New to this chain waxing malarkey but in a first I was sold on a Facebook ad for the Abolsute Black Graphenwax so got some ordered.

Given the chain a thorough clean and then I got one of these off Amazon – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08FB994L8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 – £16 or so and gets the wax to 100c no issues. Used a thermometer gun I have for setting up my snake tanks to check the temperature which worked a treat.

Chain just cooling/drying now so will report back what I think to the wax in due course. Easy enough process though it seems made even easier by investing in a pair of power link pliers 🙂

hotter temps evaporate some of the lighter oils.

I don’t think that’s the case.

Before it was popular and people started messing about with it I used to just wack the DFF on max (210) and let it smoke.

It might have done something to it, but in terms of consistency, I now have 2 tins soup tins of ~300ml spare ‘old’ putoline that’s exactly the same consistency as the new stuff.

The only thing I’ve changed in the last few years is setting the DFF to ~100 whilst it’s melting and leaving it so it smokes less, then putting it upto ~140 ish.

Got my Argos DFF today so I did 2 chains in the garage. This stuff is sticky, I couldn’t remember how people were decanting it so I got 2 tablespoons out of the kitchen drawer and spooned half the tin into the DFF. Stuck it at 130° and dunked a chain in for a few minutes and closed the lid, absolutely stinks compared to MSW.

First chain I just put in the basket, made it a bit tricky to get it out, so used some paper towels to grab it and wipe it down. 2nd chain I used my swisher (bit of coat hanger) from the MSW, which made it easier to get the chain out to wipe down.

Looking forward to trying it out this weekend.

Looking good. 😎

I couldn’t remember how people were decanting it

I used a heat gun on the tin and held the tin over the DFF, until the remaining chunk was small enough to lift out and stuff into the fryer.

That is a clean and well wiped chain. You should find a few bits of black squeezed out after the first ride, so then wipe those off again and it’ll stay like that for ages.

And here’s one I did earlier:

So initial thoughts on this whole new fangled waxing… I am not nearly fit enough or strong enough to comment as to whether I can feel all the free watts I am supposed to inherit however I will say that on my ride today my drivetrain was totally silent – I have never known it so quite and shifting was the quietest it has ever been too.

I am guilty in the past of somewhat neglecting the mechanicals and rarely cleaning them all however I can see me keeping on top of this 🙂

I got the DFF and tin of Putoline a few weeks back but only managed to get round to trying it today:

1) I don’t remember reading how hard it is just to get the lid off to putoline tin.
2) decanting it was a mess, but I just scooped it using a pallete knife and a screwdriver (as they were the cleanest tools to hand). It had been in the garage which has been cold for weeks so it was pretty solid.
3) smell isn’t too bad, but I’m glad I did it in the garage.
4) 140 degrees with a Gold KMC 11 EL chain (and quick link) for about 15 minutes with some shaking about was what I tried. Took out with pliers and wiped down with an old Sealskin sock (again, the closest the thing to hand).
5) all seems well, but not ridden it yet. Will update next week.

After couple of shake down rides on the new road bike I came to remove the chain and putoline it last night……to find that there’s no quick link! Didn’t even cross my mind as always built up my own MTBs so there’s always been one installed. Had to order as it’s the only 11 spd bike in the house (roll eyes).

I ordered KMC but as an aside has anyone used those cheap unrecognised-brand quick links they sell on amazon wiht any success?

If you’re committing to Putoline, get one of the re-usable Wipperman ones! £17 right enough but my OCD/paranoia is much happier knowing I’m breaking and rejoining a link every month that is designed to be re-broken/re-joined…

I’ve just always used the SRAM or KMC ones – seem fine, but I’m still on 10 or 9 speed for the family fleet – life is simpler.

You’re not wrong with getting the lid off! I reckon it’s the extra diameter.

Be interesting to heat how people who are comparing to to MSW etc find it. I still think it’s 99% down to the wax and the way it’s applied and any differences will be minor, but we’ll see.

I ordered KMC but as an aside has anyone used those cheap unrecognised-brand quick links they sell on amazon wiht any success?

I’ve bought various off-brand links over the years, they’ve always turned out to be KMC or YBN branded inside the packet though. that was clarks, decathlon, and various other shop or bike brands though, not completely random stuff.

