Originally Posted by
Giant40
Since I'm a novice at bike mechanics, I want to make sure I get this right. If the wheel is mounted on the bike and I have the wheel laying flat on the floor, which way will the bike be laying? Will the cassette be facing the ground, or upwards? I did spray it in the area you indicated in the past, but I had the bike upside down which may have caused it to not work.
You'd want the bike laying flat with the chain on the top. Before laying it down shift to a larger rear sprocket to get that chain out of the way, and you'll be spinning the wheel rather than the sprockets to get the motion needed to circulate the solvent.
As I said earlier, this is a messy process, doing it on the bike is messier yet.
As soon as you clear this hurdle, find a bike co-op, or a shop offering basic repair courses. Flats are common enough that you don't want toride beyond walking distance from home if you cannot fix a flat, which involves wheel removal and remounting. This is easy enough stuff to learn that I believe everyone over 10 years old should be able to do it.