@cyclingunboxed]

Oh Danny 😂