I've only actually wiped it down once and have about 500 miles on it, so it's black and disgusting. The last time I used an old T shirt and just threw it away because it was covered in soot after cleaning it. Would paper towels do the trick as washing a cloth with this much dirt would be useless? I noticed the bike isn't shifting as smoothly as it used to and I figured this may be the reason.

Paper towels will probably just fall apart on you. Get some cheap shop towels at an auto parts store or maybe Home Depot or something, and just use those.

If you want to do a really good job, take the chain off the bike and soak/clean it in solvent. There are lots of theories about chain lube but I haven't touched mine in 1,000 miles and it just got noisy in the last 50 miles or so. It's coming off the bike for a nice spa treatment today and getting rotated with my backup chain.

Assuming you just have the factory lube, you could clean it thoroughly and switch to a cleaner dry lube. If your chain has a removable link, I would take it off, put it in a empty mayonnaise jar filled with solvent, and shake, shake, shake. That will get rid of 90% of the gunk. You can use a rag and a toothbrush to get rid of the last 10%. If your chain doesn't have a removable link, I would cut it and install one.

I wouldn't automatically assume your chain isn't shifting as smoothly because the chain is black. It is more likely that in 500 miles that the cable ferrules and such have bedded more fully (otherwise called "cable stretch"), and the gears are need of a minor cable tension adjustment.

Most of the time, I just use a shop rag and wipe it off. If it gets really gritty and dirty I will just remove the chain and shake in some mineral spirits.

I have a bunch of old cotton undershirts that I have a stockpile of to clean up stuff like chains/cassettes and the occasional spill in the garage (they used to have 4 normal openings to start with and were really white in color). Just spray on some mineral spirits and wipe away the chain, chainring, cassette and rear derailleur sprockets when I clean it.

I lube my chain every hundred miles or so and wipe off the excess with an old t-shirt. Lube, wipe, ride, repeat ad infintum.

I use Dawn dishwashing detergent and a Park Tools chain cleaner. Then I lube it with a decent lube.
Takes 5 minutes.

https://toolmonger.com/2009/05/11/bike-chain-cleaner/

When I got into cycling the shop guys always told me to only use bike specific cleaners to avoid stripping grease oil from places that regular soap would wash out.

A few years ago when I started commuting I got in the habit of wiping my chain everyday to avoid black chain marks on my slacks or leg.

If cleaning your chain is going to waste an entire t-shirt my recommendation is to remove it and soak the entire chain in a bowl of 3-in-oil overnight. Pull it out, wipe it dry with a shop rag or t-shirt. Clean your chain ring and gears before re-installing and then once installed, wipe it again. Wipe you chain after every ride and oil as needed. It's kind of like brushing your bikes teeth every night. You bike will look better and perform better and your chain will last a lot longer.

Install a Missing Link (or a similar item) on your chain to make removal of the chain easier. Then remove the chain from the bike, dip it into a container filled with enough chain cleaner to over the chain. I use Park's citrus cleaner, it is pretty good and safer for the environment than other products. Depending on how dirty your chain is, rinse and repeat until chain is clean. Re-install chain, lube it (don't over lube it). You should be fine.

BTW, I doubt that your chain was covered in soot. From the Wiki: Soot /ˈsʊt/ is impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolyzed fuel particles such as coal, cenospheres, charred wood, petroleum coke, and so on, that may become airborne during pyrolysis and that are more properly identified as cokes or chars. Soot is theorized to be the second largest cause of global warming.[SUP]

Good luck.

Ride often, ride safely. [/SUP]

When in doubt, I always look to Sheldon Brown for advice: https://sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html

I use a small bit of wd40 on a shop towel (I'm lucky, I get unused cotton towels from the surgery packs in our cath lab, have stacks of em, if they get really nasty I just toss). Don't overdo with the wd 40, you can also use kerosene. Wipe down until dry and then applly the chain lube, my lbs gave me a dry lube to try.

I've used a zillion differen lubes over the years on my motorcycles.

I'm actually thinking of trying this dupont teflon chain saver I use on my bikes. It's really easy to work with and minimum fling. https://www.amazon.com/DuPont-Teflon-...on+chain+saver

+1

Still contributing so much to the cycling community, even from the Great Bike Shop In The Sky.

This is the only way and when you get good at it, the time to complete the cleaning only takes a few days.

tell me that's a joke?? Fully disassemble the chain to individual pieces!
WOW!

You must be taking some shortcuts. It takes me about a week. Fortunately I have a few spare chains.

That's a good one!

Let's try this one: https://sheldonbrown.com/chains.html

Welcome to Sheldon Brown's sense of humor . . . but wait, there's more -- if you follow the links for his other products.

Ha! Thanks I kinda figured after I started looking at some of the other links and such, the real chain clean link posted was exc.

I use an ultra sonic cleaner every 750 to 800 miles. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/chain-care.html

Get in the habit of wiping down your chain after every ride. Takes all of 30 seconds.

I use paper shop towels that I buy at Wal-Mart. I screwed a paper towel dispenser to the peg board in my garage and load it with the blue paper shop towels from the automotive department. Now I'm addicted and use them on everything. They hold together much better than common paper towels.

Sometimes I use a Park chain cleaner loaded with mineral spirits.

Citrus degreaser and park chain cleaner every100 miles or so.

I spray the chain (and freewheel, and chainrings) with Simple Green, wait 10 minutes, then blast them with a pressure washer. I'm careful not to spray at the bottom bracket or hub bearings. If you angle the pressure washer correctly, the spray will rotate the drive train backwards, passing every link under the spray. I don't think this method cleans as thoroughly as putting the chain in a jar of solvent, but it is fast and I can wash off the rest of the bike while I'm at it. I do this every couple months in the summer, every few weeks in the winter, on my daily commute bike. Then relube chain (I use Chain-L, it lasts a long time in daily rain), lubricate other pivot points, check adjustments, and the chore is done. I have gotten faster at this, now the whole cleanup takes about 15 to 20 minutes, not counting waiting for the Simple Green to work. When I used to clean my bike and chain by wiping with rags and solvent, it easily took an hour and I ended up with greasy hands and a pile of dirty rags, and my chain wasn't as clean.

That's a nice thought. I hope Sheldon realizes he was wrong...about the afterlife.