On Fri, 19 Jul 2019 09:15:50 -0700 (PDT),
jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, July 19, 2019 at 7:42:12 AM UTC-7, Theodore Heise wrote:
On Fri, 19 Jul 2019 09:36:23 +1000,
James wrote:
On 19/7/19 9:02 am, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, July 18, 2019 at 3:32:37 PM UTC-7, John B. wrote:

The other advantage of a wax based lube, or at least my
experience, has been, that it doesn't seem to wash off in
the rain.

Meh. Everything washes off in the rain. It's just a
matter of time. Parffin flakes off and doesn't give you an
corrosion protection.

For neat paraffin wax, I agree and it was my experience
that the chain would rust after a wet ride. So I added oil
to the wax. The result is good corrosion resistance and a
relatively clean and smooth running chain.

I agree with Jay and James. I do use straight canning wax,
and find that it comes right off if I ride in anything more
than a sprinkle. I just don't ride in the rain much, and when
I do get caught out will right after drop the chain into my
hot wax cooker and drive off the water.

If I ride in the rain long enough, the chain will start
squeaking. I carry a small bottle of lube to use if the
squeaking gets too obnoxious.

If you keep riding in the rain, the water works as a lubricant.
The real noise starts when it dries out.

You are probably right. Years ago, a riding buddy (who also used
wax) and I got caught in rain for many miles. At one point we
were using our water bottles to squirt our chains--mostly joking
about it. But I do have a vague memory that the water helped!


...Some rather wimpy lubes like TriFlow along with a lax
cleaning regimen (allowing some build up of gunk) produce a
pretty good protective layer that holds up in the rain. I did a
4.5 hour ride a few weeks ago and ended up doing the first 3
hours in unexpected rain on a racing bike with no fenders. The
last hour and a half was in sunshine, and my goopy TriFlo
treated chain stayed pretty quiet the whole time. Other noise
sources are dry pulleys and cleats, but my bike stayed pretty
quiet on that ride. Squeaking pulleys and cleats drive me
crazy. The longest ride I've done in continuous rain was about
95 miles, with a 14.5 mile climb straddling the mid-point, and
by the time I got home, I don't think there was grease or oil
anywhere on that bike -- and I was too frozen to care.

Ugh. A riding buddy (same one) and I did a ride across Nebraska a
time or two. One year we had rain more days than not. One of the
longest was in western Nebraska, where the soil is pretty sandy.
By the end of the day, we had sand and road grit in places on our
bodies one wouldn't think accessible.

That day was pretty warm, so not really dangerous. Later that
same week, we encountered rain and dropping temps. At one point
it was sleeting. The organizers pulled lots of people off the
route with hypothermia. I was slurring my words, but finished the
course somehow. The next day I was wiped out, and riding at all
was harder than I ever remember.

--
Ted Heise West Lafayette, IN, USA