And yes, that year-old chain is stretched to hell and actively destroying my brand new cassette. Don't shame me for it - look how shiny it is!
this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
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If you want it to stay that way, use wax instead of liquid lube. It's such a game changer to not have to worry about touching the chain.
Seems more trouble than it's worth honestly. I'm sure it works for some use cases but I doubt the chain of my year-around mud basher is the ideal one for that.
Honestly I feel the opposite, I dip my chain yearly in the same parafin/Teflon mix I made many years ago using ozcycles recommendation and it saves so much time in cleaning grime off my chain. Though I don't go through mud much, from what other people say it seems it would help even more in that scenario.
Can confirm, just cleaned up my commuter bike drivetrain to keep it waxed. It’s a substantial setup hurdle upfront (not so much financially) but then it’s super easy to just swap chains out for freshly waxed ones. Cleaning oily and grimy drivetrains on the other hand…
The only thing I’m looking up is to either go with a pre-made mix or find a substitute for teflon, due to environmental responsibility (ok it’s a pretty small amount, but still)
You may find this video by Trace Velo helpful where he goes into details of a replacement product he substituted the Teflon for and has had good results.
However personally I use the Silca secret chain blend which although marginally more expensive than what he is talking about I have found last a lot longer than he experienced so it evens out cost vs distance wise, if not being slightly better bang for your buck and they claim is environmentally friendly with no Teflon :)
Nice video! Thanks for the suggestion, I was looking exactly into those materials 👍🏻
Honestly, I think waxing is LESS work. I spend 2 minutes taking the chain off and popping it in to the wax, then another 5 minutes freeing the links and reattaching it. I do that maybe 2 or 3 times a year. Compare that to spending 10 minutes hunched over the chain, individually lubing each link then wiping off the excess once a week. You have to include the time spent deep cleaning every few months or so too.
It's just no contest for me.
Why did you lube each link? Why not have the bike upside down, drip a few drops of chain oil on while cranking the pedal with the other hand?
Because that gets lube everywhere. You only want lube on the internal pins of the chain. If you just dump it on, you end up wiping off what you just put on. If you don't clean it up correctly you pick up a ton a dirt that just makes things worse.
I find it makes absolutely no difference whether you go link by link or just douse the entire chain. It'll attract dirt just as much either way.
I consider this one of those biking trends everyone follows because they've seen others do it, but nobody ever questions what the point even is. Like aligning your valve stem with the branding on the tire - don't be ridiculous.