Love thy chains

Periodical maintenance of your bike chain would prolong its service life

I spent a couple of hours on Sunday under the hot sun cleaning my Dahon Speed P8's bicycle chain.
If there is a capital punishment for ill-treating the chain, I am guilty of all charges.
Since I bought my Speed P8, I have never cleaned them.
While I was pedalling the bike in Port Dickson, it made a creaky sound and it was just plain annoying.
I checked the chain which was rusty and dry.
The cog wheels on my bike's rear derailleur was clogged with pieces of black gunk.
I knew for a fact that if you water down the bike, it could only make it worse.
So, a couple of months earlier, I bought a set of degreaser and chain lube.
After giving the Speed P8 a wipe-down, I took sprayed the chain links.
Then, I gave it a wipe on a rug and repeated this process.
When I was done working with the chain links, it was back to its shiny lustre.
No more creaking noise and its much cleaner now!