Velo magazine did a big chain lube test in their latest magazine. I was stunned that chain lube would actually make a testable difference in the amount of power it takes to propel a bike. Between the worst and best lube they tested there was almost 4 watts difference. Doesn’t seem like much, but think about it, a 1500 dollar Aero wheelset probably makes around 4 watts difference.
The best, “normal” lube they tested was Rock and Roll Gold. I wrote a review of some of the lubes I’ve used and it has been one of my most popular posts, I have bottle of Rock and Roll Extreme that worked very well. One of the least efficient lubes they tested was Prolink Gold, which I also reviewed and really like on my road bike. There is a reason it stays so clean, it doesn’t do that good of job lubricating.
The Winner of their test was a very old school lube, in fact its not even a lube, its a solid at room temperature, paraffin wax. Paraffin wax was not only the most efficient lube they tested but it also was the cleanest, it actually even got more efficent when they tested the chain dirty.
Ever since reading this I’ve been thinking about waxing my chain and last night I took the plunge. After waxing I rode the bike today on a harsh mountain bike trail for over 2 hours, countless creek crossings and some mud too. The drive train was like a rock, and it felt much smoother, especially after getting soaked. Check out these easy to follow picture by picture directions.
Step One: Strip your chain, gasoline works, but I’m sure there are other less flammable options.
Here’s a lube free chain.
Paraffin Wax can be found in the canning isle. Now its time to get melty, you need something to heat up the Paraffin Wax to around 150 degrees. Be careful this stuff will catch on fire if you get it too hot.
I’ve let the chain soak in the wax for awhile and agitated it.
Once the chain comes out you must let it cool. The hardened wax will make the chain stiff, but once it runs it’ll be smooth.
Can’t argue with these results. After a muddy ride I hosed off my bike, the drivetrain was perfectly clean. It ran super smooth all day long.
Normally a jockey pulley would be jammed up with a mixture of dirt and grease. With a the wax it came out perfectly clean.
So why wouldn’t you wax your chain? Well I’m not sure how long it’ll last. I’m hoping to get another ride out of it, but Velo reports getting as many as 600 miles in the dry and 300 in wet conditions but that was on a road bike. I’m hoping to get a couple of weekend rides on my mountain bike. Waxing the chain takes about an hour, of which you actually only to be present for about 5 minutes of, the rest of the time the chain is soaking or drying or cooling.
For me its not the efficiency that I care about, its not even the cleaner drive train. I’ve found that my chains wear out in a few months mountain biking. The constant grit and sand of our trails are carried into the rollers by the constant oiling of the chain where they act like grinding/polishing compound. Not only do my chains wear out fast, they feel as if they are full of grit the whole time. Maybe chains will last longer when the rollers aren’t packed with grit?
PS If you notice that their are two chains pictured in this article its because I tested the procedure on my Nashbar touring bike’s chain first, before waxing the chain on my mountain bike.
Barn Door Cycling 
That article got a lot of mileage. I’ve considered waxing but always shied away due to the need to take it off the bike. I just wipe mine down & reapply lube on the bike to save time.
Very informative, now when I get dropped I can blame my chain lube for holding me back.
I use a synthetic oil based chain lube on my road bike, but after oiling I remove as much oil as possible using several rags leaving the thinnest film possible. Seems to help with gunk buildup.
I wonder what Luke is using on his 3000 mile mountain bike race?
LUkes going to use spit and Phlegm, saving weight and money.
I’m pretty sure you could have counted the creek crossings, wax isn’t lube. it’s for candles and hair removal. take a lotta wax to do a gholson. if you get one wet ride out of it, I’d be surprised. been there, done that, didn’t work. now use 30 weight. works.
you are the wind beneath my wings.
Nice post. I loved geeking out on that Velo article. We all have our lube religions, and it was fun
to see what shined and what got debunked. Everyone likes to dis wax and it’s durability, but really
it looks like it just comes down to how lazy one is. As to the wet ride, they dumped a *lot* of water (maybe 8 oz?) directly on the chain. Didn’t phase it. The stuff may flake off soon, but it clearly
sheds wet grime while everything holds dirt like a bulldog.
