Originally Posted by gr8fzy1

Hi, first time here and I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions for me.
I have a relatively cheap mountain bike with front/rear suspension (HUFFY Incline) that has sat in my basement for over a year do to a taco'd rear wheel I didn't have money to replace.

I finally got a replacement rear wheel and installed it, but when I leaned on the bike my weight drove the front fork down until it bottomed out. Because this was my former year round bike, it's seen some hard use...and I was unable to decompress the fork until I cut the rubber sleeves off and dribbled hair clipper oil into the shocks, then grabbed the wheel and yanked REALLY HARD. My suspension is working again, but occasionally it takes a hop off a curb for the suspension to actually move at all. I was wondering if there are any cheep alternative lubricants that I can use on the suspension? I am unemployed for 3 years, and all my money has been coming from collection recyclables, so with the coming colder weather my cash flow is going to plummet.

I was thinking about using petroleum jelly for lubrication, then making improvised sleeves from an inner tube that had exploded from a pinch flat, But I was uncertain if there were any rubber bushings or seals that might be effected/deteriorated by contact with petroleum jelly.

This bicycle is my only transportation and ANY advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.