Are you oiling or waxing?

[chriswoody]

Just oil here, can't be faffing with waxing. I wipe my chain off regularly and don't let the oil and gunk build up. Then tinkle a bit of oil over it every so often.

The chain checker is showing the 11 speed chain is showing barely any wear after 2000km, so I've no motivation to change what I'm doing.

 

[roley poley]

white lightning clean ride (wax)

 

[Paulus]

Oil. Iv'e been using the 'Mickle method' for many years, long before I knew about the method. Dry Finish line in the summer, and the wet in the autumn and winter.

 

[Brandane]

As someone pointed out in another thread recently - it's a bicycle; not the space shuttle!
Oil, in case anyone's interested.

 

[steveindenmark]

As someone recently pointed out in another thread recently - it's a bicycle; not the space shuttle!
Oil, in case anyone's interested.

I beg to differ. When I was a kid it was a bicycle. In recent times it has become more like the space shuttle. 😊

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I tried wax on the motorbikes years ago, seemed to eat chains so went back to oil which was far better IMHO

 

[raleighnut]

I tried wax on the motorbikes years ago, seemed to eat chains so went back to oil which was far better IMHO

You need that 'Boil in the bag tin' stuff

 

[BigMeatball]

So far I just lubed my chain once, after making the rookie mistake of cleaning chain and cassette with water and letting it dry it up on its own....only to find the chain with quite some rust and all stiff the next day.

Had to wash it again with mucoff and the wee chain cleaner tool, and applied a buttload of lube, moved each links to make sure they were fine and not stuck. Took me 2 bloody hours and a bucket of sweat, hunched down in my living room as that's the only space I've got and don't have a bike stand, praying the cycling gods to not make any stains on my walls.

Excruciating experience. Never again. I should probably relube the chain soon but the next time I'll clean my bike/chain properly it's going to be when I've got a bigger house with a garage. Then I'll be able to experiment the oil VS wax thingy

 

[Drago]

Gear oil here. A proper and diligently applied maintenance regime means no excessive filth or the like, which completely undermines the one supposed advantage of wax.

If wax is such an amazing lube, why is it virtually unused in any other mechanical application?

 

[SGG on a bike]

I have a Scottoiler on one of my motorcycles, so I usually use Scott Oil on the bike chain. either that or chainsaw oil and failing any supply of either of those, I've always got some EP90 gear oil. All applied sparingly and wiped after application, of course. I figure if to can make my motorcycle chain last over 28k miles, it's got to be ok for a cycle chain.

 

[Mrs M]

Both

 

[wafter]

If wax is such an amazing lube, why is it virtually unused in any other mechanical application?

I'd guess due to the specifics of bike chain usage versus others, relative to the treatment's benefits and the requirement of the system. For example industrial applications aren't going to shut down their processes every x hours to remove chains to apply wax when they can run them in enclosures to prevent contamination and lubricate with oil baths / oilers - allowing the chain to run non-stop until it needs replacing.

Also in powered applications efficiency is likely to be less of a concern; as it would also be on motorbikes although as you're probably aware you can buy wax for motorbike chains that's intended to be applied by immersing the chain in its hot liquid form.

 

[Blue Hills]

I beg to differ. When I was a kid it was a bicycle. In recent times it has become more like the space shuttle. 😊

you're riding the wrong bikes steve.

 

[Drago]

...as it would also be on motorbikes although as you're probably aware you can buy wax for motorbike chains that's intended to be applied by immersing the chain in its hot liquid form.

You can, but for some strange reason no one has done that since 1952.

 

[Blue Hills]

You can, but for some strange reason no one has done that since 1952.

the queen started a new trend?

(supposedly she was some sort of army truck mechanic during the war but have always wondered how mucky she got)