Just converted my mtb to RRG. Still too lazy too wax.
Thanks.
I’m thinking RRG for me too after waxing the chain. New chain on gravel road bike had rust on it after a a 45 mile wet and gritty ride. I think I’m going to try taking off the chain to regularly clean it and then wax it. I’ll apply RRG after a ride or two so I’m not constantly taking the chain off to wax it.
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Paraffin wax is the same as ski wax. It delivers great friction reduction.
Wondering if there is an easy way to re-apply the wax or you have to boil the chain again.
did a MTB race in sticky mud conditions yesterday, chain held up perfect with the wax applied. hosed the bike down and left it overnight. now the chain shows a lot of rust. So, how to avoid this.
and next concern will it hold during 6 hour event, if not do I just apply my normal lube or??
Those are my findings exactly, I’m certain wax won’t hold up for 6 hours of wet muck, I think would hold up if it was dry.
To avoid rust after a wet ride you could oil the chain. Eventually you’ll have to take it off and strip it again. No easy way to reapply wax, got to take chain off, clean thoroughly, dip in wax. Ended up being too much work for me. I’d just stick with your regular lube.
At our bike club meeting last night, one of the guys demonstrated waxing a chain. The one he used was already black and dirty with lube and road grime. He put the chain, lube, dirt and all, into the melted paraffin and stirred it around for a few minutes. The paraffin cleaned the chain! When he removed it and put it back on the bike, it was sparkling silver. So apparently no need to clean and degrease a chain before waxing it. It’s not that hard to remove and reinstall a chain if you have a quick-release link (SRAM comes with one, Shimano doesn’t); Leonard Zinn says if you have to keep using a chain tool to take apart the link, you may wind up compromising the chain just from messing with the pins. but from what I saw last night, paraffin is worth a try. You can install one of those Wipperman quick-release links on any chain, or have your LBS do it for you.
I like paraffin on my road bike and mostly ride in dry condition and occasional rain. It works well for me and I’ve been using DuPont Teflon Chain saver after that. I don’t know about the friction value, but I don’t race I just go as fast as I can slowly… ave 14–16 mph. Works for me 🙂
Great demonstration. I am switching all of my bikes over to wax. I filter and burn the “dirty” gas in my lawn mower. As for the rusty chain, I recommend buying a nickel plated KMC chain and you won’t have to worry about that. Many of their chains are skeletonized too, which saves weight and adds some bling to your bike. They cost a bit more, but with a clean, waxy chain it should last longer. Dirt is the worst thing for wear and tear on any moving parts.
thanks, those KMC chains look sweet.
I went one step further and added bees wax 20%. Bees wax is also a binding agent which paraffin doesnt have. it will make the whole mixture stick your you chain longer than paraffin by itself. I only just started foing do so I’m hopefully of some major mileage before a have to re-do it. Having the sram quick release link makes life easier.
Hi, just read your post great stuff, I am here in Australia and I am looking at making my own lube as they want silly money for these tiny bottles of lube. From what I was told you can mix/melt paraffin wax with white spirits and apply to your chain, the white spirits will evaporate and leave the wax on your chain, not sure of ratio’s but might try it out.
thats a very interesting thought. i have 2.5kg of parafine sitting. the other 2.5kg i had has been melted about 10 times and boiled about 20 chains, but its too troublesome to continue.
would be keen to know about the process in more detail
Lots work to do for based-wax. Thinner Oil lube and wiping chain often.
Pedros Syn Lube is three times cost saving. Must have wiping and casette floss often.
I do hobby my bicycle care and fixing.
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I just started using GulfWax (with some gun barrel super-fine moly mixed in). I only got about 120 miles in dry conditions before I could hear the chain so am re-waxing. It was not squeaking – but mild chain noise. Could I have let it go longer? 120 miles seems very short to me. Love the cleanliness though.
