Chain & Sprocket wear

Thanks for the long reply but there are a couple of points i still don't get:

By oil i meant lube. I was describing my attempts to follow the method you linked to. It says to rub the chain clean, apply a little lube, work it in, then rub it clean again and repeat until: "When the rag stops picking up black crud the job is done." My problem is that on any chain that has done more than a handful of miles, i never seem to do get to that point. Each time i come to rub off the excess lube it carries a little more contamination out of the chain but it's a process of decreasing returns - after 4 or 5 iterations it is a lot cleaner, but still not actually clean. Does this not happen to you? When do you stop?

The post-lube wipe down is just to remove excess lube from the outside of the chain, so that it doesn't attract road crud. If your rag is becoming very dirty at this point then it is because your chain wasn't clean enough at stage one.

If you are beginning with a chain that hasn't been maintained in this fashion from new, then it is quite likely that you won't be able to get it spotless: this isn't a deep cleaning method, it's use prevents the need for it in the first place.

So you really do have the patience to poke rag through all hundred-odd gaps in your chain? To remove all visible contamination before that first lube application?

No. I have only ever used this method with new chains: the gunk between the links is excess lube mixed with road crud (which you don't get with this method).