Cleaning Mountain Bike Shocks

This motorbike was stored outdoors for a long time and accumulated rust spots on the upside down forks shock absorber suspension.

Cleaning mountain bike shocks.

How to clean a mountain bike. Rear suspension is only found on full suspension mountain bikes and is commonly referred to as the rear shock or shock for short. Clean your fork and shock after every ride. Remove the wheels and clean them separately.

Bikes pick up all kinds of dirt dust and debris from the road and trail. Keeping your mountain bike suspension forks clean grit free and lubed is vitally important in prolonging the life of these essential components. The shock allows the rear wheel to soak up impacts helping to keep the tire in contact with the ground increasing rider control and decreasing rider fatigue. Why it s important to keep your mountain bike clean.

Use the de greaser to remove old grease lubricant and muck from the sprockets chain rings chain derailleur and pulley wheels. Cleaning the chain gears and suspension. Grinding or sanding is r. Use mild soapy water rinse with a very light pressure water spray taking care not to spray water directly at the seal upper tube junction and wipe dry with a clean soft cloth.

Carefully inspect the. Once you ve cleaned the bike ideally put it in a bike stand and alter the angle like the one in the picture. Sounds obvious but it s frightening the amount of worn out parts your see that could have been avoided by just using a bit of soap and water. Go ride get dirty and go back to step 2.

Mountain bikes aren t meant to be looked at or ridden on the pavement they are supposed to be lovingly abused on a dirty singletrack trail. Following this method washing my bike usually takes under 15 minutes with the lube job taking an additional 5 or so. Get your mountain bike dirty. Keeping your bike clean protects your investment by enhancing the life of your bike s various parts as well as protecting its paint and ride quality.

Now that you have all your cleaning materials simply follow our steps here in order to clean your mountain bike. Without slipping into how to maintain shocks sliders let s look at how we need to clean inspect and lubricate frame pivots to. Lubricating and oiling the chain and. Cleaning the outside of your fork will prevent the opportunity for dirt to migrate into the delicate inner workings of the suspension while routinely checking the foam seal will alert you of any.

A clean bike is a happy bike. Soft dry cloth to dry your bike. Clean your forks and shock after every ride in fact clean your bike after every ride.