Road Cycling - Tell me all about chain lubing

How often should I do it?
I have the Finish Line Cross Country web type lube. I just applied it to the chain for the first time.

I have ridden my bike about 170 km since I bought it last week, so I thought I should try it out now.

When I looked closely, I was suprised at the amount of sand on the chain. With a rag and tooth brush I got the chain rid of the visible dirt, but the chain was not spanking shiny clean. Still waxy black grease left on there.

So I started putting on the lube anyways. I covered each link side to side in oil, making sure it seeps on the sides a bit and on the top. The instructions say I should wipe any excess oil. Well I can't see a lot of excess oil and I'm confused since wiping the excess oil will pick up some of the oil that has not seeped through the joints.

Anyways I'm letting it sit overnight. My cogs are getting rather nasty looking though. Is that normal? The oil itself is green, but it is washing off the black wax from before onto the cogs.

I'm confused because when I bought the bike, the existing grease would not leave off the cogs, so I'm thinking the cogs shouldn't really have the black sludge...

This thread is pretty recent over in the "Mechanics" area.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4930

Ahhhhhhhhh... the magic of chains and lubes...

These days, I normally lube my chain every 100 km or after every ride -- which ever comes first. The routine usually goes like this:

1. Lightly wipe the chain with a damp cloth to remove loose dirt and grit. Don't clamp doen on the chain with a rag, that will just work the grit in; just backpedal while holding a damp rage so it just touches the bottom of the bottom length of chain.

2. If I've been out in rainy weather [this is rare on my road bike but common on my cross bike], I hose down the chain with a garden hose.

3. Let it dry.

4. Apply lube spaingly, while backpedalling. Backpedal for about one minute to work the lube into the links. Wait about five minutes. Wipe off excess lube by holding a rag at the bottom of the bottom length of the chain while backpedalling. The point to lubing is not to leave a coating of oil on the outside of the chain, but to get lubricants between the links of the chain.

Every 1000 km or so [I used to do it more often] and every 500 or so with my 'cross bike, I do a full clean. That's when I get out the citrus degreaser and scrub every link with a toothbrush, or use one of those on-the-bike cleaning machines or [with my 'cross bike] break the chain and clean it in a jar of degreaser.

Then I apply lube twice.

I think the Finish Line Cross Country might be awfully viscous for a road bike unless you're in particularly wet conditions. I like the Finish Line Teflon-Plus dry lube for my road bike at this time of year and the Cross-COuntry lube for my 'cross bike.

As for the sludge on the cogs... just pop off your rear wheel and clean the cogs with a toothbrish and some dishwasing liquid. The Cross country lube does tend to leave some black residue from the dirt...

I would recommend to completely wash/clean your bike before doing any lubing

I've started using Dumonde after finding THIS (http://www.mtbreview.com/reviews/Lube/product_22251.shtml) writup on it. Have only
done 50 miles or so on it, but my chain seems quieter. The link
is slow to start if you go there, give it a moe.