I did my first two chains last month. Everything seems to work as advertised. Cleaning the chains took me a bit longer than I anticipated and they are very stiff when you first put them on the bike, but it wasn't really that bad.

I bought one of the YNB chains they recommend and it shifts just fine. I haven't checked with them about whether they have had Friction Facts test them yet. It works be interesting to see results.

I like how clean these chains stay. I had tried that Wax-based Squirt Wax and it made a huge mess of my cassette and jockey wheels. I bought a Friction Facts chain last year and it was tested at oh 4.35 watts, which is about 3 free watts. It was pretty expensive, so assuming the Molten Speed Wax works gives similar results and works in the long run, I will be pretty happy.

My only suggestions would be to buy 2 crock pots so you can keep one for really nice racing chains and one for waxing training chains. I also bought a cheap ultrasonic cleaner that does an OK job cleaning chains and other drivetrain parts.

I was just looking at their website. http://moltenspeedwax.com/

This seems like a much better method than buying the Ceramic Speed chains http://www.ceramicspeed.com/sport/products/Chains because they only last 200 miles. Then what, buy a new chain from them for $120 plus shipping?

I'd rather clean my own chain and ensure that it's ready to go for each race instead of waiting for 200 miles to happen.

Thoughts?

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Rapp is waxing his chains these days. I had a good convo with him at Eagleman. Maybe he will chime in.

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If I remember correctly, Ceramic Speed will clean and re-wax your chain once or twice for 60$. I am too cheap and too poor to pay for that, but I can image having an hour of fiddling in carefully prepping a race chain.

I can't find anything on their website that says this.

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I have used non-Shimano master links on Shimano chains with no issues. Haven't used Dura-Ace chains, though.

i think we need to get Rapp to do a video it would be helpful!!!!

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Did you buy the Titanium chain that is $200? Also, when you say the Squirt Wax made a huge mess, what exactly do you mean. It is wax and will build up correct? Why not just leave it there.

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I believe before FF sold that line to ceramic speed you could pay for rewaxing up front for a reduced fee or send it back not pre-paid for a fee as well.

Not sure if that is still a thing with them. That did include the ultra sonic cleaning as well I think.



While it may only last 200 miles in some cases, I lost track of miles due to some trainer rides that no wheel speed logged. I think I had about 500 miles on my training chain and it was still fine when I swapped on my race chain for eagleman.


I made my own wax/mix and do it myself, not a ff/cs chain or molten speedwax.

Yeah, I remember reading that when Jason still owned the chain lube part of his business.

I don't think Ceramic Speed offers that service. Therefore, after 200 miles your only option is to buy another chain if you want the optimization

Did you buy one of the chains?

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what was your homemade wax?

I agree if that is the case it is a little nutty, even as a race chain that would seem very wasteful.

I know people asked for Rapp to write something or do a video but here is what I did/do:

I bought normal off the shelf dura ace chains (2), raided the GFs tea light candle collection (with her approval), got a little pot from good will for like 2 bucks, a crappy tupperware container for the waste mineral spirts for another dollar, and some graphite gun lube powder stuff (blanking but will keep looking). I tried to mix in some teflon but the stuff I got was crap and just clumped, so its sort of in there like a bay leaf would be in stew. Maybe its adding something mostly it is just in the way. We had two toaster ovens from moving in together so I claimed one of those and already had a hot plate. With this I can just keep everything in the workshop/paincave area.

I cleaned both new chains in some mineral spirits (same procedure for old so I'll combine), I think one of the write ups said to rinse in paint thinner before waxing. I did one with and one without but have not noticed a difference. To clean them I put them in an old spaghetti sauce jar and shake a few minutes, then let it sit a bit. For me a bit means when I remember a few days later I shake it some then pour it out and put some fresh stuff in until it is clean.

Before waxing I hang from my pullup bar for a few days to air dry. I blew it off with the air compressor at work the first time, just made noise didn't speed things up in my opinion.

While melting the wax I put the chain in the toaster oven at 180-200F I think, forget but I"ll check.

For the wax mix I melted down about 15-20 little tea lights, mixed in some of the graphite powder and attempted to stir in the teflon that didn't work. Now that this is mixed I just let it cool and cover it so nothing gets in, then just melt down the mix each time since I have a dedicated crappy pot for it.

Using some needle nose pliers I then transfer the chain to the pot of melted wax mixture and stir it around. Since I keep forgetting to get something better and don't want to leave it unattended this is usually a scrap zip tie or whatever else is in reach. I have no clue how much time it needs to be in the mix and how much the stirring helps or not but I usually have it in there about 2-3 minutes.

I position my setup under the pull up bar and use the coat hanger it was drying on to fish it out, hang it up on the pull up bar and let it drip/cool right back into the pot.



Once setup maybe 20-30 minutes per chain total investment over the course of a few days. You can just buy the molten speedwax and do all those steps above without the mixing (I think the directions I wrote may be similar to theirs?). I like to experiment and be cheap, although not buying the molten speed wax didn't necessarily save me money it was fun to research what people were doing.

Doesn't that get in the way of your job?!

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Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

Many would say I talk (type 99% of my job is via keyboard) out of my ass so possibly not :)

what was your homemade wax?

I've been doing this for a few months now. It's easy once you get set up. Cleaning the chains is the hardest part. Molten has instructions. Go back and forth between mineral spirits and alcohol.

Get a hotplate and a metal dish, or a little crock pot and melt the wax in it.
I added a couple ounces of beeswax to the 1lb of paraffin, but that isn't necessary. You can also add teflon and graphite if you wish.
Loop a wire through the ends of the chain and submerge it.
Let it sit for 10 minutes or so to make sure the chain is fully heated up.
Pull the chain out and let it drip into the pan. The wax should run off like water. Wipe off the chain with a paper towel after a few seconds, while the wax is still liquid.
Let it cool off a few minutes then work the links before it fully hardens.
Repeat every 200 miles or so.

Guys,

This is easy, don't over think and complicate it. Go to Walmart and buy a $9 mini crockpot and the $2 solid parrifin wax, melt the wax, put the chain in the wax, leave in until the chain is the same temp as the wax, take it out. If the wax is thick, the chain is not hot enough, thick wax is like glue. The chain should come out with a very thin coat of wax, no need to wipe off anything. Be sure to clean your entire drivetrain first and do not attempt on your cassette. Works like a champ! 😉

Walmart has $2 paraffin? 1 lb?

Yup, baking isle, right above the jello. :)

No I just bought the steel chain, but I did get the pimpy Flavor Flave gold version :-).

The Squirt Wax builds up on jockey wheels and squishes inbetween the cogs on the cassette. After about 3 weeks of applying it my jokey wheels were two gooey discs that were as wide as the space between to hanger. My guess is that they add softener to wax and when the softener evaporates it leave a film of wax. The stuff just kept building up on my bike. Maybe I wasn't careful enough with the application. Who knows.

I guess my question is if the build up is in such a way that it would affect performance. If it is just wax it would seem like it would be a little bit of a benefit in that it is coating the parts. Any excess I assume would be pushed off the path of the chain, although visually displeasing, I can't see it hurting performance but without some way to test I guess I would never know for sure.

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The Squirt Wax builds up on jockey wheels and squishes inbetween the cogs on the cassette.

Did you thoroughly clean the chain first?

I didn't start with a new chain, so it wasn't perfectly clean. The bike still ran fine, so I didn't notice performance problems. However, I only used it for about a month and it was not easy to clean because it repels most cleaners. My concern is that is is more "gooey", so at some point that build up could cause a performance or shifting problem. I also prefer riding my bike to cleaning it, so I will stick with the Molten wax for now or go back to the Rock and Roll Gold.

Hi rruff,

which chain are you using? DA and adding a master link?

Thanks all for your input!

I'm running ultegra 6800 training and 9000 race with parrafin and Kmc link no issues. Besides mess on floor with indoor trainer.