The whole having a clean drivetrain and not black gunk everywhere is quite appealing
Very appealing! But the amount of time and faffing involved with wax... Rotating chains and such. Too much maintenance for me, I'd rather spend the time riding - or doing more useful maintenance, like the current cleaning & sorting of things I never seem to do enough of!
Have thought of going the 'Squirt' route as don't have to do all the special waxy stuff with it, treat it more like a lube and then see how different it is to my preferred Finish Line Green (which is a very gunky 'Road Gravy' lube). But for me, I know I abuse chains, I don't spend enough time cleaning them enough to prolong their life as it is, so any extra time cleaning & lubing what I already have & use is the more sensible option. Or spend the money on better quality chains... I'll have to do that with my new bike anyway - but that won't be ridden all weathers!
Let us know your adventures with wax. Should prove
entertaininginteresting
I had a slow cooker until I left it on for 2 months with my wax in
need to get a new one, although think it'll be quicker and easier to just use an old pan with a thermometer.
Yes sonic bath here roady, works a treat with white spirit.
Haha, oooh defo get one with a timer or thermal cutoff! I'd be better off just buying a new pot for one of ours as can you imagine her face if I wanted to use it for doing bike stuff!
With the sonic bath, for the general 'tricky' cleaning tasks would it work? The times I look at the bits in the rear derailleur I just can't get to which pick up such a coating of grime from dirty riding. Like the inner parts of the cage, that almost solid buildup of dust and chain lube over many years. Would it (safely) strip all that out? Not sure I'd want to put an electric motor into white spirit overnight but somehow thinking just the moving mechanical parts of derailleurs...
Decided I will give the wax a go. Though my idea of going up to a 32t at the back has been ruined as apparently my short cage derailleurs only supports up to 30t.... Which is worrying because I have 11-32 on my trainer
So I'll stick to a 11-30 at least the chain sizing is already completed
I actually just checked and it’s a 11-28 on my trainer. No idea why I thought it was an 11-32.
I’ll just play it safe and get the same 11-30 cassette just in case - just rule out something rude I can break lol
The cost of cassettes and the price you're paying for that new chain I'd go with what you want, shouldn't be compromises when you're spending that much...! Short cage can do 32t with some careful indexing (pretty sure there's a GCN video on it - worth googling). Certainly an 11s Di2 (R8070) short cage derailleur can so a R8000 mechanical can. Bu I do know my older 6780 didn't seem to (but didn't try too hard).
Nothing wrong with 11-30, although personally I do prefer a 11-32. Many of the newer bikes come with 11-30, whereas a few years back that was 11-28 and you had to choose to go lower - to 11-32. I have changed to 11-34 without noticing many more gaps - but I love hills so it's all the lower part rather than really pushing the top end and finding them there. My trainer has an 11-28 and wouldn't bother with lower indoors (you cab lower trainer 'feel'/'difficulty' to decrease the impact of gradients - but you can't increase it to give yourself faster gears on the flat).
Although I'm running a 50/34 at the front indoors (same outdoor) and before my accident had reached the point where I was starting to spin it out on the turbo at the top end, so need to change that when opportunity arises... I have previously ridden 52/36 outdoors for a few years, didn't really notice a huge difference at the top end, but did suffer more in the small ring. I don't find 50/34 slow outdoor for the area I live in and the sort of riding I do...
) better suited to a sprinter/punchuer but I enjoy riding up hills which I happen to suck at it, go figure!
