Chain Waxing

Ah - I’ve used it a few times on new chains and it seems effective in that the chain has that crinkly metallic sound in your hands afterwards, but I can also believe it isn’t enough.

Silca just introduced some new magic degreaser that can strip the factory grease from a new chain in 1 go and 10 minutes.

but it would be days before you got the majority of the oil out of the interior

So still a bit better than shaking jars of chain and turps then? ;-)

Cleaning a new chain of it’s factory grease is a bit of a pain and I’m sure this ^ method isn’t the best possible.

I’d be interested in how you anyone gets on with any method.

I didn't find shaking the jars all that bad to be honest ....

Would I pay and extra 8 quid to have in a spin cycles prep one for me? Probably, because I'm time poor and relatively privileged. However I happily stripped down 8 brand new chains about 2 years go before I had a baby via the jar method and didn't feel like it was too terrible an experience.

So my first go at chain waxing didn’t go well. I used the boil in the bag method as details on the packet. the bag split and I got a mixture of water and wax both in the bag and in the pan. I also managed to buy black wax and put it on a silver chain, so it’s going to look a mess.

I’m guessing it’s worked the as the chain is locked up as it’s cooling.

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Presume the black is the PTFE or similar, not sure there are different coloured waxes as it were.

Having residue on the outside will probably flake off quickly. The important bit is the wax in between the rollers and the bits that articulate through the drivetrain.

Bag splitting - sounds like it was too hot? When I used the sous vide method I used a thermometer to keep in the right range.

Yeah I did have a thermometer, the bag didn’t totally split, it looks like a some hole in the bottom, I guess it being in contact with the bottom of the pan might have caused it. It was taking a long time to come up to 90 degrees so I might have had the temp to high.

So, has anyone forked out £40 for the new Silca chain stripper yet? I'm very tempted, got a batch of chains to do, and the reviews are quite good.

I tried it, so you dont have to. But you'll probably want to.

I followed the instructions from this Silca video (except I wore PPE):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSjZpgvWVzA

Even the 5th notoriously sticky factory greased SRAM chain came out dry to the touch after a water rinse from a batch of 150ml Silca chain stripper. Against their guidance I wont (responsibly) get rid of this batch just yet, I will see how well it does with a 6th chain.

The math comes out to ~£13 for 5 chain cleaned relatively faff free in an hour, and in the process I only create 150ml solvent waste. Consider me #influenced.

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Awesome, will probably switch to it when I need a new set of chains

That does sound pretty good, tbf

Does anyone want to hazard a guess what it is? Chemically I mean, other than ‘top secret’ and ‘pro af’ ?

Evil shit that kills dolphins and doesn't even tin the tuna

Does anyone want to hazard a guess what it is?

Every forum has some post about not being able to find the MSDS, but if it's as safe as Silca claims it might not need one. There are more warnings on my lens wipes than there are on the Silca bottle.

My chain waxing experiment worked, kind of. The chain was squeaky after 180 miles in majorca, it was still shifting fine, but I'm assuming that's a sign that it needs redoing.

Give how little I ride my geared bikes I think it worth moving ever thing over to it. I've invested a whole £18 in a slow cover which I hope will make the process easier, at least I wont end up with a melted plastic bag and a mix of water and wax.

Being able to pack the bike up at the end of the trip without it being covered in oily crap was wonderful.

I've stopped waxing mine. Mostly because I have too many bikes and it's just a pain in the arse to deal with them all the time. If/when I manage to downsize properly I'll probably get back into it. I do still like the relative cleanliness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNsUgvkjviY

Same. Every time I bother doing it it inevitably rains, I can't be arsed doing it again immediately, and I'm getting flack for the kitchen smelling like paraffin all the time.
The cleanliness is nice, as is getting lots of life out of a chain, but Morgan Blue dry instead is a compromise I'm willing to make

I've still got two big bottles of Squirt but then I go to events and forget to bring my little bottle so I have to get normal lube and yada yada yeah I'll get back into it when it's more useful. Also, on the turbo trainer I prefer normal lube - cleanliness is less of an issue but dropped wax is so because I'm using my normal bike on that a lot I don't want to have to keep deep cleaning the whole drivetrain when swapping lubes.

According to Silca the squeaking is mostly from the sideplates, and wax should still be present in the rollers doing its job. I think they covered this when talking about riders topping up their chainlube on rides like Unbound XL. The first time I used immersion wax on a brand new chain I just topped up with drip wax when it got noisy. After 3000kms the 0.25 chain checker thingy still didnt go in it.

I now rotate 2 chains every 600km or so. Immersion wax them at together at the end of the 1200km, drip wax in the meantime. Takes a good 30 minutes to do both chains.

I keep a 5ml squeezy eyedrop bottle of Squirt in my saddlebag

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124284093449?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=0wChx_XWSD-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=TumZESG_RXS&var=425158861996&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Yeah, we each have one. I did say "forget" though (or when your partner brings the wrong bottle). Plus there's the awkward case where I'll travel without an old chain, knowing it has to be swapped on arrival. I'll never be organised enough to have one waxed and ready so I just throw a new chain on, ride it for 3 days and then use normal lube on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZH2Fe1m1QM

anyone want an ultrasonic bath for ridiculously easy chain cleaning?
Elmasonic S 30 H, working great, if minorly grubby. No basket, never needed it.
New they're something ridiculous like £750, yours for £200, can post if you need.