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I've recently gotten into chain waxing and am now looking to maintain waxed chains, which according to Silca is just run it through a microfibre towel + Silca Bio Degreaser or use a Silca Gear Wipe. The bio degreaser seems to be sold out everywhere though and I'm not keen on using single-use wipes, is there any similar degreaser someone can recommend (one that doesn't affect the wax)?
Hot water seems to do a great job on cleaning up a waxed chain and drivetrain (wax is Squirt)...no idea how much it removes, but it remains shiny clean and I then reapply Squirt and run through the gears so everything has a coating.
Yeah, hot water. I sometimes pull the chain through a rag - old tee for example - soaked with isopropyl alcohol. Mostly you're just aiming to remove and dirt, contamination without adding contaminant which could degrade your wax. Swishing in a saucepan of boiling water is what I do if I want to properly clean the chain, dry with a hair dryer in a foil tray before re-waxing. But IPA if you want to simply wipe the chain, leaves no deposits, cleans stuff off fine.
Is that not what you do before re-hot-waxing though (as I understand it you use boiling water to remove the existing wax before re-waxing?). I'm more after a way to keep the outside of the chain clean and help the preserve the wax in inside as much as possible (so light degrease + drop wax). So isopropyl is fine to use (i.e. doesn't damage the wax)?
So isopropyl is fine to use (i.e. doesn't damage the wax)?
I don't bother doing anything to the chain between hot waxes btw. Mostly stuff doesn't stick to it anyway, which is part of the joy of using wax. May have misunderstood what you're asking. I was assuming you were going to re-wax, sorry, my bad for not reading properly.
IPA seems fine to me, it removes dust from the outside then evaporates, it may take a little wax off the outside of the chain I guess, but it's not going to penetrate the rollers etc and it will be gone before you re-wax the chain. A lot of people just dunk the chain as is anyway, the thinking being that unless it's off road filthy, any contaminants will sink to the bottom of the wax pot and won't have a significant impact. But I wouldn't be using it between waxings.
Zero Friction Cycling probably has some extensive thoughts on it all, if you can be bothered delving into the site. It's very good, but borderline obsessive / overthinking.
I’ve never seen the need, although I’ll admit that I’m lazy. I rotate cheapish chains on my commuter bike and, apart from topping up a couple of times with liquid wax, I leave them alone until re-waxing. I will dry them off a bit if really wet tho.
I've never used any sort of degreaser or similar, I'll spray a light teflon lube (GT85 or similar) into a rag and run the chain through it after muddy or wet rides, just to get surface muck off and prevent (cosmetic) rust spots.
I do so in the assumption that I'm not squeezing excess GT85 out of the rag which might seep into rollers or links and degrade the wax, the idea is just to clean the surface of the chain. Technique has never really let me down.
There are plenty of plant based biodegradable wipes available now - I use those. It's not like you need a powerful degreaser. I wouldn't use water as unless you dry the chain thoroughly or it will go rusty. Nobody should be putting teflon sprays on their bike - you are just dispersing microplastics into the environment, often straight into waterways.
Fair point, Teflon pollution has never really been on my radar, although the amount that gets transferred from the oily rag onto the chain and then into the environment must be vanishingly small, it's not like I'm spraying vast quantities directly onto the chain.
Point being, I think using SOME sort of light/clean lube, rather than a degreaser, is surely the way to go? What is the point of using a degreaser on the surface of the chain when most of the wax will have flaked off anyway, that's just asking to create some sort of horrible emulsion of degreaser and wax inside the chain?
I've not found a need to maintain the chain between waxings, though I'm using Putoline not the latest cycle specific wax. Run until there's some noise while pedalling then back into the hot wax and run until just noisy again. 400km in winter 800km-ish in summer.
edited (read the whole thread!)
I don't do anything between waxes.
If it's particularly filthy, then it's onto the 'swisher' and give it a quick rinse with a kettle of boiling water, shake the excess water off and hang to dry for a short while.
Then chuck it back in the pot.
I guess I'd probably use Isoprop if anything.
Apart from applying Squirt once a month, nothing else is done on my chain - hot water gets it properly clean...if I'm just washing the bike down, the cold water also works fine.
I don't bother doing anything to the chain between hot waxes btw. Mostly stuff doesn't stick to it anyway, which is part of the joy of using wax.
+1
If washing the bike I take the rear wheel out and give the cassette a brush with soapy water to remove the excess wax that dulls the shiny silver cassette, same on the chainring(s). But that's just cosmetic. The chain itself I just ignore until it needs re-waxing at which point then depending on how dry / wet / contaminated it is I swish it in a jar of solvent* or boiling water.
Water seems to do the job with less mess, just lifts the dirty wax off the outside without removing all of it. Just make sure the wax is well over 100C so it has chance to boil off any that stays inside the links afterwards.
*a horrible mix of white spirit, petrol, diesel, acetone, paint thinners and whatever else I've poured in there, it's one step removed from the waste oil bin . Wash the chain then it get's filtered through some old microfiber cloth in a funnel.
I can't believe anyone uses any kind of 'wipes'. Use a rag.
Ha, this is all news to me!
I just back-pedal the chain thru a microfibre cloth and drip on some more Squirt periodically. I've never deep cleaned or taken a chain off to re-wax - at most, the bike will have been hosed down with cold water and maybe a touch of car shampoo (if really filthy).
My last chain lasted 2 years and 6500km
(Granted, my chain looks dull rather than super-shiney and I don't tend to ride in filthy conditions. Oh, and I'm a lazy bastard so epic faffing with re-waxing is against my religion 😁😁. YMMV)
Silca Hot wax user.
After a dry dusty ride, it gets a wipe down with a microfibre cloth with some IPA on the cloth. When it's ready for a rewax, it gets a gooseneck jug of boiling water poured over it while peddling forwards
If it's been wet enough to get muck inside the links, then it gets a swish around in some boiling water and a rewax.
If it's got a bit muddy then I tend to hose it off, let it dry a bit then just backpedal the chain through a rag with a bit of gt85 on it. Keeps surface relist at bay. Then when it starts sounding dry I chuck it back in the wax. Really easy.
Chuck it in a pot, walk away for an hour and go do something interesting.
Come back and take it out. Let it cool, then put back on bike.
Major faff!
In winter / rain I spray a little wd40 onto a piece of sponge/foam and wipe the outside links to stop rust when the chain has been in use for a bit.
I have an elevated mesh plate inside my wax tin so the chain doesn't sit on the bottom of the wax/tin but otherwise I just Chuck (Norris) the chain in when it gets noisy