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As above, if you are hot waxing your mtb chain how often do you need to redo it? I read somewhere that suggested every 8 hours riding which to me would be insane so looking to see what the folks here are doing. Road bike suggestions seem to be every 300k which I could live with but 8 hours for mtb is only every couple of rides
MTB winter - every 200- 500 miles. MTB summer every 1000 or so miles, Road every couple of thousand miles, commutting every 1000 miles
Thats the ole putoline hot melt wax
the chains can get dry on the outside much quicker but there is still loads left in the rollers where it is really needed. If its dry on the outside then run the chain thru an oily rag
Twisting the chain lets you know if there is still some in the rollers. You can feel when its gone
I use Squirt and the chain gets a lick every 4 weeks but that is normally when I give the bike a 'deep' wash - which is a 10-minute job but does involve a brush over cassette and chain pedalled backwards with brush in place.
The 'quick' wash is because I can't reach the brush, but involves the same hose to wet bike.
Squirt on chain and leave to dry overnight and it is fine.
Aware that won't count as waxing for the purists, but I don't use oil.
wait, school me..
even in winter every 200-500 miles? in winter i'm literally degreasing and scrubbing the chain every ride to wet lube up
does this apply to the type of winter rides were the chain ends up covered in clag? how do you deal with that with a waxed chain?
When it needs it, which is maybe 10hrs in the absolute worst conditions, but that could probably be extended. I re-wax when it starts getting noisy, but even then it's much less noisy than a wet-lubed chain after 15 mins of mud, so I could probably go for longer. I'm fussy about lubrication.
does this apply to the type of winter rides were the chain ends up covered in clag?
I find that no matter how claggy round here it doesn't really get into the chain, so I usually just hose off and put away. That said, I don't have the stickiest clay to content with as I hate riding in that shit and I'd rather ride road instead.
in winter i’m literally degreasing and scrubbing the chain every ride to wet lube up
That's exactly why I use Putoline, to avoid that. With wet lube, I'd clean and scrub and the chain would be full of grit after the first few puddles. With Putoline it's got several hundred miles of actual lubrication.
Get a 1 litre chip fryer and it's less bother than a bottle of lube and a cleaner device. I probably do every 100-200 winter miles or so on the MTB and every 200-300 or so on my son's school commuter but that gets ridden everywhere in every weather and left out in it too. I'm probably over doing it. It is so easy to do around other minor maintenance. That's the trick for me, get the chain in and then spend the cooking time doing the other little jobs like checking brake pads, topping up some sealant, air can service.
Get the chip fryer pre-loaded with the stuff out, plug it in and set to around 130 deg - preferably outdoors as it pongs a bit.
When it's all nice and melty pop the chain off using your quick link. Pop the link bits safely to the side. Chain in the dippy basket thing. Pop it in the fryer and go do something else nearby for 10-15 minutes.
Come back to it lift out and let it drip into the fryer. Cheap pair of old rigger gloves and when chain has cooled enough to handle in gloves wipe off excess wax and leave to cool.
Reinstall with quick link.
Even better if you have multiple bikes, just set up a little production line while you do other maintenance especially if like me you store up then jobs and then purge it in one relaxing afternoon.
the chains can get dry on the outside much quicker but there is still loads left in the rollers where it is really needed. If its dry on the outside then run the chain thru an oily rag
This is probably what I'm missing and why I'm doing mine more than needed 😀
does this apply to the type of winter rides were the chain ends up covered in clag? how do you deal with that with a waxed chain?
Yes. I just leave the chain to dry and next ride all the dried mud falls off in the first few turns of the chain. Any wax on the outside of the chain is covered in dust but the chain is still well lubed inside where it counts
Its well worth noting however that this did not work for some folk. Lots of discussion as to why but no real resolution
Its also worth noting that IME chain life is something like 4X as long
Great info thanks, not as bad as i was thinking then. Was going to give it a shot but put off by the idea of redoing it every couple of rides. This sounds way better
It turns into a rusty mess if you do proper mountain biking in Scottish winter.
Great in the summer and when it's only a little damp
another +1 for the sorts of numbers - I've actually stopped using Putoline on my summer road bike and now use a white wax (I can't recall right now whose, but it was a guy on here's new venture, I have the box in the garage still). Not because Putoline isn't brilliant - it's just not shiny and my road bike is a tart.
