I realize that Lion will NOT allow you to remove any of the preinstalled apps, like Chess, Automator, Calculator, etc. What if I did a customized install of SN and removed all those apps I won't use and then install Lion? Will it give me a cleaner install? I have a 32GB SSD MacBook Pro so storage is a premium.
WARNING if you delete your personal files/break your OS with this it's your own fault, not mine. Open up Terminal Use the "cd" command to go to the directory of your App (I believe it should be "cd /Applications/") Type sudo rm -R "AppNameHere.app" Press Return If it still won't let you delete you will need to switch to the root user by typing "sudo -s" first. I strongly suggest you research these commands before using them. Good luck.
Thanks for those Terminal commands. I'll look more into it before I do it. The lack of replies here seems like no one else is interested in a true "clean" install of Lion.