Rumor is, that after the ride the chain is nice and warm and that's the best time to clean/lube. 

However, after a ride I am usually pretty wiped out the last thing on my mind is maintenance, and a warm shower is usually in the works after a few mins of arriving back home - I usually do a clean/lube just before a ride if it is needed. 

Been working well for me for over 3 decades of biking and motorcycling :)

yep

brake cleaner or acetone should work.

im taking it off and soaking it in degreaser

There is good advice here with respect to lubricating your chain with oil. But I think it was improper to discourage using "waxes" particularly parafin. The bike shop doesn't make a big profit on customers seeking a tiny bottle of custom oil is my theory. Or maybe I am just the conspiracy type. Waxing your chain is not really that hard to do. I rode a paraffin lubed bicycle chain from Los Angeles to Kansas supplementing it with graphite power along the way. Paraffin protects the chain from dust and contaminants while oil attracts it. Paraffin keeps your clothes cleaner. I won't say clean because there is no keeping your pants leg clean if its flapping against the chain. Its easier and faster to thoroughly clean your chain off the bike than on. All you do then is melt ordinary paraffin like gulfwax in a pan and drop the chain in and let it soak. You can go for hundreds of miles without reapplying. The downside is you need to buy a chain link removal tool which might cost thirteen dollars. To make it easier in the future you can buy a powerlink for your chain so you don't need tools. If you are budget minded and charming you might be able to get the bike shop to let you use their link remover on the chain while you are there and add the powerlink at the shop yourself. One box of paraffin is five bucks and it will probably last you a decade. I'm not recommending it for the casual biker who rolls around the neighborhood and have a clue on how to work on their own bike. But if you are an active rider and you do some your own repairs the little bit of time and effort pays off. And your chain will always be the best looking on the block!

We need to unite to establish an anti-WD40 movement here...people actually call this a lubricant still....and use it on their bikes even! Let's stop the abuse of technology and put WD-40 where it belongs: in obsolescence as an archaic oil to fall the way of wax bearings in Roman chariots.

Actually it works wonders for a rusty bike, as long as you clean off excess and use proper lube afterward.

lol

If you are at a loss for Phil's, use 40W motor oil. It doesn't work quite as well with water, but has about the same durability in basic conditions. Always be sure to keep this off your rims, as aluminum is very absorbent of certain oils with petroleum distillates. Keep your rims sterile if possible. Soap and water will not get anything petroleum off of your rims once contaminated. There is no cleaning of any oil-contaminated brake pad possible. The only cure is replacement, assuming the rim has been "sterilized" as well. Oiling as instructed, even if you are using engine oil, oil generously, shift often to spread the oil, and then wipe liberally....you only need a thin coat....too much oil will attract more dirt that can do more damage if it works it's way in. Dripping is in no way acceptable. It is better to do light maintenance often than to do heavy repair slightly less often, if at all. A variant to wiping off excess oil is to stand the bike up and use your hand to pedal the crank backwards through a lap of the chain. It would help if you made the chain deflect as if through another derailler as it runs through the rag, promoting excess oil to weep from the chain. Be sure you lean the bike a little to the right as you do so, just to keep dripping away from the rear wheel in any case. Dry is no good, wet is no good....moist is okay...The reason for making the chain flex more in it's path is to rotate the bushings on it, so the oil can get in where it's really needed.

Hi again Bicycle Tutor I broke down and bought some Tenacious oil today. I tried it as soon as I got out of the store and Man, this stuff is stringy!! The oil itself is great, but the bottle's nozzle SUCKS. It blew off the top with pressure as I was putting the oil on the chain and splat, 1/6 of the bottle was on the ground. from now on i will use a medicine syringe to use it.

Ok, I guess it isn't as bad as I thought! Dosnt appear to be that you use that much of it anyways on the chain. I could also use it on other parts, like the pivot points on derailers and such.

It can also be used for a maintenance lube on cables as well. It may be expensive, but overall it is very cost-effective because you need so much less overall, and it is very versatile. It's not for real bearings or pivot points so much as it is useful for chains and cables, because in such spaces, water cannot wash it away very easily. The dispenser is an ideal re-usable as well, for other forms of oil for other purposes, although I slowly dilute it away rather than consume it linearly. I dilute with 40W engine oil and it retains it's properties well in a compound-oil.