JaredMcDonley

Ok well as you can see i am new here. I have always liked to ride. Most of the time it was with my father and all. Most i've everdone was a 125 mile ride in colorado. that was fun, but i have only done on road. I just bought a mountian bike this weekend!!! I didn't have to much to spend so i got a last-year model. I got the specialized hotrock (one). iTs a nice lookin bike for what they had. I looked around on the internet and everyone has said that it is a good bike for the most part and all. So i guess what i wished to ask you all was, now that i have a real bike (i've had mongoose bikes when i was younger and they were crap and thats how i trated them. So now that i have a bike that is good, i wished to know who to take care of it. I do like in Florida and there will be alot of sand and some mud when i ride. For all you who live in south Fl, i wish to ride at queit waters park

If you could plz just give me some help on how to clean it and all the in's and out's. Plz tell all, even the most basic stuff.

Thank you for your time!!

Jared

a2psyklnut

Quiet Water Park Huh? Never heard of it. What city is that in?

I'm over in Sarasota and I understand riding through Sand.

The best thing to do after a ride is to hose your bike off. However, DON'T spray down your bike. Just let the water flow over the bike.

After that, fill a bucket with water and a mild soap (I use Dawn dishwashing soap!) and I use a sponge to wipe down the bike! I use a brush to scrub the tires and the rims. After I've soaped it down, I rinse the soap off again by letting the water flow over the bike. (o.k. I do spray the frame and tires, but I'm careful to avoid any of the bearings - headset, bottom bracket, pedals, hubs.)

I then take an old rag in my hand, and loosely grasp the chain and backpedal the bike to remove any grit from the chain.

I wipe the bike dry with a rag towel and let it dry overnight. The next day, I'll lube the chain and all the moving parts (pivots at derailleurs, shift cables) I DO NOT lube the bearings, those only require a rebuild only a couple times a year!

Oh yeah, go buy a bike specific chain lube from a bike shop! I use White Lightning or Finish Line's Krytech. There are numerous others, Pedro's Ice Wax, Tri-Tech, GT-85.....etc. BTW, WD-40 is NOT a lubricant, it's a solvent. It's designed to break down rust and loosen stuck parts. It'll act as a lube only while it's wet. As soon as it dries, it has no lubricating properties!

L8R