Impressions are that it doesn't last as long, probably ca 500 miles but is just as easy to use - no degreasing, chain off, into the slow cooker and left there for an hour or so. Put back on this morning, being a harder (almost candle wax type) it needs a bit of flexing to get it to articulate and then takes a bit of time of riding before it starts to change gear smoothly. Literally 2 mins though of the first ride, I just run it up and down the block a few times.
It turns into a rusty mess if you do proper mountain biking in Scottish winter.
Have you tried running it thru an oil rag? I do also tend to use mid range plated chains. Any rust is only surface rust on the outside anyway
But as above - it doesn't work for some folk Peaty soils seem to strip it quicker as well IME
Get a 1 litre chip fryer and it’s less bother than a bottle of lube and a cleaner device.
This.
I do re-wax much more regularly than TJ is quoting, in really bad conditions maybe once very couple of rides, using homebrew paraffin wax, beeswax and grease mixture (which I prefer to Putoline as it seems to run cleaner than putoline)
However even then, it is lots less faff.
I also do the trick of waxing chains when doing other jobs, and also do them where possible as a batch across multiple bikes.
I also run a couple of chains per bike and alternate them, this means I generally I have one waxed and ready to just pop on as needed (e.g. if I need to get the drivetrain in tip top condition in short order)
This all sounds like loads of faff, but it really really isn't.
Also apart from initial outlay for fryer and wax - very cheap.
It's hard to learn much useful from other people's experience. Like, I've often had to do it after a weekend's riding, but scottish enduro racing is absolutely savage on drivetrains, 2 days of grinding paste and often not even a hose inbetween. Even my normal winter riding is brutal on chains because the colder wetter it gets, the less I want to do distance and hills and the more time i spend splashing down horrible offpistes in forestry plantations. So TJ's mileage is a wild fantasy for me, but my mileage would be a sign of total failure to him
But, basically, I do it when it feels like it needs it, I'll top up with other normal lubes sometimes, and I probably end up doing it about 10 times a year for my 3 mountain bikes.
I don't ride mine in absolute slop but I do ride in all weathers, road and tracks on he same bike. In the winter I do it every 200 miles or so, much less in the summer. I can vouch for the longevity of the components using Putoline (currently around 2500 miles on a single chain/cassette with little sign of wear on my wear indicator - well less than .5 anyway. That said, I am using an XTR chain which appears to last way longer than any others, so worth the additional cost, my original SLX chain lasted only a few months. My only gripe is the gunk that collects around the jockey wheels and to a lesser degree on the chainring. It's not loads and I'd rather have the gunk than have to replace components more frequently. My LBS say they use Squirt exclusively now but then they'd never heard of Putoline, so I'm wondering if Squirt is the next best thing and will be cleaner and chains will last nearly as long - a bit more laborious in terms of frequency of application admittedly but on a road bike this might be preferable. 🤷♂️
Peaty soils seem to strip it quicker as well IME
Definitely this.
Road bike - it basically lasts for ever.
Mountain bike in the summer - it basically lasts all summer, maybe one reapplication
Mountain bike in the winter - it can be gone after four hours of a horrible, wet, splashing through peaty puddles ride
My LBS say they use Squirt exclusively now but then they’d never heard of Putoline,
Putoline is intended for competition MX motorcycles. Its not intended for bicycles. I have / had old motorcycles with non o ring chains so knew about it ( well actually linklyfe which was an even older product) so I tried it out and was impressed with how well it works and thus told folk on here. I'm not suprised its not a generally known about thing in the bicycle world.
My only gripe is the gunk that collects around the jockey wheels and to a lesser degree on the chainring
That's the reason I prefer homebrew paraffin wax mix to putoline.
I don't think it's actually a problem, but it looks a bit grim
I’m not suprised its not a generally known about thing in the bicycle world.
Indeed, most people, in fact, thinking about it, everyone I mention it to has never heard of it. So I wonder if the best known thing in the bicycle world is Squirt or whether there is another "second best" option to Putoline. I think there's no question that wax is better than oil though.
That’s the reason I prefer homebrew paraffin wax
What recipe do you use for your homebrew mix?
does this apply to the type of winter rides were the chain ends up covered in clag? how do you deal with that with a waxed chain?
