Minimal effort chain cleaning One of the main reasons I eventually give up my bicycle commute in winter is that keeping my bike -mainly the drivetrain- clean despite all the rain/dirt/salt/hail/snow becomes too much of a time suck.

The weather means I feel I have to clean my chain at least every two or three days. But days are short and I have no shed. So on weekdays that means working in the dark under a streetlight in the cold. I know the cleaning is worth it, but after a few sessions with freezing fingers, eyes straining to find my tools I usually give up.

What I am looking for is a minimal routine that will keep my chain clean enough despite the weather.

[edited to add:]
I'm currently trying the following, but I'm not sure how well it will work in the long run:


At the end of each leg of my commute I use my waterbottle to spray the worst of the dirt and (hopefully) all the salt of my drivetrain.
In the morning before I leave I check my chain and, if I feel there is not enough oil on it, I add a drop to each chain roller, turn the crank a few times, and wipe of the excess.


No cleaning (other than the waterbottle) no resting to let the oil seep in.

[edit2, to answer some questions:]


I have full fenders on my bike.
I currently use this lube: http://www.cyclon.nl/index.php?m1=2&amp;m2=9&amp;m3=11&amp;m4=19&amp;lang_id=4 which is supposed to be a wet lube.


[Edit3: what I've done:]


I have switched to an even wetter lube. (this one: http://www.cyclon.nl/?m1=2&amp;m2=9&amp;m3=11&amp;m4=22&amp;lang_id=1)
I got myself a chain cleaner (this one from BBB: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=4671)
I found a non-automatic car wash. (they are rare here, the first two google maps hits were no longer in business) There I can hose my bike down to remove the worst of the dirt/salt.
I have accepted that I will probably buy a new chain come spring.


I think I'll ride to the car wash every weekend or every other weekend depending on conditions. This takes me, including cleaning my chain and re-oiling everything after the hosedown, about 35 minutes including the 5k one-way ride to the car-wash. Pretty good!
Rain, hail, and snow don't hurt a chain. Salt makes it rust, and dirt wears it out. 

Salt: You won't get all the salt out without removing the chain from the bike. The chain is doomed. You can, however, easily delay this till spring with regular application of wet chain lube. A bit of rust won't hurt if you ride regularly. 

Dirt: Given that the chain only has to last till spring, a quick clean with a chain cleaner (as suggested by @meager) once every few hundred miles will be fine. 1 minute of cleaning, 1 of re-oiling is enough.

Come spring, splurge on a shiny new chain. If your budget is really tight and you don't want to buy a new chain every year, keep the old one for next winter. When you take it off, give it a really good clean (off the bike), soak it in oil and store it over summer. 

However, there are a lot of reasons why a new chain every year is a good thing.