Scott P.

I'm totaly new to mountain biking and was just wondering what you would use to keep the chain and other things from rusting after getting my bike wet? Would you use something like WD-4? Any help is appreciated.

georgeupstairs

WD 40 expels water, but does not lubricate. Give the bike a good wash down with soapy water, then rinse it off with clean water. DON'T use a pressure washer as this can flush lubricants out of 'sealed' components. Dry it off with a cloth. Lubricate exposed metal parts. Choice of lubricant is a black art. A search on this forum will reveal as many opinions as there are products! See wht you lbs has, experiment and find something that you like. Wipe excess off your chain.

Chains get REALLY cruddy, and benefit from degreasing from time to time. Again there is a number of products. I use a citric acid based degreaser. You can take the chain off to do this, or you can get a sort of chain bath effort that you fill with degreaser and the clip onto the chain and run the chain through it. One the chain has been de-crudded, wash off the degreaser and lubricate as above.

In fact if you give the whole bike a clean from time to time and lubricate exposed moving metal parts, you will be treating your bike much better than 90% of bike owners do!