There are so many chain lubes, each promising to be better than the next, but visually it’s pretty difficult to set them apart once applied. Not so with Wend Waxworks’ soft wax kit. Start with the Wax Off, then roll your chain through the soft, paraffin-based Wax On stick until it’s caked up good. Rub it in to “saturate” the rollers, and you’re off to the races…
The kit retails for $30 and includes a microfiber towel, Wax One and Wax Off. Products are also available separately.
Counterpoint: from my experience, wax lubricants on chains when applied properly are by far the cleanest drivetrains. However, as soon as you apply wax lube on a chain with oil-based wax (or vice-versa), it wrecks havoc on the drivetrain and immediately gets gummed up and gets that black caked horribleness. Strip the chain first, thoroughly apply wax or dip in paraffin, and it’s by far the cleanest drivetrain you’ll ever see (this Wend product notwithstanding).
Agreed; I use Molten Speed Wax on all my chains, as a hot-immersion application, and the drivetrain stays very clean at all times. But, as per their instructions, you have to completely strip the chain of all petroleum-based lubriction from the very beginning, and unless you really want a mess, you need to avoid anything but wax afterward. Once you do that, the whole system stays very clean. The standard service process is honestly no more time consuming than removing a chain and completely cleaning it anyhow, and as part of a regular service interval, I make it the first thing I take off and the last thing I put on, and there’s plenty of time in between for other cleaning and service. I can’t say for certain that it’s giving me any advantage in power, since, well, I’m old and slow anyhow, but I’m seeing, overall, less wear and longer lifespan of components, and, of course, there’s the fact that it’s very, very clean.
Full disclosure: I don’t count miles between intervals, but I don’t think I put more than 200 miles on the road bikes between service, and very rarely more than 100 miles on the trail bikes. I’m probably cleaning and applying fresh wax far too often to be an authority on long-term usage.
the problem with rub on wax is that it doesn’t really get in between the rollers and pins, which is the only place that needs lubrication. I’ll continue to dip my chains. I have an extra chain and quick links so I always have a chain ready to go. There is no extra cost since using two chains last twice as much.
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