Yet another thread on chain cleaning

Sorry to flog a dead horse and everything but I have some questions that I
haven't been able to find answers to in the archives and FAQ, so here
goes...

[It seems this has turned into a bit of a rant now so feel free to scroll to
the bottom for the actual question I'm asking...]

I cleaned the chain on my new bike (Dawes touring bike, exclusively on-road
use in pretty clean conditions and so far rarely in rain) as thoroughly as I
could a week ago. It had 750mi on it at the time and I had the bike in for
its complimentary service at about 400mi. It came back liberally lubricated
and soon became a black mess (no doubt they just lubed whatever they use on
to the dirty chain, great). Before that I was managing to keep it pretty
clean with regular wiping down and I lubricated it once with the PTFE lube I
bought under recommendation from the shop. It was getting pretty squeaky
when shifting the rear derailer, I assume from lack of lube, but I wanted to
leave it until the service to let them deal with it as I figured they know
more than I do.

Anyway, after it became a black mess I knew it was time to sort it out
properly. I wiped it down thoroughly several times to try and keep it clean
then finally attacked it properly at 750mi on.

I wiped it down thoroughly with an old sock, scrubbed it with soapy water
and a toothbrush (I think this was pretty redundant because it didn't have
loads of mud or dirt on it, so it didn't seem to make much difference),
dried it with the sock, let it stand for about 10-20mins, sprayed Halfords
brand degreaser aeresol on it ("Rapid Air-Drying Formula", how useful -- it
seems to dry instantaneously, but at least the blast of the aeresol spray
seems to work quite well at cleaning pretty much instantly) and wiped with
the sock vigorously. Several cycles of the entire chain. It was still
feeling pretty nasty when flexing it laterally, like it had grit still in
there, though externally it was looking pretty good. I decided that this was
as good as I was going to get it and then applied the PTFE lube, using the
narrow spray tube to apply a stream of penetrating, foamy, lubricant. I
backpedalled the cranks for a little bit and wiped off the excess. I also
wiped off the chain several times in the next few days.

I think the main pitfall was that I didn't manage to clean it as thoroughly
as I would have liked. It didn't really feel "fresh" inside when I played
with it. Also, I didn't rinse off the degreaser, so although on the surface
it dries pretty quick there may have been some left inside the chain. I
think the effect of this would have been pretty limited though.

So anyway, now it's a week later and I am 830mi on. I got home after a bit
of light rain and got a bit carried away. First I wiped the frame dry, then
sprayed WD40 into all the unused rack mountings and other frame holes, wiped
the excess off and wiped the frame down with the WD40'd rag, then applied
PTFE lube to all the cable housing entry points, then to all the pivot
points on the derailers. Then I discovered how to use the PowerLink on my
Sachs/SRAM chain and took it off. It didn't feel as bad as right after I
cleaned it. I think it's because part of the dodgy feeling I had when
flexing it may have been due to the liquid inside... or maybe the lubricant
flushed some of the crap out to be picked up on subsequent wipe-downs?

Anyhow, I wiped it down seveal more times, then sprayed it with the
degreaser aeresol *liberally* and continued wiping it down. Unfortunately it
didn't seem to make all that much difference and I felt like I was wasting
time and degreaser. It still felt a little bit gritty inside.

I found a wide-neck 1L lemonade bottle and threw the chain in there in
preperation to soak it in something. (Actually, having another look at it
now it doesn't seem so bad. The gritty feeling is completely gone! Just a
bit dirty between some links and I can feel that it's not *completely* clean
inside the rollers.)

========================
End semi-irrelevant rant, begin actual question about chain cleaning...
========================

I had a rummage around the garage and found:
Mineralised Methylated Spirit (Funky purple colour!)
White Spirit
70% Isopropyl Alcohol

Which one of these would be the best to pour into the bottle and shake
occasionally to get the chain clean? I plan to leave it on my desk for a few
hours and give it a vigorous shake every now and then.

Other things I can think of to use a
Fairy dishwashing liquid (can't see this working too well)
Dishwashing-machine powder (I'm wary of this stuff ever since it ate pits
into the bottom of a pan when left overnight in the sink)
coca cola (with all this whining about how it's so acidic, I figure it might
do some good. probably too much sugar and not enough chemicals capable of
breaking down the grease though.)

Are there any precautions? Is it posible to "over-do it" with any of these
chemicals? (Aside from the dishwashing-machine powder)

I plan on soaking it for a couple of hours with frequent agitation, then
pouring out whatever I'm using into a jar for reuse, and filling the bottle
with water and shaking vigorously for a while, maybe changing the water a
few times to make sure I clean out all of the cleaning chemicals. Then
drying it with a rag and leaving it out to dry overnight before putting it
back on the bike and aplying PTFE lubricant with a narrow tube, letting it
work its way in, then wiping down with a rag.

How does that sound?

Thanks a lot,
Dani