I’m probably going too heavy on the washing as I have been using soap and giving it a scrub along with the rest of the bike which it probably doesn’t need

No, it doesn’t. Just hosepipe on the chain.

Huh, so to compare with Molly’s images, this is my drivetrain, with about the same useage, (3/4 months mostly dry with some recent rain) I use Juice Lubes Viking

That was one single application without cleaning or reapplying, and it’s still silent?

and it’s still silent?

yes, one application (although if you follow the instructions, that’s a couple of passes over the chain) and still silent, should be though, it is the “summer” after all

But did you wash the bike?

Yep hosed down a few times. The mud on there is from yesterday

Putoline has changed my life.

No more getting down the road and the chain starts squeeking because you forgot to lube. Then it annoying the hell out of you for 50 miles.

No more pre ride faff quickly cleaning then lubing the MTB chain, never really cleaning it well enough.

No more hours spent picking gloopy crap out from between cassette cogs and trying to get them clean ish.

No more degreaser on cassette killing freehub bearings

No more black hands from doing all this faffing about with chains

Seriously EVERYONE needs to use this stuff. I just used a camping stove in the garage and an old pan, laser temp probe to 160 degrees.

chain after 850 miles of Surrey Mountains. Had a steel front sprox for most of the time. Just added the blue bling one to the new frame.. About 6 weeks on Puto & then the rest using candle wax home brew,

Yep hosed down a few times.

You must be lucky with your mud. It is inconceivable to me that a light lube could do those things in my neighbourhood (or you are deaf to the complaints of your chain). There’s a review of the Viking stuff where the reviewer also does not get the longevity you describe.

Yeah guess so, I don’t get anything like the longevity in the winter, but it seems to last pretty well this time of year. It’s not uncommon for the chain to not need reapplication for a good long spell.

Just popped my putoline cherry- surprisingly painless!

Melted the wax in the tin with a Trangia burner, then poured into the standard Argos Cookworks DFF at 160 for 15mins, hang up and wipe the excess off whilst hot

So easy in fact I’m tempted to try it with a few bearings….Obviously would need to let the wax set somewhat before taking the bearings out.

I used a hot air gun to get mine out of the tin.

Where is everyone getting the wax from?

“anywhere” – Amazon lists it but a lot of motorbikey shops do too

PSA….the cheap Argos DFF are in scarce supply. Just now, it said they weren’t available for home delivery so I think they may only have store stock. Managed to get one and looking forward to joining the putoline elite….

The only thing stopping my applying my Putoline is how well my Fenwick’s Stealth is currently working, seems daft to abandon it when I still have 1.5 bottles left…

Need to remember 24hr cure time, can’t do that in a hostel! 🙄

Going to give Putoline a go myself, but have question – do you get many fumes from the wax once it’s melted? Planning to do it in the garage which is underground and doesn’t have great ventilation, just wondering if this is a bad idea… Not intending to overheat/boil it, just go to the 140-160 deg that people seem to be heating to!

I do it in an unventilated garage, it smells but not particularly unpleasant, and it doesn’t really fume as such, you’re well below boiling point as far as i can work out (boiling is when vapour pressure = atmospheric pressure)  You don’t get much steam off water at 5C, after all.

Good to hear, thanks!

Smells a bit like a Victorian steam engine shed.

Had a bit of surface rust on a couple of links on the hardtail when I came to use it the other day so will try and remember to wipe with an oily rag after wet rides in the future.

First attempt – wax seems quite runny, didn’t appear to be much left on chain after cursory wipe down!

I presume that’s the whole point, liquid enough to penetrate the rollers etc.

Yup!

Just back from two weeks touring round Kintyre on the tandem – no need to relube the chains all trip. Still plenty of lube in them and thats after several rainy days

no need to relube the chains all trip. Still plenty of lube in them and thats after several rainy days

Same here, haven’t had to re-lube for months now.

Second chain in, definitely a bit more snap, crackle and pop this, obviously hadn’t completely dried after washing bike!

First impressions on the gravel bike are positive though, looks like a nice clean chain, slick shifting.

TJ, I’ll prob get 30-50km on a freshly waxed chain before embarking on a 500km off road tour, worth a top up before I go (on the purely speculative basis that first application might not have been completely thorough?).

Did all my bike chains (MTB, commuter and fat) earlier this week, so far so good! Used a cheap electric hob designed for caravanning, just plonked the Putoline tin on top and gradually increased the heat until it was nice and runny. Quite a satisfiying experience, dunking the chains in and seeing the patterns in the wax flowing about. Much more pleasant than dripping lube onto chains like I’ve been doing since forever. The chain on the commuter still looked pretty dirty when it came out but seems to be running nice and silent, when the time comes to re-apply I think I’ll give it a proper degrease first. It’ll be interesting to see how it holds up, here in Norway the weather is pretty harsh in the winter so anything that reduces wear and tear on the drivetrain is a winner in my book!

I would say probably not 13th but it couldn’t do any harm

Ordered the standard Argos DFF and Putolone from Amazon last night. Both arrived today and both commuter chains done already. Seems painless enough.

