I use Rock N Roll 135816 Gold Chain Lubricant, it claims to clean and lube. My bike is cheap and I don’t ride a massive amount but in 4 years of using it I’ve only used this lube and never cleaned it otherwise, still works great.
Obviously cleaning it occasionally would be a good idea though
I don’t want to send you down a rabbit hole, but look up “zero friction cycling”. They test chain lube and offer a huge amount of data and insight into claims made by lube companies.
I know the guy at Halfords hasn’t even heard of wax and they don’t sell it.
Unfortunately, a lot of bike shops are either ignorant to wax, or they don’t sell it on purpose because it’s too good. LOL Many of the brands you’ll find in a local bike shop are well known, but the wet lubes from those companies are terrible.
Just looked it up and apparently need to rewax every time it gets wet? I live in the UK, that doesn’t sound practical at all.
To put things into context: no matter how you lube your chain, including using oil-based wet lube, if you get your chain wet, it should be cleaned to remove contaminants from inside the pins/rollers.
Wax provides a physical barrier against contaminants, and protects much better than oil lube (with attracts contaminants).
I ride with fenders, so even the worst Canadian winters (salt, melted snow, road contaminants, etc.) don’t cause my chain to be contaminated. I can come home from a ride, give it a wipe with a microfiber cloth, and the cloth will look clean because nothing stuck to it.
If it’s really bad, I just swap the chain out. Or, if I’m short on time, I’ll keep my chain on while I wash the crap off my bike, then use an air blower to get rid of any moisture. Seems to be working great.
Wet chains = rusted chains for most people. Only chains with rust inhibitors (i.e. KMC Z8.1) will help, but keeping your chain dry will go a long way.
If you are waxing your chains, and anticipate regular poor weather, I’d suggest having multiple chains in rotation. This ends up being much faster than cleaning and re-lubing a chain that has wet lube on it, and the chains continue to last forever while being clean.
During the summer months, I’ll do an immersion wax every 1000-1500 km or so, but will “top up” with a wax drip lube every few hundred KM). The chain runs dead silent, clean enough for me to run my fingers along it without getting dirty (even after a 100km+ ride), and my drivetrain doesn’t wear out.
I avoided waxing because I thought it would be too much trouble. But I’m saving way more time now, and I’m not ruining microfiber cloths and using solvents anymore!
Again, every chain, no matter the lube should be cleaned after a wet ride.
Whether you choose to ignore that or not, totally depends on your goals.
I use wipperman links, which allows me to remove my chain without tools. So it’s quite literally a 10-second swap, and only if the chain is too “dirty” (again, it really doesn’t get dirt when it’s waxed) to cleaned with a cloth.
For context, I my first winter ate through chains, and all of my components were rusted by the spring no matter how obsessive I was about keeping things clean.
This year, not a single bit of rust. No chain wear at all over thousands of KM. No wasted rags or solvents. And very little of my time went to chain maintenance.
When I waxed my chain the first time, the experience was so positive, I immediately switched two other bikes over to waxed chains that same week.
I ride a lot (min 500km a month over the winter), so if you are an occasional cyclist, then it may not be as profound of an experience.
Looking into the stuff needed for it, what product names should I look for? Almost everything is a liquid you put on the chain rather than a heat melted was which in comparison barely seems to exist.
I use Rock N Roll 135816 Gold Chain Lubricant, it claims to clean and lube. My bike is cheap and I don’t ride a massive amount but in 4 years of using it I’ve only used this lube and never cleaned it otherwise, still works great.
Obviously cleaning it occasionally would be a good idea though
I don’t want to send you down a rabbit hole, but look up “zero friction cycling”. They test chain lube and offer a huge amount of data and insight into claims made by lube companies.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you 😬🤣
Depends how far you want to go into it too though. I know the guy at Halfords hasn’t even heard of wax and they don’t sell it.
Just looked it up and apparently need to rewax every time it gets wet? I live in the UK, that doesn’t sound practical at all.
Unfortunately, a lot of bike shops are either ignorant to wax, or they don’t sell it on purpose because it’s too good. LOL Many of the brands you’ll find in a local bike shop are well known, but the wet lubes from those companies are terrible.
To put things into context: no matter how you lube your chain, including using oil-based wet lube, if you get your chain wet, it should be cleaned to remove contaminants from inside the pins/rollers.
Wax provides a physical barrier against contaminants, and protects much better than oil lube (with attracts contaminants).
I ride with fenders, so even the worst Canadian winters (salt, melted snow, road contaminants, etc.) don’t cause my chain to be contaminated. I can come home from a ride, give it a wipe with a microfiber cloth, and the cloth will look clean because nothing stuck to it.
If it’s really bad, I just swap the chain out. Or, if I’m short on time, I’ll keep my chain on while I wash the crap off my bike, then use an air blower to get rid of any moisture. Seems to be working great.
Wet chains = rusted chains for most people. Only chains with rust inhibitors (i.e. KMC Z8.1) will help, but keeping your chain dry will go a long way.
If you are waxing your chains, and anticipate regular poor weather, I’d suggest having multiple chains in rotation. This ends up being much faster than cleaning and re-lubing a chain that has wet lube on it, and the chains continue to last forever while being clean.
During the summer months, I’ll do an immersion wax every 1000-1500 km or so, but will “top up” with a wax drip lube every few hundred KM). The chain runs dead silent, clean enough for me to run my fingers along it without getting dirty (even after a 100km+ ride), and my drivetrain doesn’t wear out.
I avoided waxing because I thought it would be too much trouble. But I’m saving way more time now, and I’m not ruining microfiber cloths and using solvents anymore!
Cleaning a chain every time it gets wet is kinda impractical isn’t it? That would be pretty much a daily task.
Again, every chain, no matter the lube should be cleaned after a wet ride.
Whether you choose to ignore that or not, totally depends on your goals.
I use wipperman links, which allows me to remove my chain without tools. So it’s quite literally a 10-second swap, and only if the chain is too “dirty” (again, it really doesn’t get dirt when it’s waxed) to cleaned with a cloth.
For context, I my first winter ate through chains, and all of my components were rusted by the spring no matter how obsessive I was about keeping things clean.
This year, not a single bit of rust. No chain wear at all over thousands of KM. No wasted rags or solvents. And very little of my time went to chain maintenance.
When I waxed my chain the first time, the experience was so positive, I immediately switched two other bikes over to waxed chains that same week.
I ride a lot (min 500km a month over the winter), so if you are an occasional cyclist, then it may not be as profound of an experience.
Looking into the stuff needed for it, what product names should I look for? Almost everything is a liquid you put on the chain rather than a heat melted was which in comparison barely seems to exist.
I will check it out, thanks for the tip!