What is the best solvent to clean your chain (and degrease the cassette and chainring) with? I have heard kerosene or mineral spirits, but I have been using gasoline from the lawn mower can. It is convenient, inexpensive and seems to work great (when I clean with Simple Green afterwards and rinse).
Would gasoline cause any damage that I don’t see? It seems to work fine.
To many people have died from using gas, Kerosene would be better
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I use the Orange Degreaser from Home Depot. $8/gallon, and it’ll last for seasons. It’s non-toxic, will take off all filth, and can safely be used to clean your whole bike without ruining anything. It’s essentially the same as the degreaser the bike shop sells, but for a fraction of the price.
I run my chain through two cycles with the chain machine after longs rides, and it comes out spotless.
Use mineral spirits. It’s what they use in commercial degreasers like safe-t-kleen. I prefer mineral spirits over citrus as it seems to last a lot longer. I’ve been using the same mineral spirits for years.
You might want to check one of these out too:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=35740.
Many people use diesel as well. Make sure to take the used fuel to a gas station that does oil changes for proper disposal.
All of those are petroleum based which means they are gross pollutants if you just dispose them down the drain. You have to dispose in the appropriate facility and that would make it a pain in the butt.
I use undiluted simple green. I buy the big bucket at Costco for about $6 and it works just fine.
Do not use gasoline. It is horrible, nasty stuff, and contains all kinds of additives that do who-knows-what to your body.
Go to the hardware store an buy a big can of citrus based degreaser.
Ackkk! Don’t do it. A la Sheldon Brown:
Using a SRAM chain or some such with a ‘Power Link’ makes this kind of maintenance nice and easy.
I’ve tried to do the environmentally friendly thing and use Simple Green or Citrus Degreaser, but the fact of the matter is that the biodegradable stuff doesn’t clean anywhere near as well as gasoline or mineral spirits. I’ve left chains to soak overnight in citrus degreaser, and they still don’t get as clean as they do in 5 minutes in mineral spirits. Just dispose of the stuff properly.
I use Varsol. It’s about 4 bucks a gallon @ Home Depot, and it works great. I just bought some Simple Green (well - a SG knockoff from MEC) but I’ve yet to test how well that works.
I just switched lubes to Prolink ProGold, which should hopefully reduce the buildup of gunk I used to get with Pedros Ice Wax. Supposedly it cleans as well as lubes. I don’t know how well it cleans yet, but I must say I’ve never had such a frictionless drivetrain before!
Gunk Engine Brite! Absolultely FANTASTIC solvent for chain grease. I disassemble the chain/cassette, dump it in the basin, spray with Gunk. Wait a few minutes then a light scrub brushing is all it takes to completely clean the components. Couldn’t be more effective!
Careful with that green stuff from MEC. If you soak stuff in it for longer than a day or two, it will start to corrode your parts. Just surface corrosion, but still corrosion all the same. Also, it’s nowhere near as strong as Varsol.
Really? Damn dude… Can I at least smoke while I use it? 
Wow, I wouldn;t use any of those. Very dangerous and also you have to be concerned about the disposal. It can;t go into a storm drain or onto the ground.
We use Simple Green. It is inexpensive, much less caustic, and is biodegradeable. That’s our recommendation. It seems more effective when you cut it with water.
My results with the 2-liter bottle and some manual agitation have been excellent. If you’re a real nut, try putting the bottle in a little cardboard box and setting it on top of the washing machine for a cycle or two 
I found Toluene or Lacquer thinner to work very well. Just throw your chain and cassette in a can with some and it will come out good as new. I don’t worry about disposal - just leave it exposed to the environment and it will evaporate. As for environmental issues - flame away I’m wearing Nomex:)
I hope you have a respirator along with that suit
http://www.nccnsw.org.au/member/tec/projects/tcye/tox/Toluene.html
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Sure, if ammonia is an upper for you!
The best, as it is oily would be kerosene / diesel / jet fuel, but they just have a bad sulfur odor that most non-mechs can’t stand. I have seen odorless home heating fuel (for portable kerosene heaters) at home depot but it also loses 50% of its cleaning properties. As far as the safety T solvent don’t kid yourself, most of the safe is non to low flamability,if you read the Hazmat paper work on it , Lots of nasty chem. in it, I always wear the thin gloves , I your skin gets a light pink rash look you are absorbing it , if you are dry / chap / chalky your OK as you just washed the oil out of the skin.******* If you go big time you can by a cheapo solvent tank for under $40 is has a pump & lid ( auto parts stores )- hold about 3 gal. put some diesel in it , with a few tools ,you will be pull cogs off cassetes-- washing chains – cleaning derailuer guide wheels . Gas is more convenient less odor , but its too dry and flammable to use indoors with a water heat pilot light on a few feet away.