Arguably the most important single aspect of basic bike maintenance is keeping your bike chain clean.

A clean chain will help you ride smoothly and evenly. A dirty chain will cause you to work harder to pedal and can potentially cause damage to your bike and even lead to potential safety problems.

In an ideal world you would clean and lube your chain once a week although few cyclists are that diligent. What is important is to at least make sure that you clean your chain immediately after any ride that takes you through sand, water, snow or any other muck that might gum up the workings of your bike chain.

The fastest way to clean a chain is with the chain still on the bike. You can simply spray the chain with a cleaning solution and rub a toothbrush around on the chain, making sure to hit the entire chain. Then you rinse the chain and lube it by spinning the pedals.

At least three or four times a year you should take the chain off the bike for a good through cleaning. The easiest way to do this is to take a plastic soda bottle and rinse it out. Fill the bottle with a couple of ounces of undiluted degreaser. Drop your chain in the bottle. Tighten the cap really well. Shake the entire combination around for a couple of minutes before taking it out and rinsing with water. Put the chain back on the bike and lube the chain on the bike.

Nice and clean!