I've been having fun (and frustration) with finally taking the time to learn about my nearly 10-year old Cervelo and entry level Giant bikes that I've neglected due to ignorance for this whole time with minimal maintenance. My entry level really suffered for it (new headset, new groupset needed) but the Cervelo isnt too bad.
The one real item that has been annoying the living heck out of me are the black grease stains that come off the chain and get on everything. It really puts a major damper on the entire process. Everything the chain touches turns black, even if it just brushes it for a second.
I've already cleaned the chain with concentrated orange degreaser, a brush, followed by soapy water, and while it's wayyy cleaner than it started, it's still messy enough that it'll leave black marks if it brushes on stuff or if I pick it up.
I looked online and saw some videos on paraffin wax chain setups. At first it looked ridiculous to me - buy paraffin, buy paraffin oil, buy a friggin' crock pot to melt the paraffin in, you HAVE to remove the chain from the bike, and you have to do this every 250-350 miles?!?
Then I saw what seems like the deal-maker for me - apparently, a properly paraffin waxed chain leaves no black chain residue. There's another youtube video out there with a recumbent guy showing his bike and handling the chain, and it leaves no black marks. As well, in setting up my bikes, I've realized how ridiculously easy a masterlink is to use for chainbreaking/assembling, and I think this crockpot thing would actually be a lot faster than taking the time to use a chain tool with multiple degreasing and water washes, followed by link by link lube application. (The crockpot method is pretty much melt wax, drop chain in, pull out, wipe, dry & mount. That's like <5 mins of actual work.)
Anyone else out there using paraffin wax with the crockpot method and care to comment on the reality of how clean it is regarding the lack of chain tattoos and/or the convenience/inconvenience of it?
(As a related note, I remember when I first got my Cervelo back in 2008 - and was amazed how clean the chain was and that it STAYED clean for the entire first 5 weeks I rode it out of the shop. Like so clean there was NO chain tattoo. I've been chasing that effect ever since, to no avail - new chains get blackened quick, regardless of lube. I strongly suspect now that they waxed rather than lubed that chain back then - whatever they did, it was friggin' awesome.)
The one real item that has been annoying the living heck out of me are the black grease stains that come off the chain and get on everything. It really puts a major damper on the entire process. Everything the chain touches turns black, even if it just brushes it for a second.
I've already cleaned the chain with concentrated orange degreaser, a brush, followed by soapy water, and while it's wayyy cleaner than it started, it's still messy enough that it'll leave black marks if it brushes on stuff or if I pick it up.
I looked online and saw some videos on paraffin wax chain setups. At first it looked ridiculous to me - buy paraffin, buy paraffin oil, buy a friggin' crock pot to melt the paraffin in, you HAVE to remove the chain from the bike, and you have to do this every 250-350 miles?!?
Then I saw what seems like the deal-maker for me - apparently, a properly paraffin waxed chain leaves no black chain residue. There's another youtube video out there with a recumbent guy showing his bike and handling the chain, and it leaves no black marks. As well, in setting up my bikes, I've realized how ridiculously easy a masterlink is to use for chainbreaking/assembling, and I think this crockpot thing would actually be a lot faster than taking the time to use a chain tool with multiple degreasing and water washes, followed by link by link lube application. (The crockpot method is pretty much melt wax, drop chain in, pull out, wipe, dry & mount. That's like <5 mins of actual work.)
Anyone else out there using paraffin wax with the crockpot method and care to comment on the reality of how clean it is regarding the lack of chain tattoos and/or the convenience/inconvenience of it?
(As a related note, I remember when I first got my Cervelo back in 2008 - and was amazed how clean the chain was and that it STAYED clean for the entire first 5 weeks I rode it out of the shop. Like so clean there was NO chain tattoo. I've been chasing that effect ever since, to no avail - new chains get blackened quick, regardless of lube. I strongly suspect now that they waxed rather than lubed that chain back then - whatever they did, it was friggin' awesome.)