Nubbish maintenance question.

I'm fairly new to modern mountain bikes and want to keep our shiny toys in something like a reasonable state of repair. I've got wet lube, dry lube, oil, grease, WD-40, and not the vaguest clue what to do with it all.

I've read various guides that suggest what to do "after every ride" or "weekly" or whatever, but realistically I'm simply not going to bother stripping and rebuilding two bikes every time we take them outside for half an hour. Apethy and idleness aside, my thinking is that these guides are all ideal-world so what I'm looking for is some ideas as to what I should be keeping an eye on back in the real world.

Specifically, there's a couple of points I'm really not sure about. First, what should I be doing with the front shocks? They get wiped down regularly but should I be oiling / lubing / greasing them?

Second, the drivetrain. I believe the thinking here is to degrease the chain and then lube it (I've got the free sample of Squirt to try here) but I'm falling down on the first step. How does one degrease it? I've read a trick where you drop the chain and degreaser in a Coke bottle and slosh it around, but the only bike degreaser I've found so far has been in comedy little trigger bottles. Should I be using something else? Are these dedictaed 'chain cleaner' gadget things any good or just a pointless gimmic?

Other than that, how often realistically should I be worrying about things like regreasing the hubs and bearings and suchlike?

In my opinion the chain cleaner gadgets are definitely worth it! No questions asked.

I use one with some white spirit/similar stuff to clean the chain after every ride, it takes about 5 mins per bike once you have got the hang of it, then leave it, then before the next ride lube up with some wet lube…. Although I'll be trying some dry lube when the wet stuff runs out, unless it's winter in which case I'll stick with wet.

As for forks, I look at them and wipe them and try and decide if the seals are looking cruddy. Otherwise I leave the bike to do it's own thing!

Dom

for half an hour

! 😳

The best degreasers you'll get IMO are ecotech2 and Gunk. Both of these are in regular bottles/tins and can be decanted as you wish.(gunk is 6.99 in Halfords). You can keep the dirty degreaser and it will work for a good while.

The more you clean and lube the chain, the longer trouble free operation and longer lifespan your transmission components will have. This will need balancing against the time and materials that you put into it. Everyone has their own personal balance point. Be aware that people will talk about chain 'stretch' when they actually mean chain wear.

Forks will need an occasional service, dictated by frequency of use and how dirty the conditions are – consult the manual. Keeping the seals clean and applying a few drops of lube to the seals, cycling the forks and wiping of the excess will help with this as it acts to lift out dirt entrained in the scraper lips of the forks seals.

What, you've never popped to the shop on a bike? (-:

I tend to write somewhat tongue-in-cheek sometimes. The point there was that not all rides out are day-long epics.

I use one with some white spirit/similar

See, I was wondering about this. The last thing I wanted to do was soak it in turps or something and end up ruining it.

You can keep the dirty degreaser and it will work for a good while.

Ah, this is a fundemental point that I was missing. Cunning, ta.

Keeping the seals clean and applying a few drops of lube to the seals

This is what I've been doing thus far, using a couple of drops of the 'wet' chain lube. Excellent.

Oh, I forgot to ask,

What about gear cables? What's best for those? I don't really want to be taking them to bits, is there anything I should be doing maintenance-wise other than wiping them down?

Some people swear by lubing cables, but I prefer to leave them dry. Theres enough slack if you actuate the levers but prevent the mechs moving to their new locations that you should be able to loosen the cables from their end-stops and be able to clean to whole length of inner cable.

I'd only bother with this when the cables start to feel a tough notchy, or about every six months – This does depend on how well your cables are sealed, and also how dirty the conditions you ride in are though.

sounds like you lot use an awful lot of cleaning fluids that are detremental to the environment, with high VOC content.

ever considered more environmentaly freindly degreasers?

I stopped using Gunk/Petrol/Spirts etc. some years ago and went over to Fenwicks FS1 – brilliant stuff. buy it in the 5ltr container and use neat on chains, in a bucket of hot soapy water or watered down as a spray.

apart from being better for the environment, best thing is it makes bikes last longer (doesn't eat away at plastic/metal) and leaves a useful protective layer (unlike industrial degreasers that strip everything dry and thus cause more damage to parts)

Another Fenwicks FS-1 user here. I use it neat to degrease stuff and stick in my chain cleaner or I dilute it (something like 10:1) for cleaning the bike. Have had my litre bottle now for a couple of years and still loads left (perhaps I need to ride my bike more).

I don't clean my chain everytime I ride the bike and you shouldn't over lubricate stuff as it just attracts dirt/dust and makes the problem worse.

After washing my bike, I generally give the pivots on the mechs a spray with GT85 (being careful to avoid the rear disc brake) as well as the spring mechanism in my spds and the chain. Once that's done I then re-lube the chain with Finish Line Wet Lube or if it's dry out I might use their Dry Lube.