the snail wrote:Personally I think degreasers etc are a waste of time, and if you end up washing it off with water that doesn't dry out before you re-lube then that will cause early failure. I just wipe the chain with a rag, put a drop of oil on each roller, run the chain round to work the oil in, then wipe the excess off, job done.
The problem with not cleaning a chain is that a dirty chain gets full of road grit that's then ground into the pins beneath rollers and between the side plates accelerating wear rather like grinding paste.
Then when the chain is lubed and wiped some more of the grit and muck sitting on the outside of the chain is carried into the rollers and pins with the new lube.
A properly cleaned and lubed chain lasts longer IME,the only time my chains see water is when it rains,it is then lubed with TF2 aerosol spray lube as soon as I get home before I put the bike away