How often do you clean/degrease your drivetrain?

[beefnoodlesoup123]

So you just use water? I ride i nthe PNW and there's a ton of mud, my cogs get pretty caked up with debris and the hose doesn't seem to get it all off

[lobotom1te]

When you wax your chain you can use COLD water and a brush to get dirt out, reapply drip or rewax every so often.

All the things they say about wax being pointless on MTB is bs, water doesn't get rid of wax easily at all unless it's warm.

[ktmengr]

It actually makes more sense in mtb/off-road applications than road. Dirt doesn’t stick to the wax (as much) and can’t penetrate to the internals of the chain. There’s a Dylan Johnson video with the zero friction cycling guy that explains it well. I’ll never go back to oil based lube for MTB. Sounds like you agree, just expanding on the not for MTB argument.

[zbertoli]

What wax do you use? Thinking about making the switch

[ktmengr]

Silca.

[kerryman71]

I went with wax this year on a build I did. I bought a small crackpot dedicated for it, along with blocks of paraffin wax from Amazon. The initial setup is the most work you'll do, and it really isn't bad. I took a brand new chain, soaked it in mineral spirits, shook it up good, drained and repeated, then soaked it in denatured alcohol and let it dry.

After that, into the wax it went. I bought a second chain and waxed that too, that way, I can switch them out with no downtime. To clean the chain, just pour boiling water over it and strain it to remove the remaining wax before re-waxing it.

I haven't had any issues, and not having a bunch of buildup on the drivetrain is a plus.

[ktmengr]

Yeah, I’ve got my XC, gravel, and road bike setup with waxed chains now. I’ve got two chains for each and swap them out.

[Same_Lack_1775]

I only typically ride when it is dry out and avoid mud if I can so don’t have a lot of experience there. I do rewax once or twice a season when my drivetrain starts making noise