Hot wax - Does it work?

[Michael Dewing]

26 minutes ago, dave303e said:

different story if it is something you play with yes.

But I see the same with reloading rifle ammo. there is a massive push to get everyone reloading, chasing the lands, looking for nodes etc etc etc. You see posts like you won't have accuracy with factory ammo, you need to reload.

Meanwhile people have been, and will continue putting meat in the freezer on factory ammo with ease. I ran out of time to load ammo a few wees ago for first hunt of the season so I bought factory ammo and spent a few days on the range with it and then had a very successful hunt. I would far prefer spending time on the range with factory ammo than losing range time trying to sort out reloads in a rush.
This weekend I went and loaded up 100rounds to get me through the season and probably next year but I did that to save money and because I enjoy experimenting and tinkering. 

 

Same as hot wax-

Left right and center you see posts saying use hot wax/dipping chains, its better, normal lube is obsolete and useless and then you see guys dropping money on pots, spending hours and stuff for essentially a tiny gain. They would be better off spending the time/money on an indoor trainer where returns are bigger.

Clean your chain, lube regularly and you get 95% there with ease and convenience.
If you want to tinker go for it.

I Agree with everything you said. Indoor trainer is a game changer..

 

I looked into wax and decided against the faf.. and I had just bought a big thing of squirt.. still using the quirt and loving it so not in a hurry to tinker on this one but I will  one day

*I love factory ammo, reloading I wouldn’t touch.. 

oh but also I wouldn’t even consider wax if I didn’t randomly find my wife’s one at her mothers house 🤷🏼‍♂️.. although the startup costs between waxing and reloading are not really comparable 🤣🤣

Edited yesterday at 11:18 AM by Michael Dewing

[The Ouzo]

I wont say I'm against it, just for me, it would be to much phaff.

 

I've been using squirt lube for a number of years now. Once a week (or every 200 - 300 odd km) I simply run the chain through a cloth, add a drop of squirt per link and I'm good to go. Less than 5 minutes from taking the bike out the garage, mounting it on the stand in the workshop, doing the wipe and lube and putting it back in the garage.

I'm averaging around 15 000km per chain over the last 4 chains, so longevity is not an issue.

Am I losing watts, probably. But then I'm probably losing more watts through other things like my tyres.

 

if Squirts hot wax is anything like their lube, they will have a good product. Their lube is well regarded world wide and I often see it pop up in international youtube vids.

[no calves]

23 hours ago, dave303e said:

different story if it is something you play with yes.

But I see the same with reloading rifle ammo. there is a massive push to get everyone reloading, chasing the lands, looking for nodes etc etc etc. You see posts like you won't have accuracy with factory ammo, you need to reload.

Meanwhile people have been, and will continue putting meat in the freezer on factory ammo with ease. I ran out of time to load ammo a few wees ago for first hunt of the season so I bought factory ammo and spent a few days on the range with it and then had a very successful hunt. I would far prefer spending time on the range with factory ammo than losing range time trying to sort out reloads in a rush.
This weekend I went and loaded up 100rounds to get me through the season and probably next year but I did that to save money and because I enjoy experimenting and tinkering. 

 

Same as hot wax-

Left right and center you see posts saying use hot wax/dipping chains, its better, normal lube is obsolete and useless and then you see guys dropping money on pots, spending hours and stuff for essentially a tiny gain. They would be better off spending the time/money on an indoor trainer where returns are bigger.

Clean your chain, lube regularly and you get 95% there with ease and convenience.
If you want to tinker go for it.

hope you dont chase the lands on a 303....

 

tying in to the reloading and cycling: the biggest difference came when i popped a few chains into my sonic cleaner i used for my rifle parts. i dont think we clean our chains good enough. we dont see how much gunk is in between the rollers and plates. get that clean and normal lube will be more than enough

[Block]

This works really well, but there is one important condition. Before you wax,  your chain and other drive train components must be sqeeky clean with no trace of previous oil or lubricant. Any lubricant on chain will contaminate the wax and it will only last for about 30 minutes before it become noisy

Edited 11 hours ago by Block

[SwissVan]

On 4/29/2026 at 12:49 PM, dave303e said:

different story if it is something you play with yes.

But I see the same with reloading rifle ammo. there is a massive push to get everyone reloading, chasing the lands, looking for nodes etc etc etc. You see posts like you won't have accuracy with factory ammo, you need to reload.

Meanwhile people have been, and will continue putting meat in the freezer on factory ammo with ease. I ran out of time to load ammo a few wees ago for first hunt of the season so I bought factory ammo and spent a few days on the range with it and then had a very successful hunt. I would far prefer spending time on the range with factory ammo than losing range time trying to sort out reloads in a rush.
This weekend I went and loaded up 100rounds to get me through the season and probably next year but I did that to save money and because I enjoy experimenting and tinkering. 

 

Same as hot wax-

Left right and center you see posts saying use hot wax/dipping chains, its better, normal lube is obsolete and useless and then you see guys dropping money on pots, spending hours and stuff for essentially a tiny gain. They would be better off spending the time/money on an indoor trainer where returns are bigger.

Clean your chain, lube regularly and you get 95% there with ease and convenience.
If you want to tinker go for it.

Agree 100%, if you got the time to pfaff then pfaff with your chain in your man cave.

Im a big believer in wipe the chain, lube and ride, 2 minutes work including spinning the chain slowly to spread the lube and wiping off the excess.

One thing with removing your chain regularly like some chain pfaffers say you should, you are increasing the odds of a chain failure with a link being damaged or not re-installed properly. Seen it before when some ou brags about his regular chain waxing routine and then the chain fails soon afterwards at the link because it was not installed properly / damaged.

I wonder how many chain waxers also wax their legs 😋

[Stoffel76]

10 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

I wonder how many chain waxers also wax their legs 😋

😄

I was just about to post "I wonder how many roadies opened this thread hoping for leg hair removal tips!"

 

[NotSoBigBen]

From what I've seen and heard in bike shops if most riders would just bother to put any lubrication on their chains every so often it would be good never mind doing these 'anorak' bike hub riders moves ....