As a few have said, I think it depends where you ride. Peak grit is brutal on chains and if it's really wet and grindy I sometimes rewax after a day ride on the mountain bike - which sounds like hassle but basically means rinsing the grit off when the bike is hosed down post ride, popping off the chain, drying it with a hair-dryer on a foil metal tray, then sitting it on a slow cooker full of wax until it melts into it, hang up to dry and refit.
When it's dry, wax lasts for ages, even off road. Wiping with oily rags is a deathwish in the Peak, it simply attracts gritty slurry and turns the whole thing into an advanced grinder.
If anyone here is Putoline curious, I have a tiny deep fat fryer containing most of a tin of Putoline that’s no longer in use. Make me an offer!
Sadly it didn’t work for my ebike commuting needs, where the combined torque of impatient me and the motor on turbo means that we wear away the cassette teeth before the chain wears. The only partial solution for that has been plenty of wet lube so the outside of the chain is coated - and now moving to a heavy duty LinkGlide cassette.
Mountain bike in the winter – it can be gone after four hours of a horrible, wet, splashing through peaty puddles ride
This is what killed it for me. Every longer weekend ride was a deathmarch of grinding chain for the last couple of kms that saw me carrying a wee dropper to make sure I made it home. Then the thought of cleaning it, removing the chain and getting all the DDF out and set up - it took one 'brew' to realise I had to do it outside in the cold and rain - the house I had at the time was all once down-stairs space; so the smell... Then I split some on a pair of trousers. TBH I never tried it in the summer, perhaps I should've started then
I went back to drip lube after that. Found Viking Juice from Juice lube that seems to last in the same conditions, seems to build up on the chain over time. I don't doubt that wax is probs the best lube overall, if/when some-one puts it in a drip bottle I'll be happy as a lop.
@Daz I think it is that has made his own melt wax that he is selling - and he is trying to formulate a drip top up for it
I started following him on IG just so I could track his progress!
I don’t doubt that wax is probs the best lube overall, if/when some-one puts it in a drip bottle I’ll be happy as a lop.
That's pretty much what Smoove is. Needs the same chain prep initially as immersive waxing, but then is a drip-on lube.
Similar numbers to those above.
On the road it'll go for 500+ miles if it's dry.
Off-road, it lasts ages in summer and in winter it varies. Basicly it's good untill you get one really shitty ride. So a month of Tunnel Hill (loamy muddy off piste) and Swinley (ginger grinding paste) is fine. If it's torrentially raining and the whole ride is slop it'll strip it in a couple of hours. But that's riding in conditions you'd be miserable in.
So it might me 10 miles, but more realistically 100+ off road miles (and any interlinking road / fire road on the ride is basicly a freebie).
And if you have multiple bikes it's easy to do them all at once. So in reality I do them all whenever the most used one needs it and they never get anywhere near actually running out of wax. Which is another reason chains last so long.
Putoline is intended for competition MX motorcycles.
Interestingly, also for speedway. My FiL used to sponsor an Edinburgh Monarchs rider, and is still a big fan, so we've done a number of pit walks and the smell is glorious!
It's not perfect, but it's the best thing for me on all the bikes (commuter, mtbs and eeb). It'll last a really big ride in shitty conditions, which nothing else does, and in summer it'll go a very long time before needing updating.
In winter, in the wet and mud, I'd say I re-wax about every 4 or 5 rides.
I am about to experiment with filling an old pritt stick tube with Putoline, rubbing it on the chain and melting it with a heat gun.
If the bike gets washed I’ll rewax the chain, so in FoD slop that could be every ride. Sounds like an arseache but I’ve got the routine sorted; get home, remove chain, hose mud off, put chain in cold DFF, switch on DFF, wash bike, remove chain from DFF, wipe off, leave to cool, refit to bike.
Under no circumstances should you put a freshly washed chain into a hot DFF. Ask me how I know… 🙄
That’s pretty much what Smoove is
i think Viking Juice is similar - certainly the instructions are the same and in use pretty similar.
plus it’s called Viking! Which yknow, makes me a Viking by default. That’s how it works right?
Indeed, most people, in fact, thinking about it, everyone I mention it to has never heard of it. So I wonder if the best known thing in the bicycle world is Squirt or whether there is another “second best” option to Putoline. I think there’s no question that wax is better than oil though.
