Originally Posted by AyeYo
The problem is that that black stuff all over the chain isn't oil, it's dirt/sand/grim/**** caked in oil. That stuff wears out the chain and cassette. The oil isn't just there to make stuff slippery, it also keeps stuff clean by suspending all that ****. If you don't wash it off, it builds up and causes excess wear and ruins the lubricating properties of the oil - that's where the negative impact on shifting comes in. It's like never doing an oil change on your car and saying that as long as there's oil in it you're good to
Agree the oil will "suspend all that ****". But rather than "wash it off", I just relube and let the fresh Prolink flush out the old oil and any gunk suspended with it. Then after the first ride or two with fresh oil, if the chain looks especially black, I'll wipe it down with a rag.
But I don't ride on dirt or sandy roads, and avoid rain. I did notice that riding in NM and CO a few years ago the chain was really gritty when I got back. After a week of riding out West, I did pull out the little chain-cleaner machine and citrus degreaser to quickly flush out all the grit that was in the sideplates making noise. Maybe if I rode in those conditions all the time I'd resort to cleaning rather than just re-oiling.
Comparing this to your car could be a good analogy, but only if you were willing to flush some oil and add fresh every week like I do my bike chain. What if you were to drain out say a cup of your motor oil weekly, and replace it with a cup of fresh oil? I'll bet you'd never have to change oil and your engine would be fine. You'd go through 12 quarts of oil a year, and might strip the drain plug, but I bet it would keep the oil fresh and clean. Of course it's a lot easier to just drain the oil on an annual or 10,000 mile basis, or whatever interval the manual says.
Hey, I don't expect to change anyone's sacred rituals. But I've found that my chain seems to last as long or longer than my riding buddies without all the cleaning. I don't have any problems with shifting or noise, and get about 5000 miles on the chain before the 0.75% wear mark (I keep records). Actually I should do an experiment starting with a new chain, cleaning it with the chain machine and citrus degreaser before each relube, and see if that extends the life of the chain at all. But that sounds like too much work: I'd probably give up after a month or two......and revert to my old slovenly habits. Besides, I need some use for the more-or-less steady output of holy underwear I generate.