Slipping Gears and Front Suspension Care?

eviljoker7075

Hey guys, finally decided to join up!! I have two questions I'd like to ask you all.

Firstly, I seem to have developed a case of slipping gears. Well I assume it's the gears, every now and then there will be the sound of a gear change, and my pedals will shoot round causing my feet to fly off! This usually happens when a lot of energy is being put into riding, for example up steep hills or when I'm pedaling really fast. Can anyone advices on the best course to fix this problem?

Secondly, I've been on a few rainy rides recently and when I returned home I applied some WD40 to my gears and chain to avoid any danger of rusting, but I was wondering if I should do a similar thing with my front suspension? I'm afraid I can't say what sort of suspension it is, I'm not really down with the technical lingo yet. But the bike is a Saracen Rufftrax 2 if that helps.

Thanks for your time

xtremedash

Sounds like the cassette and/or chain are worn, do it do this in every gear or just one? Have a look at the teeth on the cassette, do they look like sharks teeth (very pointy at the end). If so it's time for a new cassette, chain and possibly chain rings.

Don't use WD40 on your suspension, in fact it's not that great on your gears either. It's mostly solvent to desolve rust, etc. It does lubricate, but not for very long. GT85 is more suitable for the gears. For lubricating forks use teflon based grease or specific suspesion fork oil as this shouldn't eat the seals.

skyliner

GT 85 is not suitable for lubricating chains/gears either. It contains solvent based penetrants and water displacers that are very good at dissolving and displacing freehub and bearing grease.
Use a specific chain lube like Finish Line green or teflon, White Lightning, Purple Extreme etc. and clean your drivetrain with water soluble degreasers rather than solvent based ones.
The skipping gears could be caused by degreased freehub pawls and bearings if the cassette and chain aren't worn.