I like Rock and Roll Gold too. Works a charm and the chain generally stays pretty clean. Only problem is that you use alot if you apply it as per manufacturers instructions.
I use a heat gun on the chain to boil out the kero and water (I rinse after kero). Non o-ring chains (i.e. all bicycle chains) are made only of steel so the heat gun (300 deg C or so at most) doesnāt harm them. When the chain sizzles youāre doing it right.
Iāve always found this a good technique. Doesnāt work so well on geared bikes however.
Just replaced my road bike chain after 13930 km. Still within 0.75 mark but new wheels and cassette so changed it. It was a KMC X11SL. I use Squirt liquid wax. I made sure to give multiple applications before riding and used heat gun to help get wax inside rollers. After that it is just wipe chain every couple of weeks (or after wet ride) with cloth and a little metho. Then drip on some more squirt and dry cloth wipe next day before riding. Never removed chain during its lifetime.
Previously while using Squirt only got around 4000km or so but didnāt do the multiple applications at the start or use heat gun.
I am getting good life out of KMC X11SL chains ā¦ around 9,000km using R&R Gold lube at 300 km intervals. I replace mine at the recommended 0.5% wear.
Lucky to get 4,000 km out of Shimano Ultegra or 105 chains so definitely worth the extra expense.
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Immersive hot wax is a game changer. ~22k km on the roadie over 3 Shimano chains. No wear on the chain checker. More on the gravelo and same deal. Sooo much cleaner.
Head on over to zerofrictioncycling.com.au
He has done a stack of testing. No drip on lube comes close.
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Actually it was from zerofriction that I got the idea to make sure the initial application was repeated multiple times and added in some heat. The detailed results for Squirt showed the most wear was in the initial block and then wear rates slowed alot. The hot immersive wax obviously permeates the rollers extremely well. I planned to go to hot wax but still have one and a quarter bottles to go. I donāt think Iād do the swapping chains and reimmersing every few hundred kilometres though. Just wipe and top up with drip wax should be sufficient. My chain and cassette is very clean. I probably do a more thorough clean of chain every 6 months, but do it on the bike, just metho on cloth to remove wax build up.
I rode on gravel with squirt drip wax. That caused me to go to immersive hot wax. Squirt drip still collected dirt. Lube + dirt = grinding paste imo.
How wax is much cleaner.
ZFC testing includes adding dirt in some of test blocks. Squirt drip is on their test data base. It does not compete with hot wax.
Hot wax is superior from all accounts. Drip wax suffers from not getting fully into the chain if you just follow manufacturers instructions. My prep and maintenance gives clean chain and cassette with minimal effort. I expect your experience with drip wax differs from mine due prep and maintenance.
I am not suggesting anyone move from (or not move to) immersive wax, it is best practice for most. But drip wax with proper prep can give excellent results (chain life increased from 4000km to over 12000kms for me).
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You may already know this. But if you choose, you donāt have to wait to finish your Squirt drip wax to use the Squirt hot wax, since they are compatible.
My work site is about 6 km from the ocean and a very wet valley. I left my Silca hot waxxed SRAM 10s chain on the bike at work in the car park and it ended up rusting in about 3 weeks. Brought it home and put it in strong vinegar for 24 hours, but didnāt help much. Tried boiling the old wax off, but didnāt work well. Ended up just rewaxing it in the pot. One could start with a rust resitant chain, but ZFC Adam said the wax doesnāt cling well to them. Maybe a drip wax is better for that environment.
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Thanks Iāll give it a try but now need to buy cooker and the wax.
I was a hot wax convert early on ā¦ still have the Woolworths cheap pot and wax but with my essentials tremor ā¦ getting a lot worse with age, connecting quick links is fraught with lots of frustration and bad language so I think I will stick with drip lube
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I have swapped to Squirt wax. Unfortunately your Woolies slow cooker will be no good. It is temperature sensitive. <95c.
800-1000km between waxings however. I use YBN quick links and squeeze the plates together with thumb and forefinger of L hand. Then use the chain pliers to click the link back together, so that I can feel that it still clicks. Ime drip lube performs worse in terms of cleanliness and is more work.
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