I’ve been using paraffin wax exclusively for about 30 years. I typically get 10,000 miles from a chain. I clean the chain w/ kerosene and a Park chain cleaner on the bike once per year. I wax the chain once a month. To wax the chain, I put a piece of cardboard between the chain and the spokes to keep the wax off the bike, warm 3-4 inches of chain with the hair dryer and hold a piece of wax on the chain until it melts in thoroughly. It takes me about 20 minutes to wax the chain. In between each waxing, I warm up the chain to melt the wax that’s on the chain. I almost never take the chain off the bike.
Love this post! Frictionfacts.com and Velo news has done comprehensive lube testing and plain hot melt paraffin came out as the fastest lube method that can be applied to a chain. ..My brother and I started a company which produces an enhanced paraffin which uses the paraffin to suspend Teflon and other dry lubricants to increase the durability of the paraffin lube as well as improve the lubricity. Please check out our Kickstarter campaign that is about to wrap up successfully, we hope to have our product on store shelves in the near future!! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1908330976/runaway-bike-hot-tub-advanced-bicycle-chain-lubric
Years ago in the early 1980s, I started waxing my chain after using many different lubricants. For a few years I used Phil Wood’s Tenacious Oil, a wonderful product, but when I started waxing my chain, and while it was required about every 300 miles, sometimes five-hundred depending on the conditions I was riding in. In the next year I want to transfer from riding bikes to riding tadpole configuration trikes. I cam across this post as a result of searching for waxing trike chains, which rare so much longer than bike chains. I’m wondering if anyone riding trikes are using waxing for their chains?
I’ve only waxed my chain a few times since writing this post. It’s super smooth but alot of work. If trike chains are as long as I think they are then I doubt waxing them would be fun.
I started waxing my chains about two months ago. I found ptfe powder on Amazon, $12 for about 2 pounds. That’s probably enough ptfe for a few hundred chain waxings. I mix the ptfe powder with moly powder, paraffin, and bees wax in a small crock pot.
The chains are quiet and smooth as is shifting. Taking the chain off with KMC missing links takes very little time and dipping the chain and reinstalling takes about 5 minutes. The best part about waxing for me is the chains run very clean.
I’ve lubed chains on my three bikes, my daughter’s bike, my wife’s, and couple of friends. My wife may not notice a nearly flat tire but noticed how quiet and smooth her chain was after waxing.
The only thing that comes close to the waxed chain for me if the first ride after using RnR Gold. I think the effective ingredient in RnR Gold is ptfe. It works great but I found myself re-lubing after each ride. The difference with wax is that it lasts longer and for the $30 I’ve invested (not including the old crock pot) I will be able to wax the chains on all my bikes for at least a few years.
As for the people who say wax doesn’t hold up in the wet, this doesn’t make any sense to me. Wax is used to waterproof things. It is impossible to remove from your fingers, workbench, or anything else with just water. I admit I haven’t been on any wet rides since switching to wax but don’t understand how thin, oil-based lubes would hold up any better to water than something used to seal vessels found in the pyramids.
Trust me, it’ll be gone in the wet pretty fast. I think it’s because the water causes grit to stick to it and grind it off. Maybe on a real clean road? Other then that to me it’s the perfect lube.
Someone commented that the chain didn’t need to be stripped of oil first and I tried that. Doesn’t work. Wax won’t stick with a crap to a chain that isn’t super clean. Gasoline soak first.
You’re right about the amount of PTFE in RnR Gold, it’s a great lube, but doesn’t last, especially in the wet.
I’ve been a wax user for many years in the Northeast US, under many conditions, and swear by it. No, grit does not wear it off.
But…
I think a couple things need to be addressed; it’s not nearly the work it’s made out to be here. In fact I’d say it’s the same amount of work a wet-lubed chain would be.
First, as you say, you must start with a completely stripped chain. A dip and a stir in some gasoline isn’t enough. I think the Molten Speed Wax method (use Google) looks like a safe bet to remove ALL trace of oil-based lube using mineral spirits and alcohol. This is essential. Bare metal only. In fact I just did a brand new Ultegra chain today first using a 10 minute soak and stir in gasoline (non-ethanol, of course). There’s clearly a greasy film left on the chain after 1 hour sitting in the sun.