Can’t recall ever having an issue with one coming apart either.

3) smell isn’t too bad, but I’m glad I did it in the garage.

Oddly I remember my old putoline stank. The new tin, I melted in the kitchen to pour into the fryer, and it didn’t smell at all, although it wasn’t that hot (viscosity like engine oil rather than the diesel it usually gets up to in the fryer.

Either that or I’ve got Covid.

I had a KMC “reusable” quicklink fail within 100 yards the other day after taking the chain off and connecting it back together again for the first time (after another dunking).

I’ve since bitten the bullet and bought x3 Wipperman Connex for my 3 bikes. My wallet cringed a little though…

Be interesting to heat how people who are comparing to to MSW etc find it.

MSW looks like hard candle wax in the pics. I’m not sure I’d want to handle a block of Putoline like that, it’s more like cold butter or boot polish or something. So guessing there’s a difference there. But I’d also guess that the slight stickyness of Putoline would be an advantage.

@r8jimbob88 how did it fail?

I had a KMC “reusable” quicklink fail within 100 yards the other day after taking the chain off and connecting it back together again for the first time (after another dunking).

I’ve since bitten the bullet and bought x3 Wipperman Connex for my 3 bikes. My wallet cringed a little though…

actually the only quick link I’ve ever had fail on me was… my new Wipperman! I think I just did it up too hastily, or maybe there was too much wax coating the links or something! Anyway, quickly fixed roadside and has given no problems since including some uphill sprints.

@molgrips – Looks like one of the links became detached somehow and bent backwards. I suppose it could be user error but i’m not sure how exactly.

the Putoline tin was a nightmare to open. I keep the lid fitted just loosely now. I use a briefcase stove to warm it up

I also didn’t realise you were supposed to wipe, I just let it drip dry. will wipe next time!

Got all the gear (not quite no idea) and had the same issue on my road bike as pedlad. Ordered some 9 speed KMC quick links which arrived yesterday. Will also be chucking in a spare brand new 9 speed chain from my old Hardrock Pro I had lying around which will be useful – have a 2nd spare for some reason too.

Tin lid was a bit of a faff to remove but not too bad. Will give it a go by the weekend hopefully now my ebike is also back from the shop

Images on Instagram

Made a start, will see how it goes

I got the DFF and tin of Putoline a few weeks back but only managed to get round to trying it today:

1) I don’t remember reading how hard it is just to get the lid off to putoline tin.
2) decanting it was a mess, but I just scooped it using a pallete knife and a screwdriver (as they were the cleanest tools to hand). It had been in the garage which has been cold for weeks so it was pretty solid.
3) smell isn’t too bad, but I’m glad I did it in the garage.
4) 140 degrees with a Gold KMC 11 EL chain (and quick link) for about 15 minutes with some shaking about was what I tried. Took out with pliers and wiped down with an old Sealskin sock (again, the closest the thing to hand).
5) all seems well, but not ridden it yet. Will update next week.

So I had my first few rides, a 75km then a 100km both on road in dry conditions. I noticed the chain got a little loud with about 30km of the second ride to go, so I’ve whipped it off and re-fried it tonight as well as doing another chain. Obviously I was expecting the putolined chain to last a while longer to this running quietly, so i put it down to at least one of:
1) 140 wasn’t hot enough and the wax didn’t penetrate
2) I didn’t degrease the new chain properly and the wax didn’t penetrate
3) I (lazily) didn’t degrease the cassette properly and the new chain has picked up some crap which has affected the wax.
4) cassette is worn (6000km on an Ultegra cassette).

I’ve done the wax on a higher heat this time and have left the chains hanging up. I’ll fully clean off the rest of the drivetrain before reinstalling the chain.

More likely a bit too hot and too much ran out / dripped off would be my guess. try it and see.

For me, it doesn’t stay completely freshly-fried silent for more than a couple of rides. But that doesn’t mean it’s not lubed, it just sounds noisy because it’s so quiet to begin with. But it’ll continue like this for plenty more rides before starting to get a bit noisier again.

I find twisting the chain the easiest way to tell if it needs redoing

I definitely think new chains need a couple of goes to get maximum life out of an application, I only got 150km out of my last application.

