How many miles or hours do you get from the wax? I finally got an actual gravel bike. I love the ability to mix pavement, gravel, and double and single track all on one ride. Though I’m only getting 7 or 8 hours, maybe 100 miles or 160 km from a Silca immersion waxed chain. I get at least twice that on the road, almost always more. Does that seem low?
Using Silca with two endurance chips, I get 900+ miles on the road, but only 300+ on gravel, due to the dry and dusty gravel conditions I ride in Colorado
4 Likes
I’ve had nearly the same experience. To buy some time between immersions, I’ll top up the chain with super secret drip wax after the first fifty miles or so, then again every 30-50. With the addition of super secret, I need a full immersion after 150-175 miles on a chain.
1 Like
I stopped using wax on my off-road bikes because it didn’t last long enough to be worth the extra effort. For instance, my drivetrain sounded horrendous after 50 miles into the 100-mile Lost and Found gravel race in 2025 near where I live in Reno, NV. During that race it was easy to hear who waxed their chains by the loud grinding sounds coming from their bikes.
The gravel roads around here are dry and loose with a fine powder that gets into everything. Once you splash through a puddle, that powder turns to paste and wreaks havoc.
This year I used my go-to Dumonde Tech Pro X for Lost and Found and was able to ride an extra 100 miles after the race before needing to lube the chain again.
For my road bike the Silca wax has been great.
Silca with one endurance chip lasts between 100km and 250km on my mtb for local use, depending on the conditions. On average 150km to 175km (without topping up).
Now preparing the switch to Squirt hot melt wax, should last a bit longer if one believes the reviews/tests.
The dust off-road around here does a number on any lube. Oil, even dry lubes, turns to sludge, wax gets removed pretty quickly. I rarely get more than about 200k out of an immersion.
I’ve had better luck with the Rex hard wax than Silca. I get an extra ride or two out of it. But your mileage may vary. I prefer the Silca drip wax, so often combine the two - Rex hard, then top up for a few weeks with Silca drip until it gets a bit too gummy then I clean and dip again.
3 Likes
Hmm and I was thinking that I was doing it all wrong. I’m using Ceramicspeed UFO endurance wax and I find the chain to be a bit dry (and making additional noise) somewhere around 120-150k. From than on I’ll top it off with their drip wax until (excessive) grime builds up or the bike gets too dirty in general.
What is found to be the best hot & drip wax combo for gravel riding?
My experience has been pretty similar and like some others, I stopped using wax for my mountain bike. When it’s dry, the trails I ride the most are dusty to the point of it being like riding through flour.
I still like using wax for chains that don’t see that level of dust.
I’ve been finding that surface dust also will make a waxed chain sound worse than it really is. I was riding some extremely dusty trails visiting Steamboat Springs a few weeks ago and my freshly immersed chain sounded horrendous after a particularly dusty downhill. A few miles later it started to sound better. The next day after a good wipedown, no top-up, and an overnight rest it was perfectly fine.
All that said, YES, riding in dusty offroad conditions will shorten the lifespan of any wax application. I’d contend, backed up with all our favorite data sources, that it’s still better than going back to anything else.
9 Likes
I have a worse experience than others here. I can quite often find I need to rewax after just one, 20 mile MTB ride here in the Scottish Borders, if ground conditions are wet. I suspect there is still wax in there, but if the chain sounds terrible, I clean the rewax just to be sure/for my sanity. For this reason I use a drip top up so as not to have do the immersion thing every time.
Despite this, I still wax for the cleanliness and reduced wear benefits.
On the road, I don’t think I’ve re-waxed since April/May, but I’m not a high mileage rider, in part cause my gravel bike is the most used bike, and my good road bike only comes out in the dry. Could heading towards 1000 miles on the single waxing on the road.
Gravel is in between. This summer has been dry, so the wax has lasted 300 miles +, but like the MTB, it can sometimes last just the one ride if the conditions are Scottish/british winter like.
Thinking of investing in an Endurance chip, but bulking at the price. Do others find it makes enough of a wet/dirt condition difference?
2 Likes
I get under 100mi on the mtb, a little more than that on the gravel bike, and well over 200mi on the road bike. Conditions are usually dry and dusty. Any kind of wet riding requires rewax.
1 Like
Hmm. I’ve been slowly increasing the distance of waxing intervals on the road. I’m at 600 miles per wax job now, so I think I’ll increase by another 100 miles or so. I run MSW with an Endurance Chip, but MSW and Silca’s Secret Chain Blend (v1.0) performed very similarly according to Adam Kerin’s testing.
1 Like
Silca hot melt:
-
Dry - 200-300kms
-
Wet- 70-80kms before squeaking starts
Silca hot melt + endurance chip:
-
Dry - 300+ ( not sure as bought the chip for winter)
-
Wet - 100-120kms before squeaking starts
Road bike gets at least double the above.
3 Likes
Apparently I’m the odd one for measuring in hours of moving time, but I generally get 16-20 hours out of my chains on my gravel bike (mostly road miles, usually with my puck that has 1 endurance chip). For MTB it often starts to get loud after 12-15 hours (again, usually with endurance chip). I have another puck with 1 speed chip, and the chains treated with that get noisy much faster.
2 Likes
Using UFO, but sounds about right to me. Main reason I am posting is to add it highly depends for me how straight the chainline is, and the largest (aka lowest) gears seem to get squeaky or grindy well before the middle of the cassette
1 Like
I measure my ride time in hours, and I immersion wax about every 8 hours if riding in the dry (for road, mtb and gravel). If I ride in the wet, i immersion wax after the ride. I have Wippermann connex links on my chains, so it is very simple and fast process for me. I do not do any boiled water or washing before waxing, I just wipe the chain with cloth (or blow it with air) and put it in the wax pot.
I’ve been mostly using Rex since the spring, 4+1 blend, and also have a puck of Silca with an endurance chip that lasts a lot longer on my ebike.
I would have said it’s definitely worth it but now I’d suggest getting yourself some of the Squirt hot melt wax. It tested amazingly well at ZFC and a couple of the Discord regulars have had really good results. One of the members even cites that it has continued to run well after some completely (like fully submerged at points) wet rides.
I hadn’t caught up on the results from the Squirt hot melt. Will need to go check that out.
2 Likes
I have the same experience with the lower gears going first. So yeah, chain line must affect the wax.
Picked up a recent tip, maybe from Geek Warning, to wipe the chain down with isopropyl alcohol to remove surface contaminants from the wax before topping up with drip wax. Tried that this past weekend and it seemed to help.
1 Like