Thx for that Sheldon, as a motorcyclist I have a natural interest in chain wear . You really can't get away from it because of the strains put upon it on a motorbike, and they are expensive at £80 and upwards fitted. And as a motorcycle courier in London myself (no I'm not planning to switch to bicycle courier ) doing over 400 miles a week in stop/start traffic I get through them a lot.

I'm sure there's a few motorcyclists here so I may be speaking to the choir, but here's some possibly interesting points of comparison:

There's a debate in motorcycling about using wax (sprayed on) on chains, with I find the prevailing view to be that they build up the grinding paste mentioned in your article because there's no fluidity to it. By far the most common mode of lubrication is normal motorcycle chain lube. People often use wax because normal lube can fling off the chain while moving and dirty your bike (weak reason IMHO). You can also get automatic chain lubricators that dispense thinner lubricants directly onto the chain as you ride. I have this system myself as many couriers do. Personally I've failed to get much extra mileage out of a chain myself using them because they need to be set up properly to get the right flow (which changes depending on the weather), and I'm not on the ball enough to sort it . Many motorcyclists don't like 'em because fo this extra effort required, and the fact that they can be messy as well. The principle of the automatic system though is, as you say in your article, that it's about applying the thinner lube continually to the chain thus carrying away the grit and small metal that gets inside the links. People I know have got 30000 or more miles out of a chain that would normally only do 12-15000 miles using it properly.

As for cleaning, if I ever do (about twice in four years hehe, no need with auto-luber), I use paraffin (that's kerosene to you guys) and a toothbrush. Wouldn't use petrol on a motorbike chain as it could damage the O-rings.

Just thought all this may be interesting if you're into your chains .