First Time Waxing

Like tubeless tires, I’m hoping that chain wax is worth the effort. What a rigmarole! In 48 years of wrenching and riding, this is the first time I’ve done it. Old dog. New tricks. I’m far from an expert and open to being educated by anyone who cares to drop a comment.

• Vevor 15 Liter Heated Ultrasonic Cleaner | $135.99
• Walmart Parents Choice Distilled Water | $1.29/gallon
• Extreme Simple Green Aircraft & Precision Cleaner | $41.50/gallon
• Runaway Bike Hot Tub Chain Lubricant | $23.25/lb
• Generic Mini Crock Pot | $???

Tools & Materials

I own several Vevor tools. They aren’t SnapOn, but prices are attractive and they get the job done. It took close to an hour for the ultrasonic cleaner to heat 2 gallons of distilled water from room temperature to 60°C (140°F). The crock pot however, took over 1.5 hours to liquify the wax. Plugging in the crock pot will be the first step moving forward.

Many solvents can etch aluminum but Extreme Simple Green Aircraft & Precision cleaner claims to be safe at 13:1 or greater dilution. Chains are steel but cassettes are another matter entirely. Reasonable proximity to a Grainger distribution center made acquisition easy.

Cleaning

30 oz distilled water and 2 oz Simple Green (15:1 ratio) were added to a Ziplock freezer bag along with the parts to be cleaned. The bag was then submerged into 2 gallons of clean water which had been heated in the ultrasonic cleaner’s basin. 20 minutes of agitation ensued. The video below shows a second run with some spare chains and no cassette. The white noise in the video is the actual sound of the Vevor tool. The cloudy mess contained by the bag is the emulsified remnants of the factory lube which was in the process of being stripped from two brand new chains.

After cleaning, the parts were rinsed in water and dried with compressed air several times, with a final rinse in isopropyl alcohol. This helped ensure complete removal of solvents which could contaminate the wax. The chains were then baked in the oven for 30 minutes at 300°F to remove residual moisture. Yes, you read that right. In the oven. A SRAM PG1290 cassette contains plastic and so baking in the oven was omitted. Distilled water in the ultrasonic cleaner was recovered for future use.

Waxing

With everything clean and dry, the chains were strung on a coat hanger, submerged into the molten wax, agitated a bit and allowed to soak for as long as it took to consume half a cup of coffee. They then hung to drip dry and excess wax wiped off with a rag.

Results

We all prize a silent bike and initial pedal strokes after installation were a bit alarming. The SRAM Red flat-top chain was quite stiff and it made a bit of a racket, recognizable to mechanical engineers as chordal action. It quieted down after a few miles as excess wax was shed.

Only 30 miles have been ridden and so the jury is still out on long-term performance. Nothing fell off the bike, there were no crashes and having lost 30 lb since the last time the bike was ridden, the owner’s average speed increased noticeably. These are all good signs. Even if the Runaway Bike wax is deemed substandard, there’s always Silca.

References:

The Radavist: Tinker Tantrums: Ultrasonic Cleaner Review – Are They Worth It?