Originally Posted by FBinNY

There's lots of debate about chain washing. I, along with most chain manufacturers, feel it usually does more than good. The key to good chain life is to prevent the kinds of problems that chain washing tries to cure. For winter riding (please consider the source here, I make chain oil, and am highly biased) you're best off with a wet oil based chainlube which will keep salt and water out of the chain. Or you can use a dry lube, but you'll need to rinse and dry the chain and re-apply often.

You can usually keep road chains reasonably clean simply