Originally Posted by
Koyote
tl;dr: it's just fine to rinse a bike chain with water, just as it's fine to ride in the rain. Just wipe down the chain with a dry rag, let it air dry for a bit, and re-lube. You don't need a degree in chemistry to see that it all works out just fine.
Originally Posted by
cyccommute
I agree that you don’t need a degree in chemistry nor even that much knowledge to know that water and steel don’t play nice together. If you aren’t worried about rust, why relube in the first place. It’s not like we’ve haven’t known what happens to iron in the presence of water for, oh, 3000 years or so.
Now you're making a straw man argument. Nice.
I never stated that I'm "not worried about rust," though I will acknowledge that it doesn't keep me up at night. I only stated that rinsing a bike chain in water won't create any problems.
Sigh.