I re-fried and let the wax cool as much as possible before taking chain out. Now I have a ridiculous amount of wax clogging up jockey wheels etc. Maybe because the trails are dry now and there’s no mud to clean off the excess wax!

Feels like there’s a sweetspot of temperature where the wax doesn’t all run out from inside the rollers, but you don’t retain too much excess between the plates where it isn’t needed…

I’m 250km from my last application in mixed conditions on road/gravel, some wet, some dry. Still very quiet but there appears to be a load of spare wax on the jockey wheels.

As an aside I couldn’t find any connex 12 speed quick links for the new bike for its first session in the hot wax, the original KMC link will have to do.

Shifting was a little bit worse as it got noisier so I thought it was a wax issue.

I’ll see how I get on with the new chain now and have a spare ready, it’s not really any hassle to whip one off and put a new one on. My home gym is in the garage so last night I was sorting the chains in-between sets, so didn’t really take any time at all. With the KMC removal tool the chain is off in seconds.

My home gym is in the garage

You clearly have nowhere near enough bikes.

You clearly have nowhere near enough bikes.

My BMX is chained to my power cage so the bikes do take over…

I reckon 140 is too hot. I think just hot enough so it’s the consistency of single cream is good. When it goes like whipping cream (pre whipping obviously 😉) it’s too hot. During my winter testing in a freezing shed, about 120 seemed OK. I’m still using a chain did then. It’s now remarkably clean and virtually silent still and it’s done about 150 miles. I’m probably going to do it again in 50 miles time.

I’ll try 120 next time, cheers.

I’ll buy some single cream for benchmarking purposes too.

What’s best to completely remove Putoline from a chain? Asking for a friend.

white spirit or any other powerful organic solvent will do. White spirit works fine tho

Ta

What’s best to completely remove Putoline from a chain?

It’s wax, surely boiling water will do this?

I’ve an old glass jar of waste organic solvents for that job (petrol, parafin, etc).

Useful if the chain is still wet from a ride/wash (deccant the petrol off the mud/water layer occasionaly).

It’s wax, surely boiling water will do this?

No, it will melt it into sticky stuff that as a hydrocarbon is highly immiscible with water and will still adhere tightly to the surfaces of the chain – especially the internal surfaces where it is supposed to lubricate.

To see this in action just try washing out an “empty” bottle of cooking oil with hot water – no matter how much you swish the water around inside it still remains oily. To remove it you need an organic solvent such as the suggestions previously, or a detergent.

Yeah that’s paraffin wax, it’s hard, guessing there’s a narrow range of hydrocarbon weights in it. I bet it won’t be that nice and clean with Putoline, but if you try it you should video it 🙂

I reckon that a bulk lump of wax floating to the top of hot water is not a good model
of what happens to a thin layer Putoline on a chain, especially inside the moving surfaces where it moves in by capillary tension and will be held there by the same forces, whether liquid or not.

Anyway theory is one thing, but nothing beats experiment – so I dunked a pair of pliers in Putoline for a while, made sure the jaws were well coated and then closed, took them out and let them cool. I then put them in a pan of water at a rolling boil for about 7 minutes.

Pretty quickly the Putoline melted from the outside and rose to the surface, and was much more liquid than I’d expected. But after about 7 minutes it remained on the internal faces of the jaws. Also the metal external surfaces got recoated with a thin layer of Putoline as they were taken out of the water, from the melted wax floating on the water.

So for a chain in boiling water I think you would get a lot of Putoline off it but still leave the exposed surfaces a bit “sticky/waxy” as you removed it, but the interior bearing surfaces where the Putoline does its job would be largely unaffected, with the Putoline retained by the strong capillary action and resistance to mixing with water.

I treated my gravel bike chain yesterday. Fryer was set to 130. Inner chain had a lot more putoline left which is difficult to remove once it cools. Looks messy on the bike but worked fine. Chain nice and quiet even when riding through thick glup. Hosed it down when I got back and cassette still looks clean but definitely putoline on the teeth of cassette and front chain rings. As long as it all works I won’t get upset over it 🙂

Just need to figure out how to leave enough on the chain next time but clean it up more.