Got tired of constantly scrubbing a dirt-oil paste out of the drivetrain, so I bought a crockpot, some hot melt wax, and a bunch of dish soap & degreaser… this is the result.

    by azadventure

    7 Comments

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    2. Looks good. Mine looks dirty cuz of the Silca additives, but it works awesome and I’m fully “in.”

    3. echomikewhiskey on

      I did this last summer too and I’m a big fan. It was several rounds of degreaser to get the chain prepped. The cassette I wasn’t so concerned about, but I gave it a little TLC too. My only concern is that I haven’t really put it to the test in wet weather. Have you?

    4. I’ve been running a waxed SRAM RED flat top for 2 years now and it’s still nearly like new. At the rate it’s wearing I’ll probably get more than 20,000km on it. I do full wax once a month or sometimes a bit longer, and in between just wipe it with a gear wipe and top it up with Silca Super-Secret drip wax every 150km or so, or more often if it gets wet and/or grungy, but dirt mostly just sheds right off of it as long as I keep it topped up.

    5. I also took the plunge and waxed my bike chain for the first time, and yesterday’s dry, late-summer test ride was pretty encouraging! Shifting was smooth and the chain was silent for the first 100km. I did notice a bit of noise after that, but hey, for a total investment of €20 (paraffin, degreaser, pot) I’m not complaining.

      Melted the paraffin in the oven with the chain in a stainless steel pot, and even took the cassette apart for a thorough cleaning. Overall, I’m quite happy with the performance and would recommend giving it a try!

    6. Sorry for noob question. If you take
      Your chain off for waxing, you need a new chain link every time, since the old one can’t be reused. Which is about 11 usd (in my country) or have I misunderstood something?

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