Maintenance
 

I bought some bike lube, and put it on the chain and the sprockets of the derailer , and then ran a towel over it...is this how to lube your bike?

thanks

Assuming the chain is clean, I drip the lube over each pin, let it sit overnight, and wipe it off with a clean rag before I ride the next day. If the chain is dirty I clean it first before lubing it.

what I do is spray a degraser first then after awhile I will wipe it dry and put some chain lube over the pins lightly. Too much lube will cause dirt to stick on your chain easily

You have to start with a clean chain and as this is mountain biking- I presume that most of the time we get our chains covered in all sorts of crud. I use a chain cleaning device and then spray with wd40 or the like to get rid of water. Then I liberraly oil the chain and leave it for a few hours with a cloth under the chain line.Wipe it dry and it is ready for the next ride.

All this lubing individual links is too much for me. All I want to do is oil the chain- not spend hours on doing it.

My procedure is this:

Remove chain from bike (I have SRAM quicklinks so its easy)
Put the chain in a bottle (juice, soda, etc) and add degreaser (simple green, etc) and warm water and shake like crazy. I usually do this until I can add water and it will come out clear.
Then dry the chain and install it back on
Then run it backwards through the drivetrain hitting every roller with a drop a lube
Wipe off the excess lube and let it sit overnight

Rinse, repeat

Hours? It actually takes around one to two minutes to lube all the rollers.