The Ultimate guide to chain waxing

My most comprehensive guide on chain waxing and race chain preparation yet, with all my tips observations included.

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[edsinofsky]

I like to wipe the outer links with a rag after taking out of the molten wax before it drys. I have done it both ways, but think the break-in is quicker and the chain looks cleaner. Waxing is the greatest thing I learned since I got back into biking. Thanks for the informative video.

[davejones]

Love how thorough you are Ronald. It soothes my OCD 😃

[UniqueDesigns]

I use cheap gas as well for all New chains, then into a 2nd quick shaker container to rinse off any petroleum residue from the gas with 100% Denatured alcohol. Have never bothered with an ultrasonic cleaner as the shaking is less expensive and quicker, IMO.
By hanging the chain by its center inner link from a long strong zip tie, the chain is shortened to half of its full length and the zip tie can remain inserted for those 2 steps as well as into the hot wax 20 min. soak. The half lengthened chain can be whipped around vigorously outside for the cleaning steps so the centrifugal force will pull out a majority of the gas and alcohol before waxing. No compressor needed. Will the compressor method get all of any water you rinse off the cleaning fluids with. I'd be afraid Any water rinse would leave some water between the rollers and pins and weaken the links if lube could not penetrate completely. I've never broken a link.
I melt paraffin candles with a 50/50 mix of Walmart $2 mineral oil, which makes it thinner and the most slippery. It heats up to liquid state in minutes.
The rollers and pins get filled with the liquifide wax mix so may never need to be fully agressively cleaned after the 1st 3 steps on a new chain as no dust should be able to penetrate those spaces between the rollers and each pin.
But if you start out with at least 2 New chains then you can swap them out when one gets noisier, and rewax the noisy chain.

[brucenie]

Been waxing for years now and really think it makes a difference for the better. Also nice to see you are a fellow Speedplay fan

[hesiem]

Congratulation for the cool chanel and great vids. Started waxing my chain too.. one comment/question : aren't you afraid that all the wax literally washes off the chain as soon as you take it out from its hot bath when the wax is super hot and super liquid ? I saw one guy recommending to wait until the wax cools to 50-54 degrees before removing the chain from its bath. How many km do you usually ride your chain before going through the waxing process again ? Thanks !

[janplexy]

you degreased the desk surface but you touched the chain with bare hands thousand times?

[toedSloth]

You should cool the wax to 52degC before pulling the chains out. Even better to quickly quench it in cold water after. The goal is to keep as much wax inside the chain as possible. If you remove it while the wax is super hot (and then shake it out) a lot of the wax simply drips and falls out. You wind up with a lot less protection and have to redo it more often.

[makantahi]

gaseline does good job of cleaning, there no need of complicated equipment, and can be used more time because dirts easely come on bottom of bottle with gaseline

[mikeh]

What do you think about the idea that if you take the chains out at the right temperature the wax doesn't pour out of the chain? I think you'll have very very short mileage between waxings if you shake 90-100 degree wax off like that. Sure the chain will look nice but it would be noisy again after only 100km maybe.

[kiddiboy]

Hi Ronald,
Good job putting out all these videos with great content. Really informative. Thank you.
I'm a chain waxer myself and enjoy all the benefits. However my waxbath is quite dirty now so I tried your tip filtering the wax through a coffee filter. The wax went through the filter extremely slow and I gave up. I put a filter in a funnel and poured in the wax. How did you manage to filter your wax?

[kryghyzho]

Here's a bit of a dumb question: how big should the cleaner roughly be if you want to fit a SRAM Eagle cassette for instance?

[frodriguezpc]

Nice video! Do you think new connection pins could be used each time for Shimano chains instead of the quick links? Cheaper and, in my opinion, safer as well. What do you think?

[carlospetricioli]

Great video, but how do you know when it is time to re wax your chain. Can you give some details about that. And also, how do you clean the drivetrain between two waxings ?

[yashahouse]

What's the best way to clean the old wax off a chain? Straight into the ultrasonic cleaner or degreaser solution first?

[jayobrine]

I ride in the cold N.E. winter and having trouble locating chain racing powder. I was wondering if I could use graphite powder. I use it in my car's locks to keep the locks from freezing and keeping the key’s action smoothly in the locks, even when water gets inside and freezes. It’s cheap, available everywhere, and works great.

[DarrenJohnson]

Never new you could use Sram quick links on shimano chains....recently found your channel and subbed

[bitsurfer]

what is the approximate dimension of square of the chain that you make so I know what size of crock pot or wax warmer to buy?

[gamelaro]

Great video, Ronald! Where can I get Molten Speed Wax in Europe? Thank you!

[christophbuomberger]

Looks like your ultrasonic cleaner has 2L capacity, is that correct? Do 32t cassettes fit in there?

[tjnadah]

have you ever use putoline chain wax? seems to be popular with motorbike users and wondered if you've had any experience with this ?