I have a waxed bike chain that I plan to leave on my bike the night before Augusta 70.3 this weekend. However, the weather forecast predicts heavy rain on Saturday, the day before the race.
I’m concerned about how the waxed chain will handle being exposed to rain on Saturday in transition and if it might affect its performance during the triathlon on Sunday when the weather is expected to be sunny.
Has anyone experienced leaving their waxed chain under the rain the day before a race? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions on how to protect my waxed chain before the triathlon on Sunday.
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.
I have a waxed bike chain that I plan to leave on my bike the night before Augusta 70.3 this weekend. However, the weather forecast predicts heavy rain on Saturday, the day before the race.
I’m concerned about how the waxed chain will handle being exposed to rain on Saturday in transition and if it might affect its performance during the triathlon on Sunday when the weather is expected to be sunny.
Has anyone experienced leaving their waxed chain under the rain the day before a race? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions on how to protect my waxed chain before the triathlon on Sunday.
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.
If the chain is stationary and being exposed to cold-ish rain it’s unlikely that a substantial amount of wax will be washed away. Hot melt wax will stay on a lot longer than drip wax. If you need to prove it to yourself, put a waxed chain in a bucket of water and leave it there a few hours, it’ll be pretty much waxed when you take it out.
If you really need the peace of mind just take the chain off and reinstall it on race morning.
This happened at steelhead this year with a downpour the morning of the race. I did a lot of googling and basically brought some squirt lube to be ready to relube a bit if needed but when I got to transition it was good enough to last the entire race.
Agree with the other poster though that covering with a bag if possible is the way to go.
If the chain is stationary and being exposed to cold-ish rain it’s unlikely that a substantial amount of wax will be washed away. Hot melt wax will stay on a lot longer than drip wax. If you need to prove it to yourself, put a waxed chain in a bucket of water and leave it there a few hours, it’ll be pretty much waxed when you take it out.
If you really need the peace of mind just take the chain off and reinstall it on race morning.
This happened to me with my Ceramic Speed chain at Happy Valley 70.3. Massive downpour the night before. Zero issues with the chain on race day.
That said, I was thinking to myself, why don’t I just put on the chain in T1? It only takes 2 minutes.
If you haven’t done Augusta before, make sure you get on one of the early shuttle buses to the race start. I nearly missed the race start there in 2019 getting caught on a later bus.
This happened at steelhead this year with a downpour the morning of the race. I did a lot of googling and basically brought some squirt lube to be ready to relube a bit if needed but when I got to transition it was good enough to last the entire race.
Agree with the other poster though that covering with a bag if possible is the way to go.
The squirt would be pretty pointless. It should be left overnight for the drip wax to penetrate and carrier to dry.
It will be fine - A hot waxed chain is much better than any drip wax when it comes to rain. I personally would cover it with a plastic bag just in case. If not, put the chain in the middle cog so there is no articulation to open the links up. Just make sure you remember to shift to your preferred gear when you get there in the am!
If the chain is stationary and being exposed to cold-ish rain it’s unlikely that a substantial amount of wax will be washed away. Hot melt wax will stay on a lot longer than drip wax. If you need to prove it to yourself, put a waxed chain in a bucket of water and leave it there a few hours, it’ll be pretty much waxed when you take it out.
If you really need the peace of mind just take the chain off and reinstall it on race morning.
LOL, don’t do that.
I raced Steelhead 70.3. I removed my waxed chain. Brought it to T1 on race morning and installed it in 2 minutes. No worries
If you can cover the whole bike, I’d do it, water never helps anything, but hot wax will actually hold up better to rain than anything else out there… you can soak a chain in water after waxing it and nothing happens… it’s only once it’s articulating and there’s grit in the water from the road surface that you start to see any breakdown.
Here’s a video I did on interpreting the ZFC data and also covers some of the data hidden within the data regarding longevity and such in the various conditions/columns of the charts: https://youtu.be/Xu_Q0cqoKeY
I’ve been using waxed chains for 7-8 years now. I’ve races many times with heavy rain day before and one IM with rain throughout. Never had issues.
Can someone explain to me why rain before would cause problem on waxed chain? Since wax is hydrophobic wouldn’t rain not be a significant problem. I could imagine something higher force like a pressure washer causing problem.
Synergetic is the business. I like a waxed chain, but eventually I get too lazy to keep that many chains waxed, then it is on to synergetic. Easily the best chain lube on the planet.
I only watched a short part of the intro, but I’m quite certain he’s saying it performs best against any oil based drip lubes - not better than hot wax. Since Josh has already chimed in on this thread, hopefully he can clear this up for folks who may be confused.
So while Synergetic is the best wet lube on the market according to ZFC data, it still isn’t as good as hot melt wax in any single category including rain.
In block 4, which is the chain being sprayed by rain water for 1000km with 300km re-lube intervals, the Synergetic results in 27% wear of the chain while hot melt, with the same 300km relate intervals shows only 8% wear in the same block… so a bit more than 3x better.
The reason wax has a bad reputation in the rain, is that it doesn’t hide the fact that it’s breaking down… so while wet lubes remain quiet due to the viscous damping they provide between the side plates, wax lubricants are pushed out of the chain and fall off, leaving the chain to begin sounding dry.
So the issue isn’t that wax breaks down faster in the rain, but rather that it gives you audible cues that it’s breaking down, whereas wet lubricants actually break down sooner (~3x sooner in this case) but they hide that fact much, much better.
Thanks Josh - that’s exactly how I interpreted the data from ZFC. I was just trying to correct some misunderstanding- thanks for chiming in and way better coming from you!