Frustrated! Lube question - Pedros Ice Wax 2.0

[weekendthrasher]

After costing me a brand new chain, let's see if I've got this right. This stuff doesn't seem to last more than 1 ride, and given a typical ride for me is 1-2 hours with squeaks mid-ride, it's feeling like the longevity of one application is HALF a ride (for me practically speaking)! Am I doing/understanding something wrong here? For this lube to work, I have to clean the chain after EVERY ride, and lube the chain after EVERY ride? IF that's true, anybody have any better alternatives (still environmentally safe?) with some reasonable longevity? Or ... does "apply liberally" for this product mean "drown the chain in this or it simply won't work after 10 minutes of riding"?

I ride in all kinds of conditions (dry, mud, wet, snow), but mostly dry/dusty. Appreciate any help.

[mtnbiker72]

After costing me a brand new chain, let's see if I've got this right. This stuff doesn't seem to last more than 1 ride, and given a typical ride for me is 1-2 hours with squeaks mid-ride, it's feeling like the longevity of one application is HALF a ride (for me practically speaking)! Am I doing/understanding something wrong here? For this lube to work, I have to clean the chain after EVERY ride, and lube the chain after EVERY ride? IF that's true, anybody have any better alternatives (still environmentally safe?) with some reasonable longevity? Or ... does "apply liberally" for this product mean "drown the chain in this or it simply won't work after 10 minutes of riding"?

I ride in all kinds of conditions (dry, mud, wet, snow), but mostly dry/dusty. Appreciate any help.

Use a good wet lube, apply one drop per roller, let soak into chain, wipe off excess with clean dry rag. After a ride wipe chain with clean dry rag.

There are many petro based and vegetable based wet lubes on the market. I use a canola based Bar and Chain Oil with great success.

[lapinGTI]

I use ice wax 2, it work great, but as you say you need to clean you bike after each ride, don't you do it already?

And apply lube when dry, at least 1 our 2 hours before riding. This way the solvant have time to evaporate and leave the wax where it belong. I try to apply it right after cleaning my bike this way the next day my bike is ready to ride.

And if you ride in wet condition, i apply a second time about 1 hours after let dry and whip the acces after hours. It then to last longer,

If you don't want to maintain your bike, use tick oil.

I also try squirt lube, and whitelightning, Squirt lube is a pain to remove, it required so good degreaser! And i hate it.

Whitelightning is fine but then to chain suck after a long muddy ride. But i need to try it again to confirm.

have fun.

[weekendthrasher]

admittedly, my 'maintenance' with respect to the chain lube wasn't after every ride since I mistakenly assumed 2 weeks per usage. I'm going to be very diligent this season to more properly gauge if this product is for me or not. a good comparison is readily available for me because my wife's bike is using "Finish Line wet" and she swears by it so she's not interested in anything else until she sees drawbacks (none so far, but that's probably because I'm the one cleaning the bikes after every ride, haha). anyway, I'll be maintaining both bikes more regularly this season, so we'll see.

btw, I'm thinking it may be a good idea to use the Wax lube through the summer, but switch to "Finish Line wet" through the winter. anyone have any thoughts on a seasonal approach?

[bikerjohn64]

I use the Finish Line products regularly and have done so for many years. My tendency is to use different lubes for different conditions. Wet lube for wet days/condition and Dry lube for dry conditions. I find using Wet lube on dry dusty condition only attracts more grime onto the chain.
I have also used their Ceramic Fortified lube (which is a wet lube) on my road bike. It works well too.
I don't think that there are "bad" lubes; but each kind will need attention in their own ways. You will find that people will stick to what works for them in their geographical region and habits.
The worst thing you could do is Not use any lube. ;-)

[FBinNY]

I'm not going to tout my own product, and instead suggest that you go the the reviews section here on mtbr and find the top rated 3 or 4 lubes and try one of those.

Don't just go by the overall score, but scan though the reviews themselves looking for those having the properties you value most, be it cleanliness, long service life, wet resistance, or whatever.

Also weigh those reviews from areas close to home where riding conditions are similar to yours more highly than others. it doesn't do you any good to use a lube with excellent wet resistance if you live and ride in the desert.

Even though a make a chain lube and would like to say otherwise, there is no one perfect lube for everybody, but there are a decent number of excellent lubes out there (and IMO some dogs) so it's just a matter of experimenting a bit until you find your favorite. Hopefully it'll be mine.

