Cliff--I wash my bike and clean my chain on a 500-mile schedule. Makes a normally very messy operation surprsingly unmessy, and you kill two birds with one stone. Here's how I do it:
Put bike up on lift. Rotate rear wheel and liberally spray chain down with your favorite water-soluble degreaser (undiluted--I use the purple stuff). Let it soak and go about washing the rest of the bike. Now simply rinse everything off with the garden hose into the floor drain of your garage. Wow, that chain and sprocket looks bright and shiny! The chain/sprocket should not need any further cleaning/brushing (unless you use chain wax, I don't). For lube, I take a sponge soaked in tacky bar oil and run the chain through it several revolutions (by hand of course!) to lube the O-rings. Next, I lightly spray the chain down with Amsoil metal protector as a top coat "just because." You'll have some fling on your first ride out after that; if that bothers you, simply wipe the wheel/muffler down and you're good for another 500 miles.
