Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Wax How Often?

There have been a handful of debates in the pro/tech shop where I work. One of the more common ones I hear is the debate on when to wax your ride. That's probably because I only stop in when I'm ready to wax the boards and know that certain techs are working.

We have a couple schools of thought on this one.

1) Every day of riding. I personally find this to be a bit excessive and able to cost quite a bit. Considering some all condition fluoridated wax can cost $12 a bar, if you're riding 2 or 3 days a week, you'll run through this quickly. Plus the time spent waxing, ironing, scraping, and scrubbing down becomes a lot worse.

2) Once a season. When I was younger and money was a much larger issue for me, this was a rather common approach. The only saving grace I had at that time was most riding days were spent on ice, which let you slide regardless of the base. All said and done it's not really advisable these days. Yet I know a few professionals who believe in this route too.

3) Every Nth ride. I've been a regular believer in the every Nth ride, which in my mind is about 10 days of riding. I typically can't feel the difference on a daily wax job, but can after 5 days of riding. Days 4-8 to me are when I feel best on my boards.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

10 days is about right. But don't just wax, get your edges done too. And more often if it is early season conditions and you are hitting stuff.