I don’t use it but a wax I’ve heard of is Molten Speed Wax. I’m happy with UFO Drip which i guess is sort of similar to Squirt, Smoove etc.
Under no circumstances should you put a freshly washed chain into a hot DFF. Ask me how I know… 🙄
Been there, done that 😂
I now give it a swish in a big jar of "miscellaneous cleaning solvents* of doom", which removes a surprising amount of rubbish from even a clean looing chain.
*a special blend white spirit, diesel, paint thinner, a punctured can of WD40, old petrol that I really should take to the tip.
Under no circumstances should you put a freshly washed chain into a hot DFF. Ask me how I know… 🙄
Yep, done that one and I agree we shouldn't tell people it'll ruin the surprise for them when they do it.
“miscellaneous cleaning solvents* of doom”,
Every shed should have this but only if it's a long way from the house.
@BruceWee homebrew wax recipe is not exactly scientific. I made it up after reading an article I can't remember.
Anyway it's approximately:
2 big handfuls of paraffin wax pellets
1 small handful of beeswax pellets
A blob (about a level tablespoon) of grease
Half a teaspoon of PTFE powder
When the wax is getting a bit low I just bung that in the fryer to top it up.
Works for me. I mainly prefer it because it runs cleaner than putoline, but it doesn't last as long.
The anti-waxers will be along shortly to tell us it’s all a load of rubbish.
Have you ever noticed how there are clusters of chain wax enthusiasts around 5g masts? It's the Chinese!
I'm kind of a putoline disciple but I tried smoove and squirt and tbh they were both a bit crap. Squirt especially seemed to work really well in some conditions but was just disastrous in others, ride-endingly awful. Depends on the exact mud I suppose. But those all went in the bin, I'd rather use a traditional lube like epic ride. And still do, sometimes, as a topup for putoline
big_scot_nanny
Full MemberInterestingly, also for speedway. My FiL used to sponsor an Edinburgh Monarchs rider, and is still a big fan, so we’ve done a number of pit walks and the smell is glorious!
Oooh who was it?
Anyway it’s approximately:
2 big handfuls of paraffin wax pellets
1 small handful of beeswax pellets
A blob (about a level tablespoon) of grease
Half a teaspoon of PTFE powder
Cool, I'll maybe try that as a summer mix. If I waited until I finished my plutoline it would probably be about 20 years.
Only once a month??? Your poor partner, it'll be like velcro down there for the last week or so!
Oooh who was it?
I think the most recent was Matty Weathers, but he’s been involved for years with the Monarchs. I enjoy going, it’s a great format and usually exciting racing. Shame it’s not bigger
Putoline is intended for competition MX motorcycles.
It's not really though is it TJ.
It was always more of a road bike thing.
Hardly anyone uses it in the MX race scene.
It was slightly more popular back in the 70's/80's but it was never actually formulated for offroad use.
I've also tried it on my MTB's and not really a fan of it.
I ended up having to "top it up" almost every ride.
Just seemed a waste of time going to all that faff then still having to lube with another wax product anyway.
I think one thing everyone can agree on though is that wax products are a lot better than oil based when it comes to chains.
road bikes use "o" ring chains with sealed for life lube in the rollers. Hot wax is useless for them. Only classics and off road use non o ring chains. Chap above said it was used on speedway bikes
Edit: linklyfe was what we used back in the day
I'm sure you have spent most of your life around the MX/Enduro scene so I'll bow down to your actual experiences of what folks in that scene really do.🙂
And yes you can use it on o ring chains as people used to do when it was more popular.
I'm not arguing with your experience - if you tell me MX riders didn't use it then thats fine. I thought they did.
However its not for most road bikes as its no use on o ring chains
Linklyfe was what we used on road bikes back in the day
Edit: crossing posts. Its useless on O ring chains as the o rings prevent it getting into the rollers. thats why the old hot melt stuff fellout of favour. It even says on the tin for open chains only - not for o ring chains
Yo are one of the folk I referred to above as not finding it any use. I do try to put that caveat in as there is a significant minority of folk that have tried it for MTBs and did not find it any use
It's also not this
Putoline is intended for competition MX motorcycles.
