I have been biking for about 3 months with my new Hybrid I purchased. Upon surfing the web on bicycling.com I read something that said you are supposed to lube your chain every 100 miles, so today I decided to try it. I researched on the web how to do it and watched about 3 youtube videos, then checked the White Lightening degreasing solvent on what it said. But I'm pretty sure I did something wrong because now my bicycle is squeaking, here's a step by step list of what I did please help:

1) I sprayed the solvent on the chain and cassette, but since the red straw thing the bottle came with fell off, I think I sprayed the chain ring and front derailleur too
2) I spun the chain backwards with a rag and black gunk wouldn't stop coming off so I filled a bucket with water and lysol, dipped a rag in it, rung it out and wiped the chain
3) I used a leaf blower to dry the chain and cassette and put White Lightening Dry lube on each chain loop and put it in between the cassettes
4)It didn't seemed lubed enough and solvent was still on the chain guard and chain ring so I wiped it off and sprayed only the chain ring and cassette

Then I started riding and I could hear faint squeaking so I put lube on the front derailleur and it didn't stop the squeaking. Now I have no idea what to do because it's my first time doing this

Some basic guidelines

1- there's no (or rare) need to degrease and lube chains every 100 miles. Unless the chain is especially dirty with sand and grit (mtn bike issue more than road) washing usually isn't needed at all, just a dry wipe of the outside where the dirt is built up.

2- sprockets, front and rear, don't need lube. What little they need they steal from the chain. Likewise the ftont and rear derailleurs.

3- the chain only needs lube on the inside, where parts rub each other. Lube on the surface only attracts dirt.



I suspect that your problem relates to the water wash. I have no idea why you used Lysol since the chain doesn't need to be sanitized. Probably your method left water in the chain, trapped there by capillary action in the same way it can get trapped under a glass table top. Odds are the blow off didn't get the water out, so it was still there, and therefore the applied lube couldn't wick in (try wiping up oil with a wet paper towel)

So, dry your chain by leaving the bike out in the sun for a good long while, or using a hair drier. Once the chain is dry, it's ready to wick lube in to where it's needed, so apply whatever you like following the instructions. Allow enough time to set up (some need this, some don't), then wipe excess lube from the outside, and you're good to go.

I won't comment about which lubes are best because I have an obvious bias, but you need to relube at various intervals according to what you're using and your riding conditions. But you probably won't need to wash, just dry wipe, which makes the process much easier.

Okay thanks, do you think I might of damaged my bike in any way, I went 5 miles today?

Of course not. The absolute worst thing you might have done is taken some life out of the chain.

Bikes are pretty tough. They need some basic care, but not much, and they don't need to be obsessed over.

Okay I used a blow dyer on the chain and cassette and wiped it down to make sure it's dry, but last thing, I just noticed my chain is rubbing against my front derailleur causing a squeaky noise is there any way to tweak my derailleur

That's a different issue, and maybe not an issue depending on which gear you're in. You can search tutorials on adjusting front derailleurs, or given the age of your bike, the dealer might take care of this for free under the new bike adjustment warranty.