Originally Posted by Cycle Tourist

I'm not sure. I don't normally change or replace chains. They seem to break in with the freewheel and unless you change the freewheel they work fine. I change touring bikes too often to have reliable data on how long they go before having a problem. I've rebuilt some bikes that had chains that are very rusted to a point that many links are frozen or nearly so. I spray WD and wire brush the crap out of them, then freed up all the links, clean and dry it thouroughly and sprayed the silicone/Teflon. If they're mated to the same freewheel, they look and work great. I've come across a few where the owner replaced the chain with a "newer" chain and found a skipping drivetrain. Sometimes a new chain will fix the problem. Sometimes not.
If your asking how many miles I get without needing to reapply the silicone that's hard to say. I've managed about 2000 miles in wet conditions without a problem but when I get home for a cleaning, I reapply so...
I just wondered what everyone is using. I've heard paraffin is good but melting it and dipping the chain after cleaning out all the lube seems like a awfully difficult job. There was a product called triflow that was made for chain lube but it was rather expensive so I just started buying the generic, spray can equivalent. Getting rusty or cruddy chains ready for the silicone coating however was a job for WD-40.
Someone mentioned that the two procceses are duplicating my efforts and do essentially the same thing. He sounded pretty knowledgeable but all I know is my method is pretty easy, pretty cheap and seems to work.