I need to make a couple of repairs on my bike..
I have a GT Avalanche 3.0 with Disk brakes. When I bought it, it was perfect, now after a couple months of riding I'm starting to have a couple of minor problems which I'd like to take care of. First thing is that the gears don't change as easily. Especially on the ones on the crank. I degreased the chains and applied new oil and the problem is still present. I've also noticed how on certain gears when I pedal I hear a noise that seems to come from the crank. and lastly, the shocks seem to be giving me some trouble. Or maybe the problem is with me. How often are you to clean out your front shocks and regrease them? I use my mountain bike 70% of the time on the road and 30% of the time on trails. So it's not like I am constantly on trails, but after maybe a week or so I find my front shocks screeching and being very stiff. Is this normal or is there something I'm doing wrong when I grease it? If I could get some input on this I'd greatly appriciate it. Thanks.