From experience i can assure you the O rings don't stop it getting into a chain.
Fair enough.
Edit: A quick internet search showed me several places selling it as for motocross bikes which is why thats what I thought it for. the place I bought it from was a motocross bike shop
Chain Wax is a traditional treatment for the lubrication of non O-ring (open MX type) chains. When heated on a stove, the special Chain Wax with Graphite additive will melt and will clean and lubricate the non O-Ring (open MX type) chain. It will penetrate deep into the chain. Chain Wax, with a little more effort then with a spray-can the best lubrication for non O-Ring chains.
Putoline Chain Lube Boiling Wax - Motocross Enduro Trials bikes chains
Etc etc.
thats where I took that info from
After every wet ride.
Easy. Pop it off.
Boiling water rinse x2
Dry
Into the wax pot for 15 min.plenty swishing.
Any dirty water is carried into the chains internals so how soon it’s done will dictate drivetrain life.
I use Silca Secret hot melt - they have a drip on top up too.
Great thing with using hot melt wax is that it just takes boiling water to get back to a clean as new bare state.
The only pain is multiple solvent baths before the first wax - OEM “lube” must be fully removed to allow the wax to coat the metal properly.
Adam Kerin at ZeroFrictionCycling is THE source fir reliable waxing info. Proper scientific testing.
From experience i can assure you the O rings don’t stop it getting into a chain.
Putoline themselves say its not for o ring chains. Of course the o rings stop it getting into the rollers - they are an oil / grease seal. thats what the o rings are there for
Its sold by multiple offroad bike shops for MX bikes
After every wet ride.
Easy. Pop it off.
Boiling water rinse x2
Dry
Into the wax pot for 15 min.plenty swishing
While it is easy, if you're doing it after every wet ride, does that defeat the purpose of waxing? You may as well just leave the chain on the bike, clean it along with everything else, and drip more lube on it, which is just as easy. The whole point of hot wax treatments is that you don't have to rinse/repeat after every ride surely? Besides which, I'm not certain the longevity claims - now that SRAM 12 speed lasts me 6000km plus make waxing that attractive either, although presumably it's still cheaper.
They also expand a fair bit with the heat.
Go and drop a bit of O ring chain in your Putoline the take it apart and see what's inside the roller. 😉
Its sold by multiple offroad bike shops for MX bikes
Doesn't mean it was invented for MX bike. Which you keep implying.
I'll leave you to it though TJ as I have no desire to have a pointless argument with the master of that passtime.😛
Never tried that. An interesting experiment to do. I'll get hold of a bit from a pal
Chain Wax is a traditional treatment for the lubrication of non O-ring (open MX type) chains. When heated on a stove, the special Chain Wax with Graphite additive will melt and will clean and lubricate the non O-Ring (open MX type) chain. It will penetrate deep into the chain. Chain Wax, with a little more effort then with a spray-can the best lubrication for non O-Ring chains.
Putoline Chain Wax features:
Specially formulated chain boiling wax providing super taxky protection all over.
Prevents premature chain wear.
Not for use with O-ring chains.
I find it interesting that most folk who have tried it on MTBs find it fab, some find it useless. I have not been able to workout why the experiences are so different. Lots of discussion and thought and no common factors jump out. Soil type is the best answer I have seen.
Doesn’t mean it was invented for MX bike. Which you keep implying.
I am actually listening to what you say. All info is good. No knowledge is wasted 🙂 I thought it was as its a more modern development from the old lynklife ( I can't remember where the "Y" goes) aimed at offroad motorcycles
You tell me its not from your experience then thats cool.
Right - got some worn out O ring chain coming to test it.
Dude.
You've got too much time on your hands.😁
YOu have given me a puzzle to solve. I like puzzles 🙂
I have not been able to workout why the experiences are so different.
I think much of it is down to soil/terrain, peaty acid soil will take it off in no time, and it doesn't do well once there's grit involved. Give it greasy clay soils and it's fine. and I think your straight chain line set up with no constant angle changes (like most of us on mechs and cassettes) probably helps massively. Plus, I will admit, I started using it in the middle of winter, and having to do all the "brewing" outdoors in the cold and rain didn't help, I think spilling some on a pair of trousers (that effectively ruined them ) was the last straw for me, it just didn't seem like it was all worth it.