Then, once you have a base coat of paraffin worked into it using whatever means works, maintenance is done with a wax-based lube like White Lightning (my fave). I get 200-400 miles between doses of the WL which is applied using the same action as dripping, or spraying, a wet lube on. But the actual hot dipping, for me, is only done for a new chain (after stripping). They stay that clean.
Yeah wet grit takes it off, unless you have some other kind of secret wax I don’t have. Anytime I’ve tried a waxed chain on a wet and dirty ride it has been squeaking like crazy before I’m finished and my chain is rusting the next day.
Your claim that waxing is the same amount of work as wet lubing a chain is just ludicrous. Lets see,
Wax method: remove chain, strip chain, dry, soak in molten wax, hang to dry, replace chain.
Wet lube: Spray degreaser, clean chain, oil chain.
Applying liquid waxes to a waxed chain for maintenance is a good idea though.
Ok, I don’t know who you are, but I have over 35 years of racing, touring, commuting and wrenching high end bikes, and misrepresenting my procedure and calling it ludicrous doesn’t show much maturity on your part. I would only add that if you think what you said about your “wet lube” method is really cleaning your chain you’re very much mistaken.
Your on my blog, my name is Matt, it says it right there. I’ve never claimed to be that mature, so that’s cool.
I’m guessing you’re kind of the opposite of me, anal about equipment and procedures. That’s cool too, to each their own.
If you have some time you should make a blog or even guest post on my blog detailing your chain waxing strategy. Maybe I’ll learn something.
Thanks
As a paraffin wax user for 40 years (yes, since I was 10 years old), I can attest to the benefits of melted wax. As for Matt Gholson’s comments that “wet grit will remove the wax”, you’re right. At the same time, wet grit will strip oil or “liquid waxes” even faster. The purpose of lubricant is to lube the INSIDE of the chain rollers–this is where the wear occurs. Paraffin creates a semi-solid lubricating buffer between the rivets and rollers. It takes a long time to squeeze/wear out compared to wet wax. I agree with MtnGoat that starting with a TRULY CLEAN chain is important. I start with a Park brand chain cleaner that drips solvent onto the chain and has little scrubbing brushes. Then I spray the chain with GumOut carburetor cleaner as a final rinse…now your chain is truly clean. This year, I tried mixing basic paraffin wax (Gulf Wax) with ski wax (brand = One Ball Jay). The ski wax is a little softer and seems slicker. Mixing the two seems to help the wax adhere to the chain longer. Pedaling and shifting are smooth as silk for 300-400 miles.
By the way, I don’t remove the chain from the bike. I do all chain maintenance in place. For waxing, I warm the chain with a hot hairdryer/heat gun/propane torch (on low) and rub a block of wax on the chain until it melts in. (Put a piece of cardboard behind the chain to keep the bike clean.) As I said in a previous post, it takes me about 20 minutes, once a month. The chain stays clean and shiny–I NEVER get a chain tattoo on my right calf. My current chain has over 9,000 miles on it (road bike) and it is going strong.
thanks for the information, especially the idea of waxing the chain while it’s still on. I waxed a road bike chain earlier this year and didn’t lube it for months. I rarely get my road bikes wet and ride on clean roads. Waxing is ideal for that.
I ride over 10k a year in the Rockies, race “gravel” and endurance type events and have been a paraffin user for a few years. Since folks still stumble across this post, I thought I’d add some more information.
1) There is only one race I did in Salida (a double fondo on very muddy early Spring mountain back roads) where the lube wore off. This hit everyone though. The one aid vehicle had lube, and the support guy said it was the first thing anyone asked for. No lube, be it RnR Gold, the newer WD-40 Wet (or dry) or paraffin survived the first sixty miles of slippery riding. In an event like that, I’ve learned to carry a small bottle of “wet lube” and then just degrease, scrub the cassette, jockey wheels, and chain rings and re-wax after. If your chain survives, that is. I did another event in Boulder in similar conditions this year and my “new” chain was already stretched after (that is another story).
2) You don’t need to restrip a chain unless it is very dirty. Once the wax wears off, most of our terrain (CO singletrack and fireroads) is more dusty than muddy. So my normal procedure is just to toss the chain in the pot and let the lube boil out some of the dirt (it was fairly clean to begin with).