[mitzikatzi]

I used a couple of bottles of Pedros Ice wax with mixed results.

Dry/Dusty try Squirt. You need a very clean chain to start with. It seems to take several applications of lube before it works well. I just use a skewer/stick to clean the wax build up off the pulleys.

Try The Chain L many seem to like it.

Some like Purple Extreme.

Chain saw bar oil is popular on this forum.

Really you need to just keep trying chain lubes till you find one that works for you. Heaps to choose from.

I take a small bottle (old eye drop bottle) of lube with me on a ride and relube the chain mid ride if needed.

[bt]

i take a small bottle of lube with me on a ride.

tmi

[RustyIron]

Besides "wax" not being a very good lubricant, the dry products I've used all seem to wash off with the slightest bit of dampness. Ride through a creek and the chain is jacked for the rest of the ride.

If you're looking for the quick/easy/effective solution, send a few bucks to FBinNY and get some of his Chain-L. His is the best I've used.

I don't use Chain-L myself. I mix up a concoction of ATF, heavy oil, and acetone. There are technical reasons for my decision, but the biggest factor is that it is cheap. I apply it liberally before each ride and wipe off the excess. Frequent, liberal usage is going to be the key factor in whatever lubricant you choose.

[Cormac]

I use white lightning dry and it works great for me. I reapply every other ride or so. Course I'm not in the saddle for 2 hours at a time either. I get about 15 miles or so. Yes you have to reapply it quite often, but it does keep things nice and clean! Though last week I ended up doing a nice muddy ride and things got pretty crunchy toward the end...obviously not intended for wet riding.

[customfab]

Stop using wax based lubes, problem solved.

[derby]

Squirt dry lube is much thicker than Pedros Ice and unlike Pedros is water emulsified which doesn't soften and reduce the wax build up inside the chain with each application. It does take a few rides before the Squirt builds up inside the chain enough to keep a newly cleaned chain quiet for about 3 to 4 hours in dusty conditions.

With Squirt, don't ever clean the chain with solvents or water based cleaners, except wiping the outer link faces with a rag for a shiny appearance. The wax build up needs to remain inside the chain for best protection and quiet riding.

My chain life using Squirt for over 2 years in dry to dripping muddy rain conditions has increased to nearly no measurable wear after one year while the rings and cogs still wear out about a quickly as ever. The chain surface shows more surface rust after a wet ride, wash off and dry over night, than using wet lubes, but the much reduced chain wear over time indicates the inner chain pins and roller interface remains more protected from dirt and mud compared to solvent based wax or wet lubes. Also I've had less mud induced chain suck, almost never now on the same ride, with a year old chain, I think because the chain has almost no wear or "stretch" to be filled with mud temporarily shortening the chain and mismatching the wear of the teeth.

The key to successfully using Squirt is to not deep clean the chain ever. And for the longest hours of riding a quiet chain is to apply about 1/2 hour or more before riding so it can soak in and dry before riding.

[4Crawler]

I've been using my own home brew wax-based concoction for 40 years now and it works for me. I use a mix of maybe 80-90% paraffin wax along with some (10-20%) motor or gear oil along with some graphite powder (or graphite loaded grease) added to make it less flaky and more sticky - more paraffin content for dry/dusty areas and more oil/grease content for wetter climates. The right blend lets it stay solid at normal outdoor temps.

I keep it in a small camping frying pan and heat it up on a small cook stove outdoors with the chain sitting on top of the hard wax. Heat for about 5 minutes until is melts and the chain sinks, just to the smoking point. Then remove from the heat, pull the chain out with some needle nose pliers and wipe the outside clean with a rag then letting the chain cool before installing. I generally get around 500 miles of riding out of an application.

I never clean the chain, as when it is time to lube the chain, it is because all the wax is pretty much gone, so just reapply the wax and it is good for the next 500 miles. I get many years of life out of a chain and many decades out of the pan full of wax. Periodically you can pop the slab of wax out of the pan and scrape off the dirt that accumulates on the bottom. I've only had to refill my pan once in 40 years and that was due to spilling most of the contents out once. You can clean the chain if you like and it does not hurt if it is a little wet, let it air dry then keep it in the wax on low heat until any trapped water finishes boiling out.