Honestly I still think it's pretty marginal off road. The performance gains of wax are there for road bikes without a doubt, but off road I'm not convinced it makes such a huge difference for most people, that it's an instant "hallelujah moment." So it comes down to cost and one's tolerance for doing more than dripping a bottle of lube over a chain.
I'd still say that the best lube is probably the one you're prepared to use frequently
Honestly I still think it’s pretty marginal off road.
I think the deciding factor is probably the quality of chain used. Certainly people who run the high end 12 speed chains don't seem to see much improvement (and are getting many thousands of kilometers out of their chains anyway).
It could be the crappy chains I buy, with loads of play already in the rollers, means there's loads of space for the wax to get into and it stays there for a long time. Unobtanium plated chains with tolerances measured by the atom probably means there's room for a molecule of oil and nothing else so waxing is pretty pointless.
Yeah, that's probably a factor as well.
Back to the OP, I'm using glfwax which, I think, is the one that was developed by @Daz of this forum.
I'm probably re-doing it on the road bike every 300 miles or so probably a bit less in the winter, it's more difficult to tell on the mtb as winter & summer conditions vary quite a bit round here - e.g. damp sand gets thrown up less than dry sand onto the chain but conversely there's more mudddy water spray in the winter but i'd say only every other month based on a weekly ride. Always mean to do the oily rag thing but generally forget and occasionally i'll do a slightly ineffectual top up with squirt if i haven't got the time for the full re-hot wax process. better than nothing though and am hoping Daz gets on with development of the glfwax drip-on product.
N.B. glfwax does have a slightly chemically smell but kind of neutral rather than unpleasant so just about ok to use in a (dedicated) cheap slow cooker in the house.
I have used it on derailleur bikes as well - but yes the fixed centres probably helps. I use mid range chains but only 9 and ten speed
Soil type is a good explanation but cannot be the only factor as its not universal. I'm guess its the old Switz cheese theory - when all the factors line up.
After every wet ride.
Easy. Pop it off.
Boiling water rinse x2
Dry
Into the wax pot for 15 min.plenty swishing
Sounds like a bit of a faff?
I used to just throw it straight into the fryer before truing it on (so any water boils off in a controlled way as it warms up).
I've started washing it first and think* it stays cleaner on the outside (hypothesis is that uncontaminated Putoline is more hard and waxy and less tacky) but seems to last less time before the chain begins to look/feel dry (although it's not noisy which is my criteria for re-waxing the road bike so there's probably enough still in the rollers).
*it's hard to be scientific as three rides could be on three very different soils round here
To keep it clean on the outside I do the first ride then give the chain a good wipe down with a rag. This cleans up all the excess that has been squeezed out. It then stays clean for ages.
@leffeboy I get my Brazilian every month, HTH
@cynic-al - would that be in wet or dry conditions?
and, why did no one warn me just how huge a can of putoline is? I'm going to have to bequeath the rest of the tin to my children, although they are already getting 1/2 of the 4l can of finish line cross country I bought about 20 years ago
My first tin lasted me a decade. I have been using it for well over 10 years now. I've started on my second tin
I use Molten Speed Wax like wot someone mentioned above.
Never tried Putoline but by all accounts MSW is cleaner - I think it's paraffin wax based (or similar) with PTFE and other fancy additives. Invisible once it's on.
Baby slow cooker from Argos for £12, MSW shouldn't get too hot so a fryer's probably overkill. Slow cooker works great.
How often? No idea 😋
Solid stiff chain after the fresh wax dries is kinda fun.
Baby slow cooker from Argos for £12
Keeping an eye on our local second hand shop for something but for the moment just shoved the tin in the oven at 95. Wife is out of the house for a few hours...
