Quote:
Originally Posted by Flieger
Well that was not a smart decision. I went out and did a little riding around the hill here on the paved roads on campus even though it was sort of misting and the road was quite wet. I thought a little water would not hurt. Then I decided to try a little bit of the reasonably well packed dirt road. I thought if I went slow enough I would stay clean. Well it did not work that way. Bike covered in mud and clothes as well. It should not show on the jeans after washing but I will have to work on the shirt to get the mud out.
The bigger issue is my chain sounds gravelly outside a certain range of gears. It started off good since I just lubed it yesterday. I think it was all the mud and grit in there though. I wish I had a garden hose like at home to hose it off but I tried to to what I could with a rag when I got back to my room. I cleaned the derailer idler sprockets and it seems a little better now.
Oh well, next time I will know.  |
two words, one product: white lightning. the best chain lube, ever. cleans the chain, lubes the chain, and is self cleaning between maintenance. take your chain off, heat some cheap vegetable oil in a pan you don't care about (the thrift store is the ticket) and drop your chain in there. while it is cleaning on the stove (yeah, you heat it pretty hot), clean all your spockets, really good. when the chain looks good and clean, remove it from the oil and take it outside for a good blasting with some brake cleaner. put the chain back on, lube it up with white lightning and you are good to go.
oil lube will kill your chain because it picks up debris and grit. white lightning sheds that debris and grit as you go. after lubing once, reapplications periodically is all you need.