Originally Posted by FBinNY

Most detergents don' do that good a job breaking down the quality oils and greases used in factory lubes. You might get the outside clean, but within the chain, you'll end up with an emulsion of partly broken down oil, and water/detergent mix. This not only is a lousy lube, but it can inhibit the performance of any lube added after. Also, water is very slow to dry from within the chain, so unless you leave the bike in a warm place for a long time, or use a hair drier or heat gun to dry the chain, you're newly applied oil won't wick into the chain.

I strongly recommend that you skip the water/soap, simple green, or whatever solutions, and use mineral spirits (petroleum distillate, not the new so-called green mineral spirits) or naphtha, or a similar class of petroleum distillate which will dissolve oil or grease, then dry 100% dry fairly quickly.