My old man is a mechanic, he is kind of old school. For him each tool had more uses than it's originally intended use. The countless number of things he would do with a can of WD40 would amaze me. Over the years I have tried a number of chain lubricants but I always back to WD40, despite the disadvantages. The one thing that WD40 had going for it was that if my chain got clogged up WD40 would always get it going again and you could get the stuff anywhere. Thing is the chain would still need to be replaced not long afterwards. But WD40 also had the advantage of multiple uses, naturally. It was great for getting grips on and off my bars and it wasn't too bad to clean my bike with, although when I discovered Maxima SC1 recently I also discovered that WD40 really has nothing when it comes to cleaning.
The older I got the less I would be tempted to compete in a wet weather race. The thought of cleaning and replacing chains, bearings and the damage caused by mud just wasn't worth the effort or cost. Like I said, WD40 was good to get your chain going again and for a while it did a good job of keeping the rust at bay, but it just wasn't a great lubricant. I was turning over chains quite regularly simply because I just was too lazy to look after them properly and too cheap to invest my time and money to find something that was more suited to the job. It was easy at the time to justify a new chain because it never had the chance to fail (snap). That attitude was never going to do much for my wallet, or the environment for that matter.
Maxima Chain Wax is designed as a superior chain lubricant. What's good about Maxima Chain Wax is that it coats your chain with a waxy protective layer. The water displacing film provides rust protection and, unlike WD-40, does not attract dirt. Not only would water have trouble sticking to the waxy film but mud too. As they say prevention is better than the cure. With Maxima Chain Wax I could have got a lot more life out of a whole lot of chains over the 30+ years I have been racing BMX and saved myself a lot of money along the way.
I used the Maxima Chain Wax on a couple of my bikes, a bike with a brand spanking new chain and a bike with an old chain that's getting towards retirement. The new chain started working better right away after a heavy dose of Chain Wax. The difference was noticable immediately, the chain went from being knotchy and a little stiff to absolutely floorless, as you would expect from a new chain in a perfect world. The old chain also started working nearly as good as new, spinning freely, running very smoothly and quietly. While it wasn't going to extend the life of the old chain too much it would keep it running better longer.
While Maxima products are designed for motorsports the Chain Wax is light enough to use on your BMX bike.
Features
There is no doubt that Maxima Chain Wax would extend the life span of your chain especially if you started using it from when the chain is new. While a can of Chain Wax is more expensive than WD40 and a little harder to get hold of it's worth it for the money it will save you in chains in the longrun.
Rating 10/10:
| Value for money: | 5/5 |
| Functionality: | 5/5 |
Comments:
Maxima is Distributed in Australia by Steve Cramer Products (www.stevecramerproducts.com.au). For more information about Maxima products check out www.maximausa.com
Reviewed by Shane Jenkins/bmxultra.com July 13, 2012