Keeping an eye on our local second hand shop for something
And winner. Our local commune (equivalent of council I guess) run a 'recyclerie' where people can bring stuff they no longer use and they check/repair it and sell it on. Got a tefal electric fondue set that was missing everything apart from the actual heater/saucepan part that is all I need. 1.25l, gets up to just under 90deg and it's got a new life. Is happy
QUOTE I don’t ride mine in absolute slop but I do ride in all weathers, road and tracks on he same bike. In the winter I do it every 200 miles or so, much less in the summer. I can vouch for the longevity of the components using Putoline (currently around 2500 miles on a single chain/cassette with little sign of wear on my wear indicator – well less than .5 anyway. That said, I am using an XTR chain which appears to last way longer than any others, so worth the additional cost, my original SLX chain lasted only a few months. My only gripe is the gunk that collects around the jockey wheels and to a lesser degree on the chainring. It’s not loads and I’d rather have the gunk than have to replace components more frequently. My LBS say they use Squirt exclusively now but then they’d never heard of Putoline, so I’m wondering if Squirt is the next best thing and will be cleaner and chains will last nearly as long – a bit more laborious in terms of frequency of application admittedly but on a road bike this might be preferable. QUOTE
For me the chain started squeaking after few drops of rain when using Squirt.
As for Putoline, 8 speed chain was worn by 0.75% after 1000km only despite frequent dipping in Putoline. Could be just because it might be a counterfeit KMC chain from Amazon.
I’m using Squirt. Reapply after every wet ride, and when it starts to get noisy in the dry.
Agree it lasts much better in drier conditions. Main problems for me have been forgetting to top up and then not being able to in the morning because it hasn’t got time to dry.
I think that better quality chains work better with it, because they’re less prone to surface rusting. I also think it gets better with more applications.
I really like the fact that I don’t get any residue build up on my drive train from using it, and will be using it on my commuter bike when I next replace the drive train.
With Squirt you really need to heat the chain and make sure the liquid is at 18-20c otherwise it doesn't penetrate. Also you have to give it time to dry otherwise it just washes out.
Could be just because it might be a counterfeit KMC chain from Amazon
Answered your own question there I think!
I've put MSW on an X01 chain and I put my results from a first wet ride in another thread so I won't repeat here.
MSW users - do you rewax as often as ZFC recommends? - Singletrack World Magazine
Is there any way to remove the excess Putoline wax as possible since it causes more grinding noise on narrow wide chainrings due accumulation of sand. This summer the bike seems to attract sand more than usual despite prolonged rain which in theory should keep more sand particles and dust on the ground. Riding on paved roads only when not counting Osmand navigation blunders.
Might try degreasing the chain and putting small amount of wax on rollers before heating it up with a heat gun.
I thought once every Hailey's comet was the answer ☄️
Is there any way to remove the excess Putoline wax
Yes. Fit chain and then ride about and wipe off excess with a rag sprayed with WD40. Riding forces the excess out. I wipe after the first and second ride then my chain remains spotless, however I don't live in a sandy area. You may have to do it pre-emptively.
Might try degreasing the chain and putting small amount of wax on rollers before heating it up with a heat gun.
I tried this, didn't work well. It's quite hard to find an angle that doesn't heat up some part of your bike, and the wax gets hot and smokes.
"Yes. Fit chain and then ride about and wipe off excess with a rag sprayed with WD40. Riding forces the excess out. I wipe after the first and second ride then my chain remains spotless, however I don’t live in a sandy area. You may have to do it pre-emptively"
I think wiping might push the sand in deeper in to the chain (12 speed Shimano). And it nearly impossible to clean off every nook and cranny.
"I tried this, didn’t work well. It’s quite hard to find an angle that doesn’t heat up some part of your bike, and the wax gets hot and smokes"
The chain can be removed before using hot air gun. It shouldn't smoke when using the hot air gun from a distance at lowest temperature. Hair dryer might not be powerful enough.
Narrow wide chainrings are said to reduce drivetrain efficiency more than normal chainrings if there are any sort of dirt particles introduced.
"Yes. Fit chain and then ride about and wipe off excess with a rag sprayed with WD40. Riding forces the excess out. I wipe after the first and second ride then my chain remains spotless, however I don’t live in a sandy area. You may have to do it pre-emptively"
I think wiping might push the sand in deeper in to the chain (12 speed Shimano). And it's nearly impossible to clean off every nook and cranny.
"I tried this, didn’t work well. It’s quite hard to find an angle that doesn’t heat up some part of your bike, and the wax gets hot and smokes"
The chain can be removed before using hot air gun. It shouldn't smoke when using the hot air gun from a distance at lowest temperature. Hair dryer might not be powerful enough.
Narrow wide chainrings are said to reduce drivetrain efficiency more than normal chainrings if there are any sort of dirt particles introduced.