Hey
I am using oil for chain whole my life.
Now i am using morgan race oil. Its great
Can someone tell me if using wax is better?
Speed?or just cleaner chain?
I know there is a lot of topic about this. But is really there any benefit in case of gaining speed?
Wax is better for both speed (lower friction than oil) and cleaner chain (no more chain tattoos). The friction benefit has been tested and compared many times.
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There are all the contingencies built into answering this question, but without all those qualifiers, if you’re racing a longer distance, then it may be found to be faster by a handful of seconds. If you average 18mph in a 70.3, you’ll never notice. 25mph, yeah, in a highly repeatable scenario, you could produce a few seconds quicker split.
Most of these marginal gains are just race-ish activities for us age agroup racers, making us think we’re going to go faster, but really its just busy work. When I get my bike race ready, which includes a waxed chain, removed bottle cages, ceramic pulleys, race wheels and tires, I can notice it’s faster. But any one of those steps alone, its hard to tell when on the bike.
As I often say, an off-season when there are no new toys to buy really makes you question your training. If you have done all the other steps and youve got money to spend, go for it.
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I will just use my oil
I wouldn’t wax solely for speed. I would wax because it radically reduces the wear and tear on your drivetrain. Wax will not form a grinding paste with road grit the way oils do. It just flakes off, leaving your chain clean. You can go thousands of miles more on a chain ifyou wax it than if you use wet lubes. As noted above too, it’s cleaner. Your legs will no longer have imprints of chainrings in grease and if you need to put a bike inside a house or car, it’s much cleaner.
Edit: the overall lifespan of the chain is prolonged, not you can go thousands of miles between lubrications.
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Well that’s no fun!!! I love showing my grease LOL
YMMV
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as @eblackadder said, it will prolong the life of your chain which will also prolong the life of your hole drive train… the cost to replace parts is worth the time it takes to wax and then replenish with drip wax like Silca SS drip wax.
I will just wax my legs
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That’s an easy 20 watts with your gorilla hair. Let me buy some stock in Gillette before you get started.
Ya the biggest gain for me is ease of cleaning and transport. I’m taking my bike apart a lot to travel and it sucks to deal with a greasy chain.
My go to method is cycle through 3 or more chains. Just occasionally wax them all and swap every couple (or four) weeks.
Basically true, with a caveat that wet conditions are much more favorable for wax than wet lube. Still not a massive gain, but something more than 5-10watts. IIRC the worst case scenario is a quick bout of rain that washes off the wet lube and then dries out for the remainder. Not uncommon for bikes sitting overnight in transition.
Not sure if you are trying to be funny (you are not), or just trolling.
This is not LR.
And you can save the offensive, gross comeback, I have zero interest in fighting with morons on internet forums.
I once knew a Frenchman who swore by rubbing his chain with a large saucisson before every ride. He said the little bits of fat that rubbed off acted like a greasy type of wax that would push sand and other contaminants automatically out of the rollers. When he had to lay down the power on climbs you could smell him for miles.
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I know some ultrarunning folks who have had success with KY, or other sex lubes, especially for places that are difficult to “grease up” properly (between toes, armpits, under boobs, and so on); just squirt a glob in there and have fun!!!
YMMV
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I am not trolling!!!
Dont know why are you so offensive.
I use anal lube for better shit dump.
Why is there every time one who is feeling offesnsive in evry shit???
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So to clarify, you have a large tub of anal lube to help you shit better, and need to find other uses for it, so you’re thinking about the bike chain?
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I DO hope that you’re not eating it?
also, this thread might be of interest?
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Before this goes full lavender room, the advantage that wax has is that is completely liquid when applied. It works its way into the rollers and between the plates of the chain. I don’t think a topically applied personal lubricant would fare so well in a mechanical environment. That’s not what they’re formulated for.
Chain wax is pretty basic. I just use paraffin from a craft store, some PTFE powder mixed in , and that’s it. 6lbs of wax cost me less than $10 and lasts for a year or more (YMMV).
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Tried waxing for the first time last year in Kona, a prewaxed chain from Silca to ensure it was done right.
Didn’t like it. Felt scratchy, not as smooth as oil lube. You might not need to do a full dip re-wax for a long time but everything I read says you need to re-up with a wax-based drip lube (e.g. super secret) very frequently (every ~100 miles) to keep things optimal.
Overall just way more hassle and the last thing I need is to grow the pile of bike gear even bigger with crock pot, wax sticks, chain hanger, etc. The wax flakes go everywhere if you put your bike on the turbo.
Oil lube is easy and feels better to ride IMO. Never had an issue with mess or tattoos.
Oh, like when we talk about man-/girlscaping and the advantage of a clean undercarriage to prevent chafing and other discomforts?
I think it’s a legitimate topic of discussion; maybe not in THIS thread, butt legitimate, just the same
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