Originally Posted by
jaxgtr
Initial cleaning can be a pain, but I usually just soak the chain in a citrus based de-greaser you can get practically anywhere, I pick mine up at home depot. It helps break it down over night.
Last time I put my bike chain in straight Purple Power degreaser, put it on top of the laundry machine to agitate, then left it overnight. The chain was pretty clean, but then it had a broken link fairly soon afterwards due to hydrogen embrittlement. So I am a little wary of using a citrus degreaser on a bike chain.