Cleaning and lubing the chain for the first time: what can go wrong?

[Bike Writer]

Wow, tons of great advice! Thanks everyone. This is super motivating.

Bike Writer, I have seen that blue contraption on YouTube. Is it easy to use? I'm all thumbs, you see. If you recommend it, I know where I can get it for a reasonable price. Thanks for the tip about degreaser on the frame. For the frame I'm going to use a rag/sponge and soapy water plus Q-tips for those hard to get areas. I know a lot of people use hoses, but I don't have one in my apartment! It'll have to be an old-fashioned bucket for me and little by little so I don't soak my living room, which is where I keep my bike. I get the feeling I'll end up making a mess though despite my best efforts

It's fairly easy to use and you can get the hang of it pretty quickly. Expect the chain to hop off once or twice and you'll have to handle a greasy wet chain so have plenty of rags handy. When you're working with degreaser, cleaning a bike/bike drive-chain it's hard to be neat. It's just one of those jobs that isn't. Can you seek a friends driveway with hose handy? Relative? I live in an apartment and have done it outside on the patio with a couple of buckets of sudsy water handy and we also have a car wash area with hose and stuff. I don't have a bike repair stand to hold it up off the ground so the pedals spin easily and my success is more dependent on what I've rigged up to hold the bike where the pedals will turn. The better job I do of that, the easier the cleaning goes. Good luck with whatever choice you make!

This thread motivated me to clean my drive chain and bike today, it needed it from several dirt road rides in the last couple of weeks. Looks sweet now!

Edited to add;
I usually do two treatments because the first time the container is just black and oily. It's a bit less so the second time and if time permits I do it once with sudsy water then dry it holding the chain lightly between my fingers while holding a rag.