It may depend on your riding conditions. Over the years (~40) I’ve been riding and maintaining bikes I’ve been through a few different strategies. Over the last couple of years I have become a wax convert and find it’s less total work than dry or wet lubes for me.
Where I live gets me more dry than wet rides, but I do still ride in the rain perhaps once a month. With that mix then a ‘waxing’ lasts for about a month. I have 2 chains in rotation, and so need to crack out the waxer every 2 months.
Dont get me wrong, the first time is a right royal pain, and there was a learning curve, but now I’m set up and in a routine then its minimal effort and I have observed significantly reduced chain and cassette wear, even over my prior highly proactive cleaning/lubing routine.
Re the flakes on the trainer, yep but easy to clean up. Compared to the oily residue that flicked/dripped from prior setup. I guess it may depend if you train on a carpet, I have rubber gym mats under the trainer so simple to hoover/sweep on my annual tidy.
And lastly, the feel. Again, for me I find the wax is silent, and feels as smooth as a new drivetrain well cleaned and lubed, one it’s been run in. Then first 50km or so after a waxing then it can have a few little ‘grumbles’, but still nothing major. Not had a pre-waxed chain though, so no idea if they need more or less running in.
I would certainly not use hot wax for that purpose. But if you can withstand the temperature, its effects may be longer than anal lube. If you try it, please come back with the results.
Jut a bit of info - zero friction website studies do not clean wet lubed chains during their wear testing, they just reapply the lube. If you are properly cleaning your lubed chain every 500 miles, you will gain longevity vs the ZF website testing block results. But yes, the chain will still be dirty and not compare to wax longevity completely.
I live in the Sacramento area characterized by a dirt that layers on everything that requires a wipe down after any ride that leaves pavement. I see wax does well in wet so will try it during the rainy season, but any thoughts about dirt of this nature would be appreciated.
I used to live in Victorville, Ca. and with zero shoulders and nearly unlimited dirt roads, I did about 90 percent gravel. During the summer there was a lot of ATV riding and they would pound the dirt into a fine, flour-like dust. One ride with oil and my chain would be disgusting and, I’m sure, inefficient. Then I tried wax and that all went away. Now, to be fair, I still had to wax once a week in those conditions, but my chains lasted longer and were not gross. Now I don’t have gravel available anymore and I can go two or three weeks between waxing (multiple bikes).