I like WD-40 too. Once someone's used it for a year or so and the stuff has built up a nice coating of gummy varnish on the chain, rear cluster and chainrings that's turned gray from the accumulated road dirt I get to sell them a new chain and gears, and sometimes chainrings. And a can of some actual lube that won't make things all gummy.
For cleaning, I use gentle stuff first, or on paint I'm not familiar with, moving to maybe windex or 409 or something like that for stubborn dirt. Some stuff like Raleigh sports gets the sterner cleaner right away since it can take it. Followed by a rubdown with an oily rag then a clean dry one to bring back the shine.
For metal parts it's Mineral spirits. Gets off pretty much any oil based gunk. And using a small amount of that might actually be a bit better environmentally than using a whole bunch of some stuff that won't clean well.
My all time favorite is long gone....I really miss the 111 Trichloroethane in a 20oz spray can that we had at the hydraulic place. That stuff could clean anything.
Steve Birmingham Lowell, Massachusetts USA
Message: 15 Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:14:47 -0800 (PST) From: "Dr. Paddle" <drpaddle@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [CR] Cleanint dirty bike parts: What NOT to do To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Message-ID: <213625.14581.qm@web39310.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Simple Green is actually a strong alkaline. See their notes on cleaning
aluminum at:
http://www.simplegreen.com/