Waxing your chain isn’t a hard job but it’s definitely more time consuming than drip lubricant and requires a few more bits and pieces in the home workshop.
The good news is it’s not out of reach for the everyday home bike mechanic.
Here’s how to Slip Wax your chain with everyday chemicals and stuff you have lying around - with the exception of a slow-cooker/crock pot that you’re going to need for the final stage.
What you'll need:
Slip Systems Formulation 12 Degreaser.
Two empty plastic milk cartons. The small 568ml / 1 pint carton from your supermarket is perfect. So is the bigger 1.13 litre / 2 pint carton. Rinse these in hot water to get rid of any milky residue and then thoroughly dry them.
About 1 litre of Clean Spirit (a less stinky water-based version of White Spirit) that you can buy at a home improvement shop. It goes without saying that you can also use bicycle degreaser and we’ll get to that in a second.
About 125ml Methylated Spirits or Isopropyl Alcohol.
The smallest crock pot (aka slow cooker) that you can get. A 1.8 litre one costs around £15 here in the UK. This is going to be your waxing pot, so don’t buy it with the intent of making a slow-cooked stew when it’s not got your chain in it.
An old spoke or wire coat hanger cut into a loop shape to hang your chain on for dipping in and out of the wax.
Preparing your chain:
First, degrease your chain as much as possible on the bike. Use Slip Systems Formulation 12 Degreaser and a soft rag to remove the bulk of the dirt and grease on your chain and as much of your drivetrain as possible.
Don’t worry too much if it’s not spotless, we’re going to get to that in a second….
Remove the chain from your bike and drop it and the split links into one of your empty milk cartons.
Pour in enough Clean Spirit to completely cover the chain and then top up about 1-2cm more.
You can use stronger degreasers but we recommend you dilute these down to a maximum 1 in 10 formula (i.e. one part degreaser to ten parts water).
Put the lid on and give the carton a shake. The key here is to keep the carton upright and shake with brisk small side to side movements to “agitate” the liquid into the chain. It’ll get dirty quite quickly.
Leave this for an hour or more to let the Clean Spirit work.
Pour the liquid out and collect it into a container suitable for proper disposal at a recycling centre.
Be careful not to lose your split links.
Rinse the chain and carton in some hot (but not boiling) water.
Repeat this process until the liquid stays clean when you put your chain in and shake it.
This could be up to four or five times, but time spent now will lead to a better waxing outcome.
Once the chain is clean, rinse it in hot water and hang it up somewhere to dry overnight (a door handle with an old rag under to catch the drips is perfect).
When the chain is dry you might see some surface rust spots forming. Don’t panic! These are perfectly normal and a sign that your chain is fully degreased.
Now, drop the chain back into your second clean milk carton and top it up with enough Methylated Spirt or Isopropyl Alcohol to only just cover the chain. You don’t need to top it up with any more.
Give the chain a quick agitation to soak the Meths or Isopropyl into it. This doesn’t take long. Leave it for 20 minutes to soak then take the chain out and hang it up again.
Once it’s dry (we leave it 2-3 hours) it’s ready to wax.
How to Slip Wax:
Now it's time for the good bit: the final stage where you get to apply Slip Wax to your freshly cleaned chain.
Turn your crock pot on to the low setting and drop your wax pucks into the pot. Put the lid on then set a timer for about 45 minutes. That’s how long it will take the pot to gently melt the wax.
While this is happening, thoroughly clean your cassette, jockey wheels and front chainring(s) with Formulation 12 Degreaser, ready to receive the newly waxed chain.
You’re aiming to get the wax up to around 75C so that it melts properly and forms a nice liquid. It goes without saying that this is hot, so please be careful. A thermometer is ideal, but not totally necessary.
Don’t worry if you go too far - the critical temperature is when you take the chain out. Just make sure you don’t leave it unattended and always take care when working with hot liquids.
Once the wax is a lovely free-flowing liquid with no unmelted lumps lower your chain into the wax and gently jiggle it around a little bit to encourage the wax into the pins and rollers, being super careful not to splash anything - especially that favourite t-shirt of yours. You might see some bubbles and this is an excellent sign that the wax is pushing its way into all the nooks and crannies of your chain.
Now, switch your crock pot off and unplug it. Then carefully remove the inner pot and place it on a flat surface with your chain still in it. You don’t need to do this bit, but it speeds up the cooling of the wax.
Let the wax cool to around 65C. Slip Wax melts between 55C and 60C so you’re aiming for a temperature just above that so that when you pull the chain out it solidifies in the ambient air.
Keep jiggling the chain around to keep the nanoparticle WS2 and MoS2 suspended in the liquid. Those lovely little lubricant particles are non-soluble and want to sink to the bottom.
We do the “drip test” when we’re planning on the best time to remove the chain. We wait until we can see a little bit of a skin starting to form around the edges of the crock pot and on the surface of the wax - this tells us the wax is starting to turn back to a solid.
To do the drip test we slowly lift the chain out of the wax and when it clears the surface we’re looking for no more than three drips. If it’s any more than that we drop it back in, give it a little jiggle and then wait a minute before trying again.
Once that’s done, you can hang the chain up and leave it to “set” for an hour.
There are two schools of thought here: do you break the chain in to get it mobile again and break off any extra wax, or do you just put it back on the bike? It’s really up to you. We just throw it back on the bike and let any “shedding” happen while we’re out on a ride!
Whether you break the chain in or just put it on the bike the first 15 minutes of your ride are going to be you just working the Slip Wax into its optimal performance so bear that in mind for your competition runs - you’ll want to have got the chain into peak condition first!
And that’s it. Your chain is waxed and ready to go.
Here at Slip Systems HQ we use an ultrasonic cleaner to make our lives a whole lot easier, but we’re doing lots of chains. The process above is how we got started a few years ago, and it’s also how we formulated our Slip Wax to get the best coating and penetration.
So if you want us to do your chain, just buy our Chain Clean & Wax Service and we’ll send you an envelope for you to send us your dirty chain and we'll send you back a beautifully waxed chain a few days later.
