Lee's advice is doubly pertinent: Soaking steel parts such as chains or sprockets in alkaline cleaners can embrittle and weaken the metal severely!!
I've seen chains that pulled in half, and sprockets that crumbled, from extended soaking in Simple Green. The loss of strength can be drastic! The effect on surface finish is the giveaway, and I would never use parts that have been so abused. They're junk!
I use FinishLine's petrol-based citrus cleaner for the most difficult, aged deposits. It is called Citrus Bio-solvent and comes in screw-top and spray cans for about $10.
Simple Green cans have warnings about soaking metal parts, and should be heeded.
David Snyder Auburn, CA usa
Lee Levitt wrote:
>
> Do not leave any chain soaking in Simple Green or Citrisolv more than a
> couple of hours. If left much longer (a day or more), the chain will rust.
> Don't ask me how I know. :(
>
> Lee