I can’t
comment on a pot on the stove but I did ask Adam from Zero
Friction Cycling about using a rice cooker as they look like a
similar device and were cheaper. He said “no way”, as rice
cookers heat up way too fast and will burn the wax. So
applying that information, the key would be to not have the
stove too hot and let the wax melt slowly. What
temperature…I have no idea.
From
memory, the first chain waxing was done with a pot on a stove.
Thanks, so sounds like melting slowly is important. Pretty sure I could do that on the small ring on my gas hob. Just don’t want to shell out on a slow cooker unnecessarily!
A dedicated crock pot (cheap from a thrift store) is easy and self contained. Heating wax directly on a stove top, especially over a gas burner is potentially hazardous because it is flammable. If it has to be done on the stove, it should be done in a double boiler.
Has anyone tried other wax mixtures such as what Oz Cycle suggests about using wax and paraffin oil (aka kerosene, I think?) to soften the wax?
I apologize if this was already mentioned in the thread. I tried to read everything but might have missed something while skimming the quick link discussions.
I’ve dropped some paraffin oil into my wax, and it indeed helps the chain “un-break” prior to installing on your bike. No issues so far. Next step is to drop in some PFTE powder into the hot wax mix, instead of brushing onto the chain after installed.
You’ll need to get something pretty solid to blend the mixture otherwise it doesn’t mix in easily. I ended up using a cheap hand blender which works pretty well.
you use a electronic frother that you use for coffee or milk.
I tried that initially but it never worked as well as the hand blender.
When should you wax your chain? Almost never, really. As I’ve said on this thread already it’s a bunch of pfaffing about for no additional gain. You can get similar performance from products that don’t even require you to clean your chain except for the initial application (to remove factory chain grease):
Squirt is faster than regular wax and 100 MILLIwatts slower than Molten Speed Wax. Just use Squirt and leave all the crock pots, paraffin fumes, ultrasonic cleaners, and solvents behind. If you already have all that junk, fight the cognitive dissonance, let sunk costs be sunk costs, and make life easier on yourself by using a product like Squirt.
WHEN IS IT A GOOD IDEA TO WAX? When your bike ride makes your bike look like this:
This is my bike after I won a gravel endurance ride. The weather looked sloppy so I broke out my mini crockpot, ptfe powder, and gulf wax…waxed up a chain…swapped it on…broke it in. In this case all the effort was worth it. Squirt doesn’t perform as well in wet conditions as paraffin or products like Molten Speed Wax.
But unless it’s going to be wet and grimey, please heed the words of CeramicSpeed’s Jason Smith:
“The true hero of this test, though, was Squirt
Lube. It is the fastest drip lube we’ve ever tested,
and is actually faster than simple paraffin. It was
only 0.10 watt slower than the Molten Speed Wax.”
and
“[Squirt], too, is very clean, though not quite as clean
as paraffi n. Once the water in the solution dries
it picks up very little dirt. The kicker, though, is
that it can be applied like any other drip lube. No
more crock pots, no more potential for fl ammable
paraffi n fumes. Ease of use and incredible
effi ciency: Squirt really is the whole package.”
While I would agree with you. What the tests don’t demonstrate is the long term effect of using a wax or drip wax like squirt. They are all close to the same when you start with a clean perfect chain. Which one keeps the chain as close to that in almost all conditions. Wax, Squirt… Its after mile 200 or hour 10 that can matter potentially more. I think waxing the chain provides an overall greater experience and chainlife and speed. It also is a little work.
Note: I tend to use squirt as a way to extend the paraffin/wax treatment then reclean and start over.
Now that I’m set up to wax, I definitely prefer it to any drip lube including squirt. “Almost as clean” means “not as clean” which matters when little ones run around and touch the components. My toddler was being grabby with my chain the other day and I didn’t even worry about it.
I know a few of us prefer waxing for the completely touchable cleanliness more than the watt savings. Effort is, frankly, negligible once you’ve done it and are set up.
All that said, when I head out on travel for a few months kid free, I may use Squirt because it plays well with wax and is more convenient away from home for sure.
