A bicycle chain has many hundreds of moving parts with each link consisting of 6 plates 4 pins and 4 rollers and it all needs to be lubricated. Traditionally oils have been used as chain lub but that picks up dirt and road grime which turns the whole drive train into grinding paste wearing the chain, cassette rear mech and chainring.
In recent times many cyclists have gone from traditional liquid lubricants and converted to wax as a chain lubricant as it’s a dry lub and does not pick up dirt in the same way and sheds water and mud so ideal for road and mountain bikes.
The commercial chain waxing kits with some with their dubious additives are quite expensive with some kits costing about $100 but there is a much cheaper DIY option. You just need a few sealable plastic tubs to clean and soak the chain.
The only other equipment you need a small slow cooker with a low setting. My set up cost less than $30 the slow cooker was from eBay.
So with the wax and PTFE powder it was still less than £50 so you’re already on a winner. I’ve done a few chains with the original wax mix so it’s really cost effective if you have a few bikes.
Even waxing a brand new chain you still need to clean and degrease it as all chains come pre-lubricated I did that with the new chain I fitted to the e-bike but it’ s much the same for a used chain as long as it isn’t too worn or stretched it just takes a little longer for the first clean. For the photos I using the old chain that came off my Kona mountain bike it’s not been waxed so quite dirty as you can see.
The first stage of the clean is a soak and occasional shakes in petrol to get rid of all the oils and grime. I usually soak it overnight and swish it around a few times, it may take a couple of cleans but it’s important that the chain is free from all grease and grime of the wax wont stick.
I thought it would take a couple of cleans to sort it out but its looking better.
Next comes another soak in degreaser similar shake and soak but you only need to do it for about an hour. Then wash out the degreaser in warm water.
Shake of the water then a final a soak of about 30 minutes in some methylated spirts this evaporates and drys really quickly but will leave your chain squeaky clean. The meths should be crystal clear showing how clean the chain is if its dirty so was the chain and needs to go through the process again.
Now the really exciting stuff it ideal mix is a 1 to 10 ratio of 1.6micron PTFE powder to Paraffin wax. The PTFE powder usually comes in 50g bags so a perfect mix is 50g PTFE powder. PTFE is an ideal additive as it’s really slippery and mixes well with the hot wax.
To a 500g bag of paraffin wax pellets.
With eBay as a guide the PTFE is about £10 to £15 and the wax about £7 so for around £20 you can was a few chains I’ve done 5 so far in my first lot of wax mix.
Now that your chain is really clean and oil free, we can look at waxing it. 500g white paraffin wax is best if you can’t buy pellets or blocks just buy plain wax candles it’s the same but take the wicks out once it’s melted in the slow cooker on low add the 50g of 1.6 micron PTFE powder and swish it about to mix, it should look quite milky.
Put your cleaned chain on a wire hook so you can swish it around and take it out at the end, don't forget to put the quick links on fishing around in the wax at the end is a real pain, don't ask how I know.
Once it’s in the wax swish it about then let it soak you will see bubbles from the air trapped in the links but after a few swishes and soaks this will stop and in an 30 minutes or so the chain should be done and you can take it out of the slow cooker. Let it drip for a bit then wipe of the chain with a paper towel, use a glove the chain will be HOT around 90degC you can just hang it up and let it cool.
The chain will be really stiff now you can break up the links by hand or just run it over a something round which is a bit quicker.
Finally clean off the wax around the pins on the quick link and your chain is ready to fit.
There will be dry wax flakes on your bike after the first ride but it’s easy to flick it off with a paint brush.
You shouldn’t need to wax the chain again for about 300 to 500k but that’s an easy job there is no need to deep clean it again. Just remove the chain and put it in a sieve then pour a kettle of boiling water over it, this will strip off any ingrained dirt and contaminated wax then you can just re-wax it in the slow cooker.