Best bike chain wax: Take your drivetrain efficency to the next level

The best hot or immersive chain waxes will produce some of the lowest chain wear rates and will increase the number of miles you can cover for a single application. As well as that, it can also provide excellent drivetrain efficiency and a pretty much spotless drivetrain. 

Lubricating a chain using hot melt wax is really simple once you have the right setup in place and the benefits can be excellent. Waxing a chain ensures each metal surface of a chain such as the link plates, rollers, bushings and pins are covered in a layer of hard wax. This means there is minimal or no metal-to-metal contact and abrasion which is what wears chains out, accelerated by contamination such as dirt and dust. 

Though plenty of people wax their chains already. We often hear that it is too much hassle, or a little excessive, or over the top. Changing your cleaning regime and switching to waxing may require some initial investment and effort to learn a new process, but it's something you should at least consider if you want to achieve some of the best drivetrain performance available, saving yourself money and watts. If you aren't particularly good at degreasing and lubricating your chain using a drip lubricant, or if the bike shop tells you your chain is worn out again at every service, waxing may actually be the answer to your problems due to the ability to reset any contamination present in a chain with each fresh re-waxing, dramatically lengthening chain life.  

Like in our best chain lube buyers guide, we have included hot wax products that have been independently tested by Zero Friction Cycling. The products here are backed up with a set of data and have gone through a set testing process. We have also completed the application process for each chain wax as per the manufacturers (and/or Zero Friction Cycling's) instructions and ridden with each wax. We also have some really useful info on waxing and how to wax your chain at the bottom of the page. 

Best immersive chain waxes available today

Molten Speed Wax (Mspeedwax) is based in Minnesota, USA, and started producing wax for bicycle chains back in 2013. Mspeedwax now claims its product has been used to win 15 World Championships and six Olympic Gold medals so far - not a bad track record. Mspeedwax also makes a race powder that can be applied to a waxed chain with a brush to further lower friction by around 6%.

Molten Speedwax uses refined paraffin, tungsten disulfide and molybdenum disulfide to keep your chain running smoothly. Sold by the pound, each kit contains two 'pucks' or cylindrical blocks which will treat at least 24 chains. This will keep your drivetrain spinning smoothly for over 5000 miles or 8000 kilometres comfortably while extending the life of the rest of your drivetrain too.  

Mspeedwax recommends re-waxing a training chain roughly every 300mi / 480km, or 180mi / 290km for a race chain to help ensure maximum efficiency. Zero Friction recommends re-waxing around every 180mi / 300km.  

I have used Molten Speed Wax for a while on my own drivetrain and switched to the updated current formula when it was released.  

Finnish company Rex has been making ski wax for around 70 years, but in 2015 launched a bike products range using the knowledge and expertise gained from ski wax manufacturing.  

A box of Black Diamond wax contains twelve square wax blocks. Eleven white wax blocks are a blend of paraffin waxes whilst the single black wax block is comprised of lubricating additives. The individual wax blocks mean you can tailor your own wax blend, something the other waxes in the guide don't offer. 

Zero Friction has tested 11+1 (an all round riding or training blend) and 4+1 wax blends (concentrated, race day mix) This refers to either using all 12 wax blocks or just four white blocks plus the black additive block. Both have performed excellently with testing results showing close to 1500km of (indoor) riding on a single application at 250 watts before lubrication wore and the chain wear rate increased. Rex also claims a single application will last up to 1000km (this depends on riding conditions and style), although re-waxing before this mark is probably a good idea.

Rex could be an excellent option if you like the idea of waxing but think you might prefer longer periods before you need to re-wax. 

The Silca Secret chain blend uses highly refined paraffin and a high concentration of three specific sizes of nano-scale Tungsten Disulfide to provide its chain protection and coating. It's claimed to be the fastest chain wax coating currently on the market, this finding was published when CeramicSpeed released their UFO drip lubricant and carried out a lubricant dry conditions test over a period of hours monitoring wattage losses. 

Silca takes a slightly altered approach to wax and advocates the use of its overall 'wax system' for best results. The secret blend waxing system allows for both the secret chain blend hot melt wax and super secret chain drip lubricant to be used in tandem, they share the same formula but the drip lube is contained within a carrier which is water. This allows you to 'top up' your chain in between immersive waxings. This is designed to really maximise the amount of wax in the chain, improving performance and lubrication. Though of course, you can just use the immersive wax on your chain. You can also do this with Mspeedwax and the GraphenLube.

I melted the wax in a slow cooker but a nice feature of the Silca resealable plastic sous vide pouch means you can also just place the bag with wax and your chain inside into hot water and melt the wax that way, then all you need to do is remove your freshly waxed chain and you are ready to ride. 

AbsoluteBlack GraphenWax wax is the immersive wax alternative offering to the company's popular (and Tour de France-winning) Graphen Lubricant. 

The 350-gram box of wax contains four solid black wax squares featuring the AbsoluteBlack logo. The brand says the wax is suitable for road, tri, gravel, mtb and more, and has a proprietary blend of graphene particles. You can also use the Graphen drip lube on top of the wax if you need to top up between immersive waxings as they share the same base. 

It is a little softer than the other waxes to the touch and leaves a slightly dark colour on the fingers. Though when dry after application, it is translucent. It is easier to break the chain links free after waxing due to this. Especially compares to something like Moltenspeedwax.  

Zero Friction does claim that AbsoluteBlack Wax hasn't performed as well as other immersive waxes in the test, and at times has shown high wear rates than the other products included in this guide. It's still vastly higher than standard drip lubes, so if the price is right for you and you want to give the GraphenWax a try do, but monitor chain wear if you're doing big miles.  

Do it yourself options 

It's possible to create your own wax blend at home by buying paraffin and the relevant friction modifiers. People claim to have achieved excellent results from their own home blends. 

However, it is worth noting that the manufacturers in this guide are able to use the very best quality components available in their wax blends. Such as very high-quality paraffin. They have also done a great deal of testing to arrive at their final product or paid for rigorous independent testing to be carried out. 

However, if you are that way inclined and fancy making your own, a custom home wax blend is possible. 

How to choose the best chain wax for you

Immersive chain waxing presents a huge improvement in performance compared to some of the worst drip lubricants out there. As such, you're going to be giving your drivetrain and chain a far better fighting chance with waxing, saving watts and extending chain life. 

There is some really in-depth testing and data-backed research out there if you really want to dig down into the nitty gritty of each hot wax, but making the jump to waxing is a clear advantage in itself.