Yes! I agree the advantages of Squirt in an endurance or ultra capacity are WAY more pronounced.
Squirt is a little faster than paraffin waxing under normal circumstances. But in a crewed endurance race setting (on a dry day) the advantages of Squirt are much more pronounced vs a paraffin waxed chain. If you know the secret sauce you get a lot more out of it in that setting. FrictionFacts hint at this in their lube paper.
I’m glad you’re as happy with your choice of lube as I am with mine. Perhaps starting a thread about Squirt is a better option for you.
Having gone through this thread there are lots of useful tips. I have been waxing chains for a long time and here is a bit of extra data that may help some:
You can actually leave your chain in the wax until it starts to get a skin on it, even longer.
The only “downside” is that there will be lots of wax still on the chain and you simply pull your chain through your fingers and let the lumps of drying wax fall back into your pot.
Doing it this way almost doubles the length of time before rewaxing.
To get an even closer ratio, you can add the blade of a cold blunt knife into the wax/parafin oil mixture and pull the knife out again. The wax will harden on the knife. It sound be a slightly firm cream consistency, not flaky.
Far, far cheaper than using Molten Speedwax and at least as good.
When the wax is melted, take it off the camping stove and turn it off. Put in your cleaned chain and stir it around for a minute or so or until any little bubbles disappear. The leave it for 10 to 15 minutes to cool down. Then as it gets cloudy or a thin skin form on the wax surface, you can take the chain out.
The petrol literally dissolves the oil or any old wax still on the chain.
Obviously never do this indoors or anywhere near a naked flame or cigarette etc.
Leave it soaking for 10 or 20 minutes and swerl it around and bingo, the chain is cleaned.
Hang up the chain to let the petrol evaporate off.
You can reuse the petrol 5 or 6 times at least. You can even pour the petrol through a metal sieve at the end to clean it a bit.
If you want to also clean the chain further, then you can also degrease the chain and then rinse off with water to get rid of any smell.
You can also further soak it in vodka or alcohol and then hang it up to evaporate off. This makes absolutely sure that no water is left inside the chain.
Once a chain is fully cleaned and using the above methods, it literally takes 30 minutes to wax 4 or 5 chains for different bikes etc.
You can even do the above to your rear cassettes which will make eveything waxed, and last even longer.
I mainly started doing this for improved drivechain efficiencies for my TT bikes, but now I do it for everything.
Having a waxed chain means no more oil on hands or car when transporting or when swapping out wheels or fixing punctures etc.
Agree and do most of the steps @colinio suggests. The only variation is the use of Squirt as a top up when a chain is squeaking a little and im not ready to wax a few chains at that time. The cost of MSW is negliable when you consider half a bag will last up to six months, so I refresh it after the CX season.
Maybe so!
I’d also like to see a thread on UFO Drip. I’ve not talked to anyone who has used it.
Here is some of the data including UFO Drip:
So Squirt is maybe 100 MILLIwatts better than paraffin. UFO Drip is maybe 600 to 800 MILLIwatts better than Squirt.
To give you an idea of the scale we’re talking about here, Josh Poertner recently estimated that Lemond’s 8 second defeat of Fignon worked out to a 5 watt difference during that time trial. So how many seconds would 100 milliwatts be? 
Josh said it was like putting a pencil on top of your helmet…or Fingnon would have won if he had cut off his pony tail.
So 100 milliwatts is super, super small anyhow. When I first started paying attention to friction gains through drive train lubrication I was using Boshield. Squirt’s advantage over Boeshield is a little more clear cut but still very small.
As mentioned above, my primary reason for switching to wax was the complete touchable cleanliness of the chain indoors with wife and kids around the bike all the time. Watt savings were a secondary benefit as we are talking three watts from my old lube. That said, with my home setup it’s trivially easy to wax now. I agree with you if someone needs to drop serious coin or doesn’t have the home setup - I will use Squirt coming up when away from home. But some, including me, like the passion project of working on bike parts in unnecessarily complex ways too. 
Was wondering your long term thoughts on the above product…
And has anyone have any experience with YBN chains?