Using wax instead of lube for a cargo bike.

[Laustin Singapore]

So in the wider cycling community around here, lots of people like to extol the virtues of waxing chains. As someone who commutes on a Brampton, I get it too. A few accidents I’ve got nice clothes of mine covered in oil so I might switch my Brampton to being a waxed chain.

But for a cargo bike. Ideally we want belt drive. But would we ever consider using wax on a (small) cargo bike chain? Why or why not?

 

[CycloCrux]

I have had a decent waxing routine for my race bikes for a while now. And I will happily proselytize the virtues of waxing, as they are many.

But I won't bother on my cargo bike. The trips are often too short, and the maintenace cycle too demanding to justify it. If I do a wet ride on my waxed chains I will, at a minimum, do a thorough wipe-down of the chain to get it dry, and at the higher end do a full clean cycle (boiling water bath, dry, re-wax). If you don't do this you risk the wax getting dirty too quickly and you will have a rusty chain. This isn't practical when I'm doing 2km trips to pickup groceries or do daycare runs. And the chain is equally as wet in both situations.

I keep at least 2 chains for each bike. The service cycle is 300-500km (depending on weather and road conditions, again, much shorter if you're in unfavourable conditions regularly). Then I swap off a dirty chain for a waxed one, and re-wax the other. This isn't labour intensive, but it's a bit of mess and clean to get the most out of it, which I don't think is justified by the frequency and trip length for me.

A good sturdy wet lube and a chain guard will get you a long way. And I think the gain in chain life (which is insane, with waxing) is largely offset by the labour and frequency of maintenance on utility bikes.

 

[Esper]

I've ridden on belts and chains, and for my cargo bike I decided on waxed single speed chains (with an IGH) because every bike shop works with chains, but only some shops work with belts. I'm still debating on converting to a belt on my modded Brompton though

 

[eashton]

So in the wider cycling community around here, lots of people like to extol the virtues of waxing chains. As someone who commutes on a Brampton, I get it too. A few accidents I’ve got nice clothes of mine covered in oil so I might switch my Brampton to being a waxed chain.

But for a cargo bike. Ideally we want belt drive. But would we ever consider using wax on a (small) cargo bike chain? Why or why not?

I'm the pied piper of chain waxing among my circle of cycling friends. I started doing it ~2 years ago and I love it as the chain remains clean and massively reduces the wear on the drivetrain. Sure, there are more exciting things to do on occasional Friday nights than wax your chain, but it's easy to do and so much nicer than the oil alternative. I was skeptical at first, but I wouldn't go back at this point. All you need is a cheap pot, a wire to put your chain on, and a high quality wax like Rex which is good for about 1000km ( https://rex.fi/en/shop/bike/chain-waxes/hot-waxes/black-diamond-hot-wax).

This is a short intro to it which you might find helpful.

https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/workshop/how-to-wax-a-chain

 

[Shaun Moulds]

I have a tern Orox and the 12 speed transmission is giving me a lot of longevity issues. I've just replaced my chain at 0.7 wear and it has already scrapped my whole transmission, this is the second chain and second entire transmission in just 4,000km.
So this time I'm trying the whole waxing thing, I'll use 3 chains and keep swapping them in and out as required, fingers crossed this is not only going to mean one cassette and chainring for 3 chains but a chance to make a chain last longer than 2,000km. I do around 6,000km a year so can't carry on as is.
Wish me luck!

 

[eashton]

I have a tern Orox and the 12 speed transmission is giving me a lot of longevity issues. I've just replaced my chain at 0.7 wear and it has already scrapped my whole transmission, this is the second chain and second entire transmission in just 4,000km.
So this time I'm trying the whole waxing thing, I'll use 3 chains and keep swapping them in and out as required, fingers crossed this is not only going to mean one cassette and chainring for 3 chains but a chance to make a chain last longer than 2,000km. I do around 6,000km a year so can't carry on as is.
Wish me luck!
View attachment 833

Which wax did you go with as it looks very flaky, or at least more flaky then the wax I use (Rex). You expect some sloughing off at first, but that looks like a bit more than usual.

 

[CycloCrux]

This can also happen if you allow the wax to cool a bit too much before pulling the chain out, or if you don't allow the chain to fully drip. I wouldn't be overly concerned as long as the wax was at one point hot enough to penetrate the links fully.

 

[Shaun Moulds]

Which wax did you go with as it looks very flaky, or at least more flaky then the wax I use (Rex). You expect some sloughing off at first, but that looks like a bit more than usual.

It's enigma black edition, I could find REX easily available here. It says to pull the chain at 60° which is really thick so I wonder if it's just more excess wax? Either way I did 30km yesterday and now looks perfect.
We shall see.

 

[Shaun Moulds]

This can also happen if you allow the wax to cool a bit too much before pulling the chain out, or if you don't allow the chain to fully drip. I wouldn't be overly concerned as long as the wax was at one point hot enough to penetrate the links fully.

That's what I'm thinking. The directions for this is to leat to 120°c turn off the pot and pull at 60°c so it's really quiet thick.

 

[Shaun Moulds]

AHH, I was looking too far down I think.

 

[eashton]

AHH, I was looking too far down I think.

This might be why I see less 'flakeyness' on my waxing as I pull it out around 80C and hang the chain up to dry/cool where it doesn't drip much, but it's not overly coated with wax. There's no downside to a waxed chain that I've found, even if I'm doing it wrong. You seem to go hard so I look forward to see what your experience with is like.