Took it out, maybe a bit too late, tons of chunk still on there, ran it around in big-little for about 5 minutes at like 120+ rpm (my right arm feels like about an hour after I first got connected to the internet in 1996) and chain still looking like this. Normal or should I try again?
by thehugeative
11 Comments
96 AOL CD-ROMs ftw!
Go for a ride for an hour. It’ll wear off. It’ll be a little loud and then it’ll go buttery-smooth and quiet. Wax flakes will be on your chainstay. Don’t worry about it.
I’ve been taking my chains out while the wax is still fully liquid, seems to be just fine. When I started I was leaving them in until it skinned over then taking them out but wax caked onto everything.
I did the same thing first wax but it’s been a joy ever since.
You can scrape the wax off the outside of the link if you want to. Shifting to the big ring can be shitty for a bit post hot wax, because the chain just slips over the shift ramps and doesn’t grab as well to shift up.
Another thing to look out for is buildup of wax between your two smallest cogs. That can cause the chain to skip on the smallest cog. Take a small flat blade screwdriver and run it through the gap to evacuate the wax if it builds up there.
One thing I always keep in mind post hot waxing: if the indexing was find before you took the chain off, don’t fuck with it just because you are hearing weird noises post wax. Once the chain breaks in everything will return to normal. Adjusting indexing in this break-in period will only fuck things up once the excess wax flakes off.
The outside wax wear off as you shift. Even just on a stand if you keep shifting especially the front you will see them flake off quite quickly. But tbh I wouldn’t worry about it at all. If anything excess wax help prevent your chain from developing surface rust
It’ll be fine, just go for a ride
Not a big deal, eventually it’ll fall off, maybe. But wax isn’t sticky, so it doesn’t matter. If that was big clump of grease, then yah you’d want to wipe it down. Perhaps take it out of the wax a little sooner next time.
I think maybe you took it off a bit too early.
It is important that when you wax your chain, to leave it in long enough so the chain gets the same temperature of the wax. If not, the wax will harden before ingressing completely into the chain. It’s just that you have to wait for long enoigh that you don’t see any more hardened wax sticking to your chain. If you use a water barrier, the temperature of the wax won’t exceed 100°C anyway so no worries about changing steel properties.
When the wax has completely melted around your chain(indicating your chain has now the temperature of the molten wax), swirl it around a bit and then take it out. Leave it to dry.
DON’T MOVE the chain untill it’s completely dry(otherwise you’ll get air bubbles in the wax).
It will still have residual wax on the surface, but way less. Ride it and it’ll wear off and become the smoothest thing you have ever felt.
The only thing you really have to remember is to keep the chain dry, wax has zero anti rust stuff in it and my experience [MTB at least] is it’s not that keen on getting dirty, but rewaxing is a doddle so not an issue really.
It’s still chain and cassettes, if it’s still working well, just not better-looking.
Looks messy but how some people think this can lead to autism is beyond me.