Disclaimer: there are many many ways to care for a bike chain, and different riding conditions may favor different lubes.

When commuting in Chicago, I used a similar method to this, but just used a quality dry lube in a spray bottle with a thin tube tip.

What ya need:
Oil: just a couple ounces. You can use regular motor oil, gear oil, or even synthetic, experiment.
Paint thinner. We call it "mineral spirits" over here.
a chain cleaning device of some sort, or a toothbrush
some rags

Updated: mix the oil and solvent 1:1 if you want a good film, 4:1 if you want a really dry chain.

In the garage or a space where you can be a bit smelly and messy, secure the bike in a position where you can easily turn the pedals backwards.

Place rags under the chain, and tuck some into the spokes so lube doesnt spash onto your rims.

If you have a chain cleaning device, fill it with the mixture and back pedal till the chain is no longer "crunchy" when flexed side to side.
 
If you use a toothbrush, scrub the chain with liberal amounts of the mixture on the bottom bit, letting the solvent/oil mix drip off with the dirt. Keep doing this till the chain is no longer "crunchy".

Wipe the chain dry with rags. Also wipe the chainring you used dry and the jockey pulleys on the derailleur.

Let the chain sit overnight. The thinner will evaporate, and the lube will be inside the chain where it belongs. Wipe the outside again if it feels a bit oily.

Ten minutes tops. and cheeeep.

Which does bob all to clean it......

I got one of those park tools chain cleaners.

Paint thinner is a solvent, not water or spirit as in ethyl alcohol. Dont forget Americans use different terms.

Actually Ive normally only used either 3 in 1 or clean vegetable oil if I couldnt get the 3in1. Have used WD40 too.

I have also used a (hot water) pressure sprayer once with washing up liquid in, cleaned the chain perfectly but rather too well IMO, no oil left. Used a good spray of WD40 to provide immediate protecction against rust and the water evaporated quickly due to it being a warm day.  

White spirit and turpentine are both paint thinners! I used both when I was painting on canvas. Go into any artists painting shop and ask

paint thinner is a generic term and can also be applied to water, my latest oil paints are water soluble oil colours  :mrgreen:

Quote from: Serious

Paint thinner is a solvent, not water or spirit as in ethyl alcohol. Dont forget Americans use different terms.

Serious, what are you talking about?

I was specifically talking about Maxis post where he states he uses mineral spirits, which is petroleum spirit here or thin parrafin oils. They are meant to disolve grease and thicker oils cause thats what they are used for.

If you were talking about something else I cant see what.

fair enough on the designs being different (yup we get little rubber o-rings).

The lube i use is quite sticky for a good while so if your gonna be dirt tracking itd probably not be soo good.

not so sure on the fling as being part of the cleaning cycle as this only really happens on its first outing with the excess, something youd get on a bicycle as well to a lesser extent.

but nm, mine probably still isnt as suitable due to its sticky nature.

3:1 is the worst thing you can use on a bike chain, its a great way to get it dirty tho.

Its traditional!

North East of England gets a lot of rain and not much dust so that problem is less here anyway. I probably wouldnt use the stuff in a dryer climate unless there was no other option though

[edit] they now have a teflon version which they suggest for bike chains [/edit]