I gave both chains a run through my cheap Amazon ultrasonic bath (filled with white spirit) first, so they were pretty clean. The rest of the drive chains are a bit mucky (not too bad as it’s summer), so wondering how this will affect things with the waxed chains? Will ride them this week and then look at doing the nice road bikes next weekend, followed by the MTBs (which need various other work hence being last).

I’m hoping with two of us riding in the house this will save a lot of washing and lubing time over 6 bikes year round.

I’m certainly impressed so far! Drivetrain felt great on a wee spin this morning, slick shifting, *felt* smooth. A tiny bit tacky to touch, but fingers still came away cleaner than they would e.g. with Squirt.

All going well I might even start using it on my summer road bike… A winter of commuting and CX riding to get through first.

Well, I cracked this week, bought some wax and had a go. OHs chain was the only one that needed doing on Friday, so that’s first impressions. She’s done two days riding this weekend and reckoned it was running dry. I’m not sure I got the chain hot enough to get the wax in properly so I’ve redone it along with my MTB and cross bike. Left the chains in a lot longer to get them hot.

This had better last a decent amount of time to be worth the faff… if I get a few winter rides out of a treatment I’ll probably consider it worth it.

Depends on what conditions you ride in; I’m happy that I get a whole ride out of mine in the Forest of Dean in deepest, soggiest winter. Never had a wet lube that managed that.

Jury’s still out for me, think I got about 100km before chain was dry and squeeling which is frankly pretty poor compared to any other lube I’ve used in those conditions!

Limped into Aberfeldy and found some 3-in-one in the hardware store which has been awedome, sort if cleans and lubes chain in same application. Seems to be out-lasting the Putoline as well…

Wonder if applying Putoline to a Shimano sil-tec chain could have been the issue?

curious. We just did 350 miles in a tour including several wet days and the chains are still not in need of being lubed. I have no explanation

Wet isn’t the same as sloppy.

Must admit, I don’t usually ride in slop but I haven’t had to relube mine for a couple of months.

I tend do mine whenever I give the bike a proper wash, even if it doesn’t need it. Chain gets hosed off and removed before I start washing the bike and is in the DFF for 10-15 minutes before being removed to cool off.

I used it in very wet gritty conditions earlier in the year. My trails are a mix of sandstone and limestone, the mud is usually reddish and gritty. It lasted about 10-12 hours of riding in heavy rain and mud. And by ‘last’ I mean it stayed quiet and non gritty, and all I had to do to clean the bike and chain, to the point where it didn’t feel gritty when twisted in my fingers, was hose it down. That’s 10 hours as compared with about 30 minutes with normal lube.

Two rides suggest it wasn’t soaked into the rollers well enough.

So I’ve been using Putoline for about 2 years now (just checked, actually I bought my tin in Nov. 2017 so nearly 3!) and I’m a fan, but I have to say I’ve had mixed results.

On the commuter it’s an absolute no-brainer.

In theory, it’s ideal for multi-day bikepacking and road touring as well, and I’ve had trips where it’s lasted a few days, but also where it doesn’t seem to have lasted any longer than normal lube, even in dry conditions, and I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or expecting too much.

I took the 11 speed chain off my gravel bike after doing Scotduro (Badger Divide) and it was worn beyond 0.75. It was new in January. For each bike I use two chains and swap them back and forth so I don’t have to wax it immediately and always have a fresh one to go on. The other one was new last July and got binned a couple of months ago. In that time that bike’s done about 2600 miles, probably half road, half off. 1300 miles for a chain isn’t much in my book.

My process has settled on: heat tin on camping stove* til liquid, cook gently for 10 mins or so, with occasional agitation, fish out, letting the wax drip back into the tin, wipe as much as possible off without burning myself.

Where am I going wrong? Wonder if I’m not getting the temperature/time right? It’s not very repeatable on a stove, but other people seem to manage. Any clues?

*I’m reluctant to go down the deep fat fryer route as buying a new cheap appliance just to lube bike chains in seems a bit wasteful (no judgement on anyone else who’s done it though). If one appears on Freecycle I might be tempted.

I put mine on the stove. I wonder if getting the chain too hot means too much runs out?

there does seem to be some factor in application that means sometimes it does not work well but I do not know what

NOt noticed any problems after 3 rides but I wondered about the chain being v hot when you lift it out means the majority between the rollers runs out? Maybe keep it flat in the DFF cage and wait until it cools and solidifies before wiping the sides down?

That chimes with my experiences actually, so far I’m not blown away but absolutely determined to keep trying, the drivetrain did feel lovely after application!

The wax was extremely liquid when I took chains out and hung them up, so perhaps leaving it to cool for a while before removing from wax is the way forward.

Shall be an interesting experiment, I can see myself having to chip the chain out of a solid block of wax! 😀

Sadly for Putoline, my experience on my last multi-day just taught my how simple and easy it was to carry a small bottle of lube and relube on a daily basis, which feels like how I’ll do it in future, nothing worse than being stuck with a dry chain in the middle of nowhere!

Also – straw poll – anyone else using a Shimano Sil-tec chain e.g. Ultegra level? I’ve seen some comments on other hot melt wax articles that suggested this affects wax adhesion.