[Cormac]

^^^sounds complicated.

[weekendthrasher]

in the past i've lubed my bike with the ice wax 2.0 in the driveway. was not intentional, it's just the way it's worked out. the reason i bring this up is i finally got around this past weekend to setting aside some working area in the garage for our bikes. so ... lubed in the garage last night, with cardboard underneath to catch any excess flow. opening the garage this morning to get the car almost knocked me over with the chemical smell. i had never come across this before. is this common? particular to this lube or does Finish Line wet have similar after effect? how long does it last?

is it proper (better?) protocol to just lube at the trail after a ride?

[shadlesoup]

Not sure of your typical riding conditions but the Rock n Roll Extreme (the blue one) is a miracle worker in Idaho where I live. Idaho is a high desert with wet spring and fall and pretty much the rest of the riding season.

[AlexRandall]

Okay, Francis won't spruik his own product, so I'll do it for him.

Chain-L is what he makes, and what I've used for the last few years. You can get several rides with it, and its great even in the wet.

I've found it works best when it has been applied right from when the chain was new, as the dirt hasn't yet had a chance to penetrate. Chains last longer IME.

Warning - VERY messy if you don't follow the instructions properly.

[cant fix a flat]

Okay, Francis won't spruik his own product, so I'll do it for him.

Chain-L is what he makes, and what I've used for the last few years. You can get several rides with it, and its great even in the wet.

I've found it works best when it has been applied right from when the chain was new, as the dirt hasn't yet had a chance to penetrate. Chains last longer IME.

Warning - VERY messy if you don't follow the instructions properly.

i second francis and alex. chain-l is the best.

[weekendthrasher]

The Pedro's NA Product Manager contacted me via another thread, so I feel it best to complete the loop with sharing. His feedback/info has proven greatly helpful.

Just fyi -- I did a thorough cleaning and lube on Sunday with the intention to ride on Monday, but that didn't work out. So, by default the lube had an extra day to settle in I guess as I went riding Tuesday night instead, and things were buttery smooth and extremely quiet. I fell in love with my drive train all over again, haha, and have every intention now (post this ride combined with his feedback -- see similar titled thread in "General Discussion" forum) of using Ice Wax for summer and a wet lube for winter.

I hesitated to send him pictures Wednesday morning since my Tuesday night ride proved so good (it was VERY noticeably better than usual). However, since I have a relatively new chain I didn't want to take any chances that I might've just fluked it off so I decided it was best to get peace of mind from his view of the pictures of the lube quality anyway.

His time and effort to give me answers was well worth it as he's definitely kept a customer ... and likely created a far more educated promoter of it on the trails. First conversion this summer will be my wife,

P.S. Felt compelled to change title of thread to correct/update.

Thanks to all for their feedback. The learning curve via mtbr's users is amazing!

Kudos to Jay at Pedro's NA for amazing customer service/care!

[FBinNY]

Kudos to Jay at Pedro's NA for amazing customer service/care!

I'm glad to hear that getting better advice about using Ice Wax properly made a big difference. I wonder what percentage of product dissatisfaction is simply the result of user error, rather than the product itself.

It matters to me because my product's biggest weakness is that it requires proper application, and post application wipe down. Over the years, I've accumulated have enough feedback to know what it does best and worst. But there's still too much variation. Typically for every 10 people that say it does something very well, be it rain resistance, smoothness of drivetrain, or whatever, there'll be one who is totally disappointed in that very same property.

[A-NON-A]

Saw this post and figured I would chime in. We just reviewed GNAR LUBES product and we were very happy. We gave it to one of our riders that normally considers a 40 mile ride a warm-up, and he was stunned to not have to lube his chain after every ride ...

You can read it HERE

[FBinNY]

i second francis and alex. chain-l is the best.

Blatent commercial content follows ---read at your own risk

I've created a way that people can try Chain-L for FREE. The only condition is that you need to live conveniently close to a Chain-L dealer. Click on the site below my signature for details, and list of dealers.


This spares me from dealing with the numerous requests for samples which are too expensive ($2.00 postage) to send for free.

If anyone takes me up on this offer, please thank the dealer for me.

[mtbmitch2]

dumonde tech is the stuff, you can get a big bottle at a motorcycle shop for a the same
price as a much smaller size at a bike shop