3) I put about 200 miles a week on my main bike (and maybe 40 or so on a hardtail), and do the paraffin dance once a week. I could probably get away with less.
4) I know a few (now ex) pro XC racers who swear by paraffin. If it’s good enough for them…
5) Yes, if it is sufficiently wet, you will lose your wax. But it has to be pretty wet and it’s not the water that wears it off, it’s the dirt and sand the water keeps on your chain that scrubs it off. I get bits of light rain and such and it still holds up.
6) Every other month, I do clean my cassette (old wax will cling a bit, but not on the teeth), jockey wheels (mostly to pull the seals and repack the grease… that’s dust’s fault), and chain rings. It isn’t completely necessary.
My $.02 is that twenty minutes once a week is worth it to keep my jockey wheels alive longer and my drivetrain spic n span. I have only used Gulf Wax (which is like $3 or so at the grocery store), and find it works fine. I ride A LOT of dirt no matter the bike and wax has been fine. If I lived in the PNW I would probably sing a different tune.
Thanks for the excellent info
I’m coming into this really late but I’m in the middle or reverse engineering R&R type lubes.
My best guess is it’s a mix of paraffin and oil dissolved in toluene, with teflon powder added.
I decanted and evaporated some of the fluid (minus the teflon) and ended up with about one-quarter the volume of pasty gummy wax, like refridgerated peanut butter. I’m playing with the wax/oil mix ratios now.
It seems in the end it isn’t as dry as pure paraffin, but I’m guessing the oilyness helps to carry and stick the teflon where you want it to stay.
I always assumed the solid stuff at the bottom was teflon
MikeB said: “It seems in the end it isn’t as dry as pure paraffin, but I’m guessing the oilyness helps to carry and stick the teflon where you want it to stay.”
I agree–the liquid-based wax isn’t as dry as pure paraffin…unless you apply it and wait a year. I helped a buddy hot-wax his MTB chain yesterday. He hadn’t ridden off road in a year. He said he used liquid wax (last year) and the chain FELT like it had the hot wax treatment–no oily residue.
The problem with the liquid waxes: #1- oily residue attracts dirt, #2-oily residue make the wax soft, allowing it to squeeze out of the high-stress bearing points. Pure paraffin stays put longer…it doesn’t squeeze out cuz it isn’t as soft.
This got me thinking…what if you applied the liquid wax, then warmed up the chain (hair dryer, heat gun, torch) to evaporate the solvent? I’m guessing you’d end up with something closer to the hot wax treatment. In the end you wouldn’t save time or convenience–if you’re going to heat up the chain, you might as well use paraffin wax.
Hi Larry,
The solvent evaporates pretty quickly, R&R recommends you wait an hour or a day, I forget. I’m sure this is to minimize the still wet wax’s ‘squeezing out’ like you mentioned. But either way, they’ve added oil or something to it so it never returns to pure paraffin.
Where I think they regain some performance is the addition of powdered teflon to the waxy paste. The teflon particles smear and create a film preventing the metal to metal condition. This gummy teflon is sort of like wax on steroids.
R&R also suggests the waxy coating also creates a ‘film’ in the joint to prevent dust from entering into the roller/pin.
Another opinion….
My commuter/urban assault bike is ridden ~22 mi/day in all weather. NYC area road conditions are not exactly clean but nor is it stream-fording wet gravel roads either. I am lazy and busy with other stuff so I am attracted to methods which don’t need too frequent efforts. I would rather spend an hr every few months than have to reapply something for every ride (not going to happen)
So: Twice a yr I clean chain and paraffin wax it. Maybe Use dry lube wax once or twice between. If I am behind on doing it right, I have found Fluid Film (which we use in the marine industry for everything short of cooking) as a fine if not too durable chain lube. We have 55gal drums at work so not using aerosols. But the clock is running on a proper redo once I start using solventy lubes.
When I am heading into cleaning my chain, I use WD40 for a ride and then a thorough soaking with the same before starting to actually clean chain. To clean it, I just use strait Simple Green in Park chain washer. 3 or 4 changes of washer get chain squeaky clean (judge by color of Simple green). Same results are likely with orange cleaner. in the event of odd ball lubes leaving hard gunky residue, oven cleaner is amazing stuff!
If I am feeling really motivated, I remove chain (SRAM link) and wash again in clean diesel (gas is really silly too dangerous for this). Then once again in simple green. Quart yogurt container works a treat.
Dry with compressed air or shop vac or use denatured alcohol wash which picks up water and dries very fast. It is easy to bathe in wax in double boiler. Truth is, the hot wax displaces the water but you get an emulsion in bottom of pot if there is a lot of water in chain so if you put it in wet you have to keep chain off bottom of pot…. However once wax cools water can be gotten of bottom of now solid wax ready for next time. Ok so clearly easier to dry it first! BTW I think you could skip Simple green after diesel wash. Diesel and Wax co-soluble so no big deal so long as it is not too much and definitely not dirty.
If, as I am often, I am too lazy to remove chain from bike I have good luck with the heat gun method mentioned above. Once the chain is clean and dry (shop vac works great), heat a section, rub the wax on the warm section. The wax softens and kind of gunks up on top of the chain ( I work on lower half). Heat it again and the wax flows into the pins and rollers beautifully. If doing it that way I usually go around the chain twice to be sure of getting it well into every link. If you over do it, you just end up with waxy derailleur wheels and cassette after a few rides.
Lastly I usually have access to a hose at both ends of my ride so I wash drive train off regularly especially after wet ride. It never takes the wax off but always washes grit away. Cassette/pulleys stay looking fresh for months.
So long story short. I reckon wax is good. I have the whole routine down to under an hour and I have a good quiet smooth shifting chain all yr long for a total of < 3 hr/yr. I think I might try bee's wax mixture in fall application as the straight paraffin is pretty brittle in the cold. The softer bees wax might be stickier in colder months. Don't want it too sticky tho as grabbing grit would defeat long service interval – major benefit of wax.
Something I have never tried is melting wax into derailleur joints and such. might be good there too.
Anybody tried the sheep dip or whatever it is called? We sailors used to rely on sheep lanolin to keep rust free the threads on turnbuckles and such that are regularly bathed in seawater. Thinking I might give it a try, although it is hard to change when you have a method that works….
Great to hear all the ways folks deal with this! Good Luck!
As a qualified lubrication analyst/ technologist sorting out wear problems in mining machinery I can contribute some (hopefully) useful comments.
– the main reason for using a lubricant is to prevent wear of the moving parts, On a bike, this is the chain. ( evidenced as “stretched” chains.)
– new chains and newly cleaned chains work well for a short while as the oil separates the moving parts (hydrodynamic and boundary lubrication)
– However, dirt which is carried in the oil, soon becomes. the real problem. DIRT which bridges the gaps between the moving parts causes abrasion (boundary and 3 body wear)
-the critical parts are the rollers and the pins – (chains have >100 rollers and pins which transmit the power.) This is often a classic case of not seeing it therefore not worrying about it. Most chains have abrasive paste in this area and no amount of sprayed on lubrication will change this.
-CLEANING this area with clean solvent is (mostly) the best thing that can improve the wear in this area. PTFE or some other additives might help but only after a cleaning regime)
My own regime is
– Remove the chain from the bike ( set your chains up with a break link)
-Wash the chain in kero, discard dirty kero, washing again until kero is clear, wash in mentholated spirits ( helps remove the kero, leaving clean gaps for the new lubricant and dries (evaporates)
– heat Paraffin wax – ideally 60 degC solidifying heated to 70 – 75 degC ( leaves a nice film of wax on the outside of the chain). Continue until all bubbling stops
– TAKE CARE USE NO NAKED FLAMES AND USE PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
– on a road bike i do this every 500 – 1000 km and could go longer but don’t see the point given the price of wax, chains, cassettes etc etc.
Best of all, the chain is clean to touch all the time – I can put the bike inside my wife’s BMW
Sorry for droning on
Stevie Bevie