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After reading some long posts about putoline and chain cooking I thought I'd give it a go.
All went without an issue. After the first couple of rides I've noticed that the chain feels really graunchy (if that's a word) after riding through muddy puddles. Seems to clear out after a few minutes.
I've never had this sort of thing happen when using other lubes. Is this normal behaviour for putoline?
I use wax
MSW actually, I really like it.
Wet fine grit can get into the chain for sure
I was advised by a guy I consider to be a proper serious wax expert
[ https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wax-at-home/ ] to, after any muddy or even quite wet ride wash the chain off in boiling water and then dry and re wax it.
Use a jug not a closed container, shaking boiling water is dangerous.
If you run a couple or more chains too get lower cassette life and always have a waxed one ready to go on.
Thanks, I'd seen his articles before. Sounds like he knows what he's talking about.
The question on my mind is why am I experiencing this when riding through mud with this lube but not others.
I mean ride 30 minutes, smooth, hit some mud, instantly graunchy under load for several minutes, back to smooth until I got mud again.
I've used squirt, mucoff hydro, rnr gold & extreme and haven't experienced this with any of their lubes.
there's folks more experienced than me with Putoline on here, but my experience is the complete opposite. I can't believe the shit I ride through with Putoline and exprience none of the crunching/grinding - I'm amazed!
Not sure what could cause your issue, sounds like perhaps the drivetrain is retaining alot of the clag before it is shed. So..
Is you wax hot enough (+150C) before you cook the chain?
Are you wiping it down effectively whilst it is still hot and fresh out the frier?
If I don't do those things, I can get too much sticky wax on the outside.
HTH!
Hey yeah so I had heated the wax to 170° and had chains immersed for 15 minutes. Pulled out, hung and wiped while hot along the outside so they look clean.
It feels like I hit wet mud and it takes a while for the grit to fling off before it smooths out again. First time it happened I thought maybe I'd put the chain on in the wrong direction or something (but it's a kmc x11) second time out happened twice, both times after hitting wet mud, and thinking back to the first time it was also after hitting wet mud. That was the aha moment.
This is on a new grx setup, under 100kms old.
Today I went through some deeper water and the chain started making a squeaking sound along with the graunching. Went away as the water flung off.
Scratching my head a little with this. Inspected the drivetrain when I got home. Had a fair amount of buildup on the jockey wheels. But no graunching in the stand. Only thing I could pickup on was a very slight noise of the chain dropping between the teeth of the cassette sproket.
Is the chain still well lubed? Ignore it. My guess is its a bit of grit collecting on the sides of the inner plates graunching on the cassettee but its not something I have ever noticed happening
Technical point; that's grinding, not graunching. Graunching is metal to metal wear where one surface lifts the top of the other similar to delamination. You see it quite often on railway tracks. I'd love to link something better than that but **** Google and its utter uselessness.
I noticed this the first ride out with the new putoline lube. I assume it's still well lubed. I noticed in the stand that if I spray the cassette with water the notchiness increases significantly especially in the 4th/5th sprocket from small. Maybe something else is going on.
Goodness, sorry crembz, I've nothing else to add to this, sounds like you've taken the steps that I have (based on the big thread) and still have this issue. What the heck could be causing it?
Certainly, for it to be worse with Putoline sounds very odd!
I was advised by a guy I consider to be a proper serious wax expert
[ https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wax-at-home/%5D to, after any muddy or even quite wet ride wash the chain off in boiling water and then dry and re wax it.
Given that we live on a rainy island, this immediately magnifies the hassle factor to above that of a decent dropper lube for 8-10 months of the year.
Luckily it's also unnecessary bollocks
.. unless of course, you sell wax lube
Luckily it’s also unnecessary bollocks.. unless of course, you sell wax lube
😀 +1
I wonder if you've got the wax super hot, and are wiping off thoroughly, whether there's actually enough on the chain? Maybe be a bit less diligent next time and see if that improves things...
I was thinking maybe I have. Come to think of it I had the deep fryer set to 190° and I did get the outer plates shiny when wiping.
Although I did collect a ton of grub off the jockey wheels do I expect that came off the chain?
Is your cassette more worn than the chain... The chain could be driving itself up the face of the teeth (i.e nearly slipping). One of my bikes had a drivetrain that didn't run smoothly and this is what it was doing.
I suspect that is what is happening however both chain and cassette are the same age.
I rewaxed the chain again today at a lower temperature (150°) and wiped it down when it cooled ... Fitted it and instantly it is TONS more quiet! See what happens when I hit water
Where does this Putoline temperature thing come from? The website says heat it up so it’s liquid, put chain in, wiggle it round for 5 or so, pull out, wipe. So have just done that - soon as it goes liquid, heat off, chain in, wiggle, coffee, chain out. Am I missing some technical step or the need for a special thermometer?
I'm using a deep fryer, some people use a slow cooker, on both you can set the temperature.
I just heat the can on a camping stove 👍
Disregard all the above. Seems like something else is going on, just so happens to have started the ride after using putoline for the first time.
Rode today and had no end of graunching through the drivetrain. Happens when I'm pedalling easily and not putting a ton of power down. It's cyclical and feels like chain skip except it's not. Seems to match the speed of the cassette rather than the cranks. Seems to happen only in the 3rd-5th sproket from small.
I can replicate it in the stand but seems to come on somewhat randomly. Today I checked the Rd hanger, tried a different chain, tried a different cassette, tested the bb by standing on the pedals and rotating slowly. BB is smooth and the rest made no difference. I did notice this though:
Could be the source of the issue? Wheels are practically new, under 100kms.
Where does this Putoline temperature thing come from?
That's religion for you. Keep the faith 🙂