Chain wax - avoid it like the plague....
Since new, I have used Maxim chain wax to lube my chain. It seemed like a good thing, my dealer sells it and uses it, so I figured that was the best product out there.
In my opinion, unless you have a lot of free time, it is the worst product out there....
A lot of this is my fault. Even though I check my chain often enough, I never cleaned it until several weeks ago. I figured that a fresh coating of chain wax every 500 miles or so should keep it lubed and protected.
Well, it did. But eventually that wax built up to the point where it started oozing out all over the rear hub and sprocket, and all over the frame and engine cover under the front sprocket and onto the right muffler/silencer..
My fault for not cleaning the chain. The wax also picks up dirt and turns black and when subjected to heat, becomes a tar-like substance - very difficult to remove. Soap and water won't touch it. Simple Green, Complicated Green, Happy Orange, OxyClean, New, Improved Tide, ... nothing will take it off. I removed my sprocket cover, chain guard, and slackened the rear wheel adjustment and scrubbed and scraped away for a few hours with limited success. Put everything back together, sprayed on another light coating and rode for another 800 miles or so.
After reading the sage advice of those wiser than I on this forum, I bought a pretty blue plastic can and went out and filled it with kerosene. This long holiday weekend, I cleaned my chain once again. Removed the chain guard, sprocket cover, right silencer, and went at it. Using several different brushes and the kerosene, I managed to get all the chain wax off, or so I thought. What a mess! I had to spray wheel cleaner on every thing to get the kerosene and dissolved chain wax off, then rinse and repeat. Then I blew everything dry with my air compressor and wiped the chain off several times with a rag.
I bought some ProGold MFR chain lube which goes on wet but dries clear. I sprayed it on let it set and then took a ride. Well, it seems the MFR also dissolves chain wax, as my rear wheel and tire and everything within slinging range were once again covered with black slime. So once again I sprayed and rinsed and repeated and wiped with a rag and blew everything dry with compressed air.
I parked the bike in the garage and it still sits there, dripping blackened chain wax residue on the floor.
Tomorrow, I am going to ride anyway and hit the local carwash....
So don't use chain wax, eh? Unless you really like to clean your chain...
