pmatos wrote:
I have been using MucOff dry lube but for some reason I find it quite sticky and quickly I have my chain completely back, along with my front rings and rear derailler. I have once seen, but can't remember where, someone with a white powdery substance. Does anyone know what I am referring to? And what are you guys using on your chains?
I think I know what you're referring to.
You're probably referring to a WAXED chain, which differs from a oil-lubed based chain.
I swapped my chain over to wax 2 years or so ago, and I posted about it - it's awesome. It entails melting paraffin (candlewax) and dipping the chain into it. I know, sounds onerous, but it's actually quite easy - I use a small slow cooker to melt the wax - it's actually easier than doing a deep chain lube off the bike by a lot.
Once your chain is WAXED, it does not turn black and sticky, and as a result, does NOT leave a chain tattoo. If you grip the chain with your hand even with a well-used waxed chain, your hand will only get a light gray waxy mark that rubs off instantly on anything.
The wax does flake off in small white chunks for the first 20 mins or so.
There are some wax-based chain lubricants out there where you don't have to remove/dip the chain in paraffin; I don't know whether they are as good as the deep chain dip.
The nice thing about the paraffin is that you buy a block for $10-$20 on Amazon, and then you just use it over and over again, no filtering, no cleaning needed. Just melt it, dump your well-used chain into it for a bunch of minutes, swish it around a little, and then remove. The gunk settles to the bottom of the wax, so you emerge with a ready-to-go cleaned chain - WITHOUT a chain cleaner.
I messed with regular lube and chain cleaners for awhile and honestly, they all were terrible in comparison to the waxed chain. And the amount of work it takes to strip a lubed chain to the level of a waxed chain is wayyy more work (multiple solvent washes are required to get it to the point it doesn't leave a chain tattoo.)
Oh, and get a quick-link to remove your chain quickly. They work great.
The only drawback I've encountered with wax (which is minor for me), is that the wax lasts about 250-300 miles before the chain starts to get noticeably noisy again. I don't mind at all with the trivial re-wax dip job, but some folks use Squirt (bottled wax) to supplement if they don't want to remove their chain as often and seems to work well.
The other one drawback is if you ride in wet, sloppy conditions a lot - I dont ride in rain at all, but I could imagine that the flaky wax might not protect the chain as well from water and rust compared to a sticky lube.