Empty Vessel

[MelC]

I am completely new to the world of mountain biking - all mountain biking I have done before has involved borrowed or rental bikes. Of course, being me, I bought a bike with lots of bells and whistles (to be fair it was used...) and now I have no idea what I need to do to maintain this bike. I was in the store the other day and was amazed to see that they were selling pumps for the shocks (this is a full suspension). To date my bike maintenance has involved (a) pumping up the tires, (b) replacing any flats, (c) having the chain cleaned and relubed once a year, (d) replacing pedals and seats as required, (e) raising and lowering the seatpost and handlebars to taste, and (f) having the brakes adjusted annually. Do I need a shock pump? Do I need to put fluid in my hydraulic brakes. Help! What else don't I know that I don't know?

Can someone give me a checklist and a maintenance schedule? I feel like I just bought a car

Mel

[SadieKate]

Have you looked on the manufacturer's web site to download the owner's manuals? First place to start.

Then, go to www.parktool.com for good basics.

Mtbike chains, brakes and cables need a lot more attention that a once a year look over.

[madisongrrl]

(a) pumping up the tires, (b) replacing any flats,

Excellent...

(c) having the chain cleaned and relubed once a year,

This is something you are going to have to do more freqently depending on how often you ride. My mountain bike gets degreased and lubed after every off-road ride. If I've been just riding on the road, then maybe once a week. It certainly gets degreased and lubed before every race.

(d) replacing pedals and seats as required, (e) raising and lowering the seatpost and handlebars to taste, and (f) having the brakes adjusted annually

This is good...

. Do I need a shock pump? Do I need to put fluid in my hydraulic brakes. Help! What else don't I know that I don't know?

If you have a front suspension air shock, then you might want to buy a shock pump. They are around $40 give or take. You are going to want to set them to what the manufacturers specs say for your weight. If you recently bought this bike, maybe the bike shop would do it for free (then you could hold off on the shock pump for a while). If you have hydraulic brakes you are going to have to learn how to bleed the lines and maybe adjust the calipers.

Can someone give me a checklist and a maintenance schedule?

Like SadieKate said, read your manual. You might need to go beyond that though. You might want to go to specific manufactures websites and pull their instruction manuals for your suspension and brakes.

I recently bought a full suspension Trek Fuel EX 9 and it has more bells and whistles than I could imagine. The suspension has many complicated settings that I'm going to have to learn how to adjust. I have suspension remote on my handlebars....I can adjust both front and rear while I'm riding. Now that is crazy!

[Nanci]

The shock pump is pretty easy to use. You need it for the rear shock. Once you have one, it's amazing how much you needed it and didn't know...

The brakes manufacturer's website should have an owner's manual for them. My brakes are mechanical, so I never had to mess around with hydraulics.

All my friends and BF that have the chain cleaner thing that you run the chain through swear by it.

Nanci

[madisongrrl]

The shock pump is pretty easy to use. You need it for the rear shock.

Nanci

Don't you mean front shock? Am I going to have to pump up my rear shock also? I'm going to have to download all the manuals for my new bike.....Man, I have so many bells and whistles on my new Trek, it's gonna take a month to learn how to set everything up!

[SadieKate]

You can need a pump for both the fork and the rear shock. The same one should work for both. Download the manuals for each and read the recommendations for settings based on rider weight.

[Nanci]

It's easy! You'll be fine! I'm sure the LBS guys would be happy to give you a lesson on the shock pump if you need them to. Like SK says, the manufacturer's site for the shocks will have a chart for psi based on rider weight. It's not complicated at all.

Nanci