Chain Waxonomy
A commentary on the lubes we love to hate
Non cyclists probably stop reading now. This is one of those rabbit holes only someone deep into cycling dare enter.
But here you still are? Okay you were warned.
For drip lubes I’ve been running this Rock’n’Roll Gold product for a few years now and that keeps the gunk down pretty well. It’s a little spendy but it uses a cleaner that is supposed to spin out some of the dirt when you apply. In my experience you have to apply it pretty often since it doesn’t last too long.
For longer rides I would sometimes stash a near empty 4 oz bottle in my bag to top up for the second part of the day. You’re supposed to apply it the night before to let it set up properly so I’m not sure on road applications help too much but it does make the system quieter - which for me is important. I like mine to be a quiet ride and I’ve been known to say things to others on group rides if their chains appear to be neglected. Its not easy being obsessive!
Earlier this summer a cycling friend of mine started talking about using wax for his chain lubricant. Life changing! Properly applied and maintained wax immersion is cleaner than other lubricants and that cleanliness is supposed to keep your drivetrain running better and longer. For those like me riding mostly on gravel its even more important since that dirt builds up faster and parts wear out quicker. Typically I go through a couple chains per year on the gravel bike. The Shimano CN-HG601-11 runs more than $30 on the mail order avenues - and that’s not their best chain. 12 speed chains cost even more but I’m only running 11 speed because its an older model bicycle. The cassette, chainrings and pulleys that mate with those chains wear too but not as fast if you stay on top of the lubrication and replace the chains routinely.
So if its cleaner and long lasting why don’t most people use a wax immersion for their bicycle chains? Because its a PAIN in the butt to apply and stay on top of that’s why! I’ve even heard of bike shops selling waxing services [like for skiers] to protect the drive trains on higher end bikes.
Back in my early cycling days a different friend talked me into trying the waxing way and it started with a Folgers coffee can and a camp stove in the garage. Sounds like a bad idea right? There’s more! Ideally you start with a new chain but even new chains come with factory grease - necessary so the product doesn’t rust before you get your hands on it. To clean that off we submerged the chain in gasoline overnight. The gas is supposed to strip the factory lubrication and give you a clean surface. Messy as you can imagine. Plus gasoline and camp stoves in the garage - bad bad bad. This whole cleaning process can take a day or two depending on how anal you are about starting with a clean chain. Next you melt some paraffin in the empty coffee can and give it another good bath this time in the wax. Nowadays this part happens more often in an old crockpot or slow cooker. The chain comes out of this hot so you loop it through a coat hanger and let it cool off some. Finally you install the chain. In the past this required a dedicated chain breaker tool but nowadays you can go with quick links that make it a bit simpler. But the honest truth is that its way faster to drip on your chosen lubricant and deal with the mess that inevitably attracts.
Now the folks at Silca claim to have simplified and sped up the waxing process so that it can happen in less than an hour (not days). Plus they offer a cleaner way through the messiest part - the degreasing. Silca is an old name in the cycling business - originally known for very elegant frame pumps. I had a custom painted Silca pump on my first high end road bike - an early 80’s Austro-Daimler.
That original company is no more but the name was sold to some bike loving folks in Indiana and it lives on with with a product line extending beyond the air pumps to tools, clothing, and shop lubes and more.
So this is what the coffee can / crockpot turns into when you have disposable income and too much time on your hands:
This is the new Silca Chain Waxing System. As you can see it includes an integrated hanger to help with the before and after wax bath. NB: it does not come with wax! It does includes a temperature control that is a lot more precise than your camp stove or crock pot - this part matters more if you also plan to use the Silca Strip Chip to take care of the degreasing part. It looks like artisanal chocolate but don’t eat it.
Instead lay a square of it on the Silca Secret Chain Blend wax while melting and it is supposed to strip off and isolate the factory grease as part of the waxing process. The strip chip activates at a higher temp than straight up waxing so read and follow instructions here depending your chain. It seems too good to be true honestly but I’ve done one chain so far and been riding around on dirt and sand on the fat bike with no issues or squeaky noise from the drivetrain.
Its early days but I like the easy application and the true test is yet to come. I have to secure a new chain for the gravel bike and see how that holds up to repeated dusting from our lovely Rice County roads. I will write an epilogue later this season and let you know how it goes.
Mean time if you have more interest in this product I share below three links. Ben Delaney is a noted cycling writer and he has a brief video review. There is a longer video presented by Silca which covers two different approaches to waxing your chain - or rather two different approaches to the degrease-then-wax process. Both are fast compared to my early camp-stove-in-the-garage attempts. The last link is a written review from one of my favorite cycling tech writers - that one might be paywalled? Let me know in comments if that doesn’t work.
Last thing - if you snoop around the Silca website you might bump into this tire pressure calculator. If there’s any cycling rabbit hole deeper than discussing chain lubes it might be arguing about tire pressure! Recently Minnesota company Wolf Tooth went one better and made their tire pressure calculator available on your smart phone. Yes there is an app for that. Try them and see which one you agree with.
I hope to be as expert about something so niche as this someday. Love the pic of you and uncle Dan ❤️ Third link works. Don’t eat the chocolate!!
A brief update: 3 of my bikes now feature the immersion wax lubrication described in the article. The results are still positive. I did have to replace a cassette and chainring on the MTB. It was eight seasons on that chainring and the noise with wax made me unhappy. Also went with new parts on the gravel rig. Both